WOMEN AND DRINKING

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 25, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 17.

WOMEN AND DRINKING.

In discussing this subject the New York Sun says: It is true that of recent years the practise of drinking by women at public restaurants has much increased. Formerly it cast a reproach on women and raised a doubt of their respectability, but now if a woman orders a cocktail, whisky, champagne, or any other alcoholic beverage, it attracts no special attention in restaurants.

Now the New York Sun is a long way from a religious paper, nor is it a sensational paper. This is its plain editorial opinion. The New York Christian Advocate, in commenting upon these words, says: 'This is certainly the case, and many of them are of the class of which fifteen years ago most of the members would not have thought of doing such a thing.' The Advocate thinks it is possible to deduce too much from this conclusion, in thinking the world is not going to be converted after all, one of the inconsistent opinions to which the Advocate holds; and yet on the other hand it admits that it is easy to underestimate the conclusion. It tells us that 'bridge whist parties' have much to do with the increase of it, that 'young society women,' imitating those who are older, find themselves incapable of resisting these evil ways. One coterie of such women includes fourteen, 'all of whom drink wine freely, and only three reject stronger liquors. They are all members of the Episcopal and Presbyterian Churches except one, who is an ex-Methodist.'

Such testimony as this certainly ought to stir the souls of the thoughtful, considerate men and women who have nothing higher in view than their country's good; not simply that the women of high grade and their imitators drink in this way, but that such drinking has become so common that it excites no remark, arouses little censure, and is taken as a matter of course.

A despatch from New York under date of February 28 states that at a recent luncheon in that city 'twenty-four very young women drank thirty-six bottles of champagne, and fifteen of them smoked seven dozen cigarets.' The authority for this statement is Rev. Madison C. Peters, of the Baptist Church. He further is recorded as saying, 'The alarming increase of the drink habit among women of America, especially in New York, is one of the greatest perils, both to the home and to the public. It is a common sight in this city to see women, and often girls in their 'teens,' drink in public, and as frequently and as hard as the men, and often with men old enough to be their fathers.'