Alcohol and Pauperism by W. H. Riley

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 26, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 52.

Alcohol and Pauperism

By W. H. Riley

ALCOHOL; ITS HISTORY, AND ITS EFFECTS UPON SOCIETY.

Pauperism.

IT was stated by Hon. Wm. J. Mullen, prison agent of Philadelphia, several years ago, that "of the half million persons who have been committed to the county prison of Philadelphia during the last twenty years, there have been about 500 for murder, 700 for attempts to murder, over 40,000 for assault and battery, and over 200,000 for drunkenness. In nearly every case of murder or attempt to murder, the parties were intoxicated."

Hon. J. C. Parker, for twenty-five years federal judge in Indian Territory and Western Arkansas, and who has doubtless sent more men to the gallows than any other judge in America, says in the North American Review, 1896:—

We find that during the last six years there have been 43,902 homicides in the United States, an average of 7,317 per year. In the same time there have been 723 legal executions and 1,118 lynchings. These startling figures show that crime is increasing instead of diminishing. In the last year 10,500 persons were killed, or at the rate of 875 per month, whereas in 1890 there were only 4,290, or less than half as many as in 1895. This bloody record shows a fearful increase of the crime which destroys human life.

Asked as to the influence of whisky in the commission of these crimes, Judge Parker replies:—

At least three-fourths of the homicides committed in this county are attributable, either directly or indirectly, to the use of intoxicants. The question is not a new one to me. It has been forced upon my attention almost continually since I have been upon the bench. I think the same ratio of whisky homicides would hold good in this court. The number that were influenced indirectly is hard to estimate, and it is more than probable that in every case of homicide, whisky has played its part, either on the side of the criminal or of the victims. To my positive knowledge, whisky was the direct cause of twenty-five out of twenty-six murders committed in one locality during the past twenty-one years, the parties to the quarrels having been drinking at the time or immediately before the tragedies occurred. The remaining one was committed by a young boy, and I am not positive now but that either himself or the man he murdered was under the influence of liquor at the time. It is really difficult to recall a case in which whisky did not figure one way or another, and the examples are prominent in which murderers were excited immediately to the commission of their crime by being intoxicated.

The Connecticut Citizen, in an article on "Drink and Crime," compares some prohibition cities with license cities, as follows:—

We are willing to compare one of the small cities of Maine with all cities of Ohio and Illinois having a similar population, and abide the result, provided

only that the Maine city be one in which the prohibitory law is fairly well enforced, else the comparison would mean little. Augusta is such a city, having a population in 1890 of 10,527. Arrests for all offenses that year were 55 in number. Now let us be more than fair, and compare with Augusta in this respect every city of Ohio and Illinois of population between 8,000 and 11,000 whose statistics appear in the census.

The Christian Advocate says:—

Some years ago a striking comparison was made between Vineland, New Jersey, and New Britain, Connecticut. They each had about 11,000 inhabitants; New Britain had 80 saloons; Vineland had none. New Britain paid $8,500 for the care of paupers; Vineland, $224. New Britain paid for police $7,500; Vineland, $75.

These facts are good evidence of the truthfulness of our statement that intemperance is one of the greatest causes of crime. And as society in general must bear the burden imposed by crime, it is readily seen that alcohol certainly has a detrimental effect on society. And not alone in crime, pauperism, and economic evils does society suffer, but in caring for the insane and diseased. An intoxicated engineer has often been the cause of a frightful railway wreck and terrible loss of life. The burden resting upon society is little realized, and never will be realized so long as the habits of intemperance continue.