The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-12-28
THE SON OF NOAH


From the time of Noah down to
the time OF Sir wflfr.d Lawson, hu-
mainly has been struggling with the
sin of drunkenness. In all those ages
very few people have been found posi-
lively to stand up for the drunkard.
but great numbers of people have been
found willing to make every excuse
FOR him. and to pass by his offense as
very venial sin. Not a little indeed
OF the lightness with which this ex-
cess has been regarded in the past is
due to the way in which wine has been
glorified by the poets, from the days
OF Horace. and the indulgence in it
excused. as sort of amiable weak
ness. by the novelists. down to the
famous occasion when Mr.. Pickwick
was conveyed in wheelbarrow TO the
pound. AS consequence the world
had largely come to regard intoxica-
ton with. at the worst, a shrug of its
shoulders, so that the strayed reveler,
solemn1y wading through the shadow
of a lamp post. in the London streets.
instead of being regarded with dis
gust. became the occasion for sort
OF stock humor, on the part of Mr..
Punch" and the comic craftsmen, of
the era OF Leech and May. Now, as
Mr.. Henley once pointed out. there is
nothing funny either in the physical
misfortunes or moral faults of the hu-
man race. An obtuseness to this was.
perhaps, as he insisted, the one point
in which Sir William Gilbert failed
as humorist. and certainly this re-
ducing of drunkenness to a Jest, has
done more than enough to perpetuate
probably the worst vice of humanity
The worst vice inasmuch as it leads
to so many of the other vices and
crimes.
The old Venetians did not laugh at
1t. They carved the drunkenness of
Noah as a warning to all times in the
famous Vine Tree Angle of the Doge's
Palace. In Venice. Whilst their more
western neighbors tried to check the
onense by causing the culprit to pa
rade tho streets. clothed in a doublet
made OF q cask. with two holes for the
arm Sits. All these expedients failed,
however. and failed for the simplest
OF all reasons, that the devisers of the
punishments. though desirous of
Stamping out the disease at the expense
OF the drunkard. were by no means
intent upon stamping 1t out at the ex-
pense of their own selfish enjoyment.
they were willing enough, that Is to
say. to fine the culprit, to put him in
the stocks, to send him to prison, or
to deal with him in any way painful
" A1uSelI, Out tney were by no means
prepared to remove the temptation
from his path by closing the ale house
or passing laws for the prohibition of
the manufacture and sale OF intoxi-
cants. IN \ way disagreeable to them
selves. Thus gradually the evil Of
drink rose like fioodtide. At times,
indeed. the evil became so venomous
it had to be dealt with stringently
In certain countries. All such legisla-
ton was. however. invariably spas
modic: and II governments. as in Rus
STA. did not draw the bulk of their
revenue from q direct monopoly in the
vending OF intoxicants, they at least
drew this revenue, as in the case Of
England and France. from excise du-
ties imposed on its manufacture and
retail sale.
The fear of the loss Of this revenue
has always been the scorpion Of Re-
hoboam. with which the defenders of
the drink interests have classified the
generation already scourged with the
whips Of the Solomons of "the trade"
Every foolish argument rendered
by the teaching OF political
economy has been marshaled by tho
Rehoboams. until they have resem.
bled the scarecrow battalion which
behind Falstaff into Coyen.
try. Falstaff, indeed. Is the very in
carnation Of the liquor interests, and
the character of the man may be read
In that unfortunate bill. found in his
pocket, at tho old Boards Head. In