Facts about Whisky and Whisky Sellers.
By Diana Farmer
I was born and brought up in a State that contained twelve or fourteen hundred breweries, and was personally acquainted with a score of householders engaged in making and selling intoxicating drinks, and I can testify from personal knowledge that thirty per cent. of the male householders and three per cent. of its females, became drunkards. Of the remainder of the families in the same territory, alongside of these, but not engaged in making and selling liquor, fourteen per cent. of the male members became drunkards and less than one-half of one per cent. of the females. The greatest per cent. of drunkenness, of the male members of single families, known to the writer, the heads of which were engaged in making and selling liquor, was seventy-five, and the least fourteen; in one, none. In this the head engaged in the business only partially and not very long. I obtained the above figures by actual count in a large number of families. I have known quite a number of men who lived sots for a long time, and their prosperity was noted for lack of energy. If a son or grandson of a sot manifests much energy, it is generally one that was born before the father or grandfather became confirmed in habits of drunkenness, or one that is strongly impressed with the features and character of the sober mother. I know eight brothers, all men grown, of good size, of common sense and well developed in muscle, not one of whom manifests energy or perseverance; and if all the property they all possess were thrown into a pile, it would be but a small one, and of poor quality; some of them under no extraordinary circumstances have had to be relieved by county aid. The father of these brothers was an old sot of long standing, and the mother would get drunk. In vain have I ransacked the histories of families for a parallel case of brothers and sober parents. The above facts teach two leading lessons: First, it is the frequent, touching, handling, and tasting of strong drink that causes so much drunkenness. Second, drunkenness of a father destroys not only his own energy, but that of his posterity also.—