New-York tribune., 1919-04-17

What manner Of people are those
who are flocking into the municipal
drug addict clinic day after day
Human derelicts. good many people
suppose. And human derelicts there
are among them-men and women who
would be bad. drug or no drug. But
they are greatly in the minority.
There is the clear-eyed, clear skinned
girl encountered every day in subways
and elevated trains. in Offices and
shops.
There are the mechanic, the chauf-
feur, the waiter and the student.
There are few so repulsive as to
cause one to shrink from contact. In
crowd 80 per cent would pass without
comment.
To sit and watch the stream as it
flows on, oblivious OF everything but
the attainment of relief through drugs,
IS to study strange chapter in the
book of life. It's characters are pup
pets who have become the slaves Of
circumstances, hercdity or environ
ment.
Woman Of Forty--and Hopeless
First comes the woman who never
had a chance. She has neither recol-
lection nor imagination, for at thirteen
she was seized by white slavers and
for twenty-five years has known no
other life than that of Chinatown.
First it was opium and later heroin.
She has taken thirteen cures--in vain.
Four or five years ago helping hands
were stretched out to take her away
from Chinatown. But she refused to
be moved. At forty it was too late to
begin all over again. She walks into
the clinic in semi Oriental garb, with
In her wake comes a little girl with
dabs Of rouge on her cheeks and heav-
lily penciled eyes. Very young, very
ignorant. She works in factory and
has a mother and one little brother.
She tells her story succintly in two
words-bad company.
Knitting placidly beside a vicious
looking man Is school teacher. They
meet on the common ground Of their
craving for drugs. She Is remarkably
we'll dressed and there are no traces of
nervousness about her. Illness first
and then the nervous strain of her
work sent her under.
A Derelict--Old Too Soon
The man beside her is one Of the
derelicts. He has the high cheek
bones, the low, receding forehead. the
negligible jawbone of the weak and
the sub-normal. He is laborer when
he is anything. Usually he is down
and out. He has a wife and children.
The feebleness Of old age has already
descended on him, although he has
just reached his forties.
There is the big, Aamboyantly
dressed woman of middle age---a hand
some, dashing type. with cultured voice
and average intelligence. For three
away from drugs Although sho had
taken them for years, before and after
her baby was born, sho rigidly for
sworc them. She confcsscs that she
has no longer the strength to resist
them.
Tho colored woman nearby ia in
great distress. Her eyes are dilated
with the intensity Of her craving. She
is married, but has no children. An
illness three years ago was the direct
cause Of her becoming addicted to
drugs.
Hope for the Strong-Willed
The printer of twenty one who STUN
bles across the room is putting up a
stiff fight. He has succeeded in re-
ducing himself from thirty-hve to
fourteen grains of morphine. It's hard
work, but he has education and vision.
There's hope for him yet. He started
to take morphine through association.
The good looking manicurist has the
Gus about drugs. That was several