The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1914-01-14
Is The Indulgence In
Strong Drink.
MAKING DRUNKENNESS CRIME
With Adequate Punishment. Is
the Best Solution. Says
This Writer.
LATEST LAW IN TENNESSEE

No social problem has more Sc
riously engaged public attention In
recent years than the evils incident
to the Incorporate use of alcoholic
spirits. Incorporate use of intoxi-
eating liquors is SO patent an evil
that it finds no defense by the very
: men who indulge it, and yet the sup
preston of it has baffied the philos-
ophy of centuries.
Many wellmeaning people, dis
counting the weakness Of human ma
ture and the experience of centuries,
would prohibit by statute the man
ufacture and sale of IT., but the sober
student, observing the concurrent
spread of prohibition territory and
the steady increase in the annual
receipts of the Internal Revenue Of
flee. seeks a solution more consist
ent with the constitution of human
nature and the lessons of history.
Whether the position is right or
wrong, the majority opinion of the
present day is that drinking is per-
sonal privilege and that drunken
ness is a, crime. Any statute to sup
press a personal privilege must fail
of enforcement for lack of public
opinion to support it. But drunk
enness is, in most cases, public Of
/. Tense, and, as a crime, public senti-
ment against it needs only to be
properly organized to suppress it by
adequate statutes.
Personally l believe that drinking
in the most temperate form Is an
evil. but like many another personal
indulgence, 1t is to be pitied and
condemned by moralists. But 1t Is
no more the proper province of the
!. {Sate to regulate than to regulate in
temperate eating, Incorporate idle
ness or Incorporate swearing. But
public drunkenness disturbs the
peace, endangers lives and property,
And is a crime which the State has
Just right to punish. and public
sentiment would support adequate
laws to suppress it.
This article was suggested by my
recent observation in Tennessee OF
that States laws to suppress drunk
enness. Having tried Statewide
prohibition. prohibiting the manu-
facture as well as the sale and ship
ment of whiskey in the State with
out in any way reducing the disor-
der incident to drinking, that State
recently enacted a statute which
makes drunkenness an indictable
crime, punishable by fine of fifty
dollars and thirty days imprison-
ment. The statute provides that for
the first offense the court may sus-
pend the sentence until the succeed
ing term of court, when, II the ac-
cused can produce two reputable
witnesses who will state he has been
sober and orderly since his convic-
ton, the sentence may be suspended
permanently.
Two instances of my personal
knowledge will illustrate how effec-
tually this law operates. A young
man went to church one night and
his disturbance amounted to no
more than going to sleep and falling
= off his seat, but the next morning
he hacked his clothes and left the
county The other case was of a
youag man who had recently served
eiehl days in jail for being drunk.
Awas approaching small crowd
Nc when one OF them said:
jkier comes --. and he is
HN' | asked what OF it," and
AZ .9ty said: "He is wild char
are. and everybody breads to see
him come around when he is drink
ing" The young man stayed some
little while, but the only noticeable
evidence OF his drunkenness was the
unsteadiness of his legs. When he
had gone away II was remarkable
that the new law was working well
In his case.
Personally have voted and shall
continue to vote for prohibition for
rural communities. but experience
demonstrates TO me that II is only a
partial aud imperfect remedy for
the evil II seeks to correct.
II our people would urge our Leg
isIature to enact law similar to the