The Carlisle independent. (Carlisle, Ark.) 1905-current, 1920-01-22
Death in the Dram Cup

ord of deaths and of permanent
dislblement- through blindness;
the result of drinking connections
OF wood alcohol as Yuletide
cheer" it is difficult to determine
whether absense of revulsion
against the hidious crime of those
guilty OF selling the stuff or Won
der at the gross ignorance of the
people who drink it will be upper
most in the minds of those who
read the terrible story as it is un-
folded in the news columns. 1t is
possible that the number of the
victims of heartless greed and of
their own cravings for alcoholic
stimulants may reach into the hun
dreds, for this is only the begin
ming of struggle into which the
country is entering for the enforce
ment of national prohibition.
That struggle will grow more in
tense as present stores Of liquors
become exhausted and as the
prices demanded get beyond the
resources Of those who have hither
TO been enabled to satisfy their
craving. And it will involve an
intensification, far beyond what
is commonly realized today, of the
effort by state and national au-
thorities to enforce the law and to
prevent the growth OF evils quite
as serious as if not more deadly
than was the licensed mtoxieants.
It goes without saying that no
measures will be left untaken to
ferret out the sources Of the pois-
oned stuff, the immediate cause of
the fatalities in New York and
New England which have so start
led the nation and to bring to JUS
tice those who, for profit, have de-
fled the law and trifled with hu-
man lives. 1t is impossible to mag
me that those who deliberately en-
ployed wood alcohol as an ingred-
lent IN these mixtures did so in
ignorance OF the fact that 1t is a
deadly poison or to admit even
if they could establish any such ig-
norance that could be taken as a
palliative Of their crime. To sell
such stuff is no less murder than If
death was administered with gun
or knife, and the penalty ought to
follow unerringly and without de
lay.
Meanwhile these fatalities
should be a warning to the coun
try of what may be expected for
some time to come. 1t was pre-
dicted when the prohibition "a
mendment was pending that its en-
actment in advance OF an over
whelmingly approving public sen
timent would lead not only to dis
regard of the law but to the wide
spread use of drugs in place of the
stimulants which had become a
daily habit, if not an actual need,
for so many. OF course, it cannot
be denied that the abolition of the
saloon with the Punishment Of the
liquor trade as a demoralizing and
corrupting factor in politics is 60
ing to be a gain of incalculahle
benefit to the nation. But the
universal and loyal acceptance of
prohibition is not TO be expected,
if the experience of the prohibition
states can be taken as guide OF
what is before the nation. And II
Is obvious that the existing ma
chinery of law is totally made
quate 10 cope with such a situation
IS that revealed by these wood al
eohol poisonings. A suggestion
comes to us that the very name
wood alcohol" is peril, causing
confusion in the public mind, and
that it ought to be changed to
something that will plainly brand |
it IS a deadly poison and IN no way |
related to grain alcohol. Such a
might help, but great
rofe the numan cravings for a |
deal more than that IS needed be-
can be s0o,hed or weak men and |
women protected against a resort /
to equally dangerous drug stimu-
nts. Philadelphia Public led
ger.