Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-07-14
WEBSTER SAYS:


1-Intoxicated; inebriated;
overwhelmed or oVerpowered
by spirituous liquor; stupefied or in
famed by the action of spirits on
the stomach and brain.
2. Drenched or saturated with
moisture or liquor.
Drunk. n. One who is drunk.
When is man drunk?
High-brow statesmen and officials
in Washington are wrestling with the
question. They have a new excise
law in the Capital City. which re-
quires the arrest of all ''drunks,' and
they don't know how to interpret i.
The new law plainly states that all
"drunks" must be locked up, and now
they are trying to find out what a
man has to do to be classed as
drunk"
Sidelights on the problem obtained
from many quarters in Atlanta do not
solve the problem. There are about
as many different definitions of
drunk" as there are people in the
city. The consensus Of opinion. how
ever. is that a man who has merely
INDUCED enough to come under the
influence of liquor to a certain extent
is not necessarily drunk
Liquor affects the heads of some
men and the feet of others. One man
may drink till he can drink no longer
and be able to walk as though ne
never saw a bottle; yet his speech
viii be thick and unintelligible. An
other may dring the same amount
and converse with intelligence aad
even brilliance; yet he can not walk
with any great success.
Feet Are Guide in Atlanta.
Which is dTunk2
Atlanta policemen declare they Will
arrest the man whose feet are af-
fected by liquor before they will the
man whose head only is affected.
If the police in Washington used
the dictionary in making arrests IN
der the new law, they would arrest
the men who were affected in the
head as well as those whose mental
faculties were clouded by use of iiq-
uor, for Webster gives this definition
( of drunk"
Under the influence of intoxicat-
ing liquor to such an extent as to
have lost the normal control of ones
bodily and mental faculties, and, COM
My. to evinee a disposition to vio-
lenCe, quarreisUmeness and bestian-
ty; inebriated; intoxicated; figurd-
lively, saturated and stupefied."
Still there would be somewhat of
who was drunk according to Web
ster were arrested. For the diction
airy says the word can be used in the
predicate, as drunk with fiattery."
He quotes owen Meredith, in The
Wanderer''-"I was drunk with the
light of her wild blue eyes" Would
such a man be subject to arrest? If
a young man proposed to girl and
became drunk with joy because she
said yes, should he be pinched? He
would be drunk, surely, but the ques-
ton is would he be-drunk?
Four Stages of Drunk.
Chief of Police Beavers says there
are different stages of drunkenness.
"A man is drunk when he is beside
himself and obnoxious said the
Chief Drunkenness is funny
thing. One man viii be drunk, an
other drunken and still another
drunkest. I've seen men who were 4 $
drunk as they could be and yet they
could walk a chalk line; while 9TH
ers would drink just a little and fall
down every time they tried to stand
up. To my mind there are four stages
of drunkenness almost drunk, half
drunk, drunk and dead drunk. When
he gets dead-drunk, the question is
settled and he gets a ride
John Y. Smith, lawyer and member
of the Legislature, wouldn't discuss
the drunk from legal standpoint.
"A legal drunk seems to me to be Sc
and costs" he smiled.
"A man is not drunk" said Mr..
Smith, when he has only INDUCED
moderately. If he were, the majority
Of men would become drunk ocCa-
sionally A person indulging sutfi-
GENTLY to dethrOne reason, become
unusually boisterous and act unnat-
urally might be called drunk
Two Glasses May Do Il.
This thing of getting drunk might
also depend on the bodily condition
of the man who was drinking. His
system might be on a strike, and he
may appear drunk after one or two
drinks But | don't think this man is
drunk like you would say a man is
drunk who has had so much he can
not walk or talk"
DIR. L. c. Rouglin says:
"A man is drunk when there is any
deviation from his normal condition.
He may be slightly drunk or he may
be in one of the advanced stages. 1t
may show in his head, walk, speech,
or in a number Of bodily actions. A
man who goes on an occasional spree
end then stays sober for a few week
is not, medically speaking, a drunk
ard: but if a man drinks even two
or three drinks a day continuously he
is a drunkard."
It is an established fact, perhaps