Year: 1873




''It is said that during the
last year convictions for drunk
enness before the police magis-
trates throughout the conutry
have increa sed enormously.
1t is said that, while visible
drunkenness has manifestly in
creased among the upper class
es of the community, intoxica-
tom that is, poisoning of the


whole system by alcohol-is a
growing not a declining evil.
tits said that the habits of our
life, in these busy, rapid days,
throw men, and women too in
the, middle and upper classes
of society, on the help of slim
ulants, through the sheer diff


Guilty of getting through the


day with a fair amount Of ease


without them. And it is said
further that doctors, whose
practice lie mainly among the
fashionable ten thousand, take
the very gravest views of the
physical and moral deteriora-
ton which results from it, and


which must in time bear the
saddest fruit to the community
at large. AS to some of these
allegations, we are left to guess
at their truth. The police con-
victions are recorded and pub
lished by authority. 1t ap-
pears that an increase of forty
per cent can be traced, as COM
pared with the average of last
ten years. This is a serious
fact no doubt; but the signifi-
canoe of it is somewhat modif-
ed by the consideration that the
police are keener now in look
ing after the drunkards and
locking them up than they
were some years ago. The at
tention which has been directed
to the temperance question has
affected all classes of society,
those who have least sympathy
with the principles and plans
of the temperance advocates,
cannot help catching from them
a certain infection. Magis-
trates on the bench police COM
missioners and police officers,
and all who have to do with
the morals and manners Of the
community, have their eye fix
ed on the decentralization which
results from drink; and the ap-
prehensions as well as convic-
tions will probably bear a much
larger proportion to the number
of habitual drunkards than was
the case ten years ago. Still
there is reason to fear that the
vicious habit is on the increase;
not in its grosser forms proba-
bly,, but in forms more subtle
and dangerous. The excise re-
turns speak for the increased
consumption, 1t would be too
much to hope that the excess
is, ON the whole, consumed in a
moderate and reasonable way.
But the gravest part of the mat
ter is, in our judgement, the
waycin which, though through
the faculties offered by railway
bars and wine shops, the con
sumption Of strong stimulants
is increasing among young men,.
at times and under circumstan-
ces when they do the greatest
possible amount of harm. The
glass or two Of sherry which
young men are constantly TAX
ing in the midst of the excite
ment of business and on an
empty stomach do an amount
of harm to their system of
which they little dream, and
form the habit of dependence
on stimulants which in a few
years bids fair to restore the
old drinking vices of the COM
munity. Most earnestly would
we urge our young men to con-
slider that they are simply pois-
oning slowly their young blood
and laying up for themselves a
premature and ghastly decay.
1t is a point to which the atten-
tion of those who can bring in
fluence to bear on the young
needs to be pointedly and con-
stantlydrawn We have been
want to boast of our advantage
on the gross customs of our
forefathers; we need earnest
viUilance and firm sa1f.cnntroll