Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/143

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TEMPERANCE. 115 TEMPERANCE. the direct cause of distress only in 15.28 per cent, of the cases investigated. Drinking to excess is rather ,1 symptom than a source of de- generation, and develops in a people of natural strength exhausted by vice, overwork, and con- ditions of life that undermine health. The cliil- d:en of drunkards are frequently idiots or in- sane. (3) Legislutive Aspects. — Various attempts have been made to control the liquor traffic by legislation, while certain regulations have al- ways been considered necessarj-. The national Government, since 1789, has placed internal reve- nue taxes and some customs duties U])on liquors. Congress also has passed laws regulating the sale of liquor to Indians and soldiers and the sale in the District of Columbia, and requiring the scientific study of temperance in the schools of the District of Columbia, military, Indian, and Territorial schools. In the States the meth- ods used to control the liquor traffic are: (1) licenses; (2) local option; (3) prohibition; (4) dispensary system. It has been customary from the earliest times to license the sale of liquor. The modern issue has been that of high license (.$500.00 or more), which its advocates claim lessens the nnmlier of saloons and improves their character. High licenses prevail in large cities. The laws of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania are considered the most successful. Local option has the advantage of the support of public opinion. The earliest laws were those of Con- necticut (1839) and New York (1845). Prohi- bition exists in Maine (1846; in Constitution 1884). and Kansas (in Constitution 1880), Iowa, and North and South Dakota. Kansas, how- ever, has practically local option. There is no attempt at concealment, and since the hard times of 1890 the fines for breaking the law have been regularly coimted upon as revenue by some cities. Vermont and New Hampshire, after a long experience with proliibition, have adopted local option. Where prohibition exists the ques- tion of compensation for those engaged in the liquor traffic has come up for judicial decision. As a result the National Anti-Nuisance League was organized in 1888 to push eases. South Caro- lina alone has the dispensary system, or State monopoly of the liquor traffic. The law was passed December 24, 1892. The advantages claimed for this system are: that personal profit is eliminated ; purity and an honest measure are guaranteed; treating is impossible: sales are made in the daytime and for cash, and the con- comitant temptations are removed. Other laws relating to the liquor traffic regulate the hours of closing and the sale on Sunday, the sale to minors and drunkards, the situation of saloons and their accompaniments in the way of pool, games, theatres, or other attractions. EEMEDiEiS. The arguments advanced against the use of alcoholic drinks have been: (1) Scriptural, based on a supposed distinction in the Bible between fermented and iinfermented wine, as shown by the use of the Hebrew words yayin and tirosh; (2) physiological, which claims alcohol to be a poison and which shows that temperance conduces to health; (3) so- cial, viewing alcohol as a cause of crime, vice, and poverty; and (4) economic, in that the manufacture and consumption of alcohol are non- pii-oductive and a great waste of material. The remedies offered by the early temperance move- ment were reformatory and preventive. Moral suasion was used, and drinkers were urged to sign the pledge and to strengthen themselves by the aid of prayer and religion. Total abstinence was demanded of the strong to help the weak. Prohibition was urged in order to remove tempta- tion. Homes and asylums were establislied, as the Washingtonian House in Chicago and the Franklin Home, Philadelphia. The preven- tion work was largely educational through the distribution of literature, lectures, the formation of .societies, and the prepara- tion of text-books for use in the public schools. Business considerations now exert an important influence. In positions of responsibil- ity or where accidents are likely (such as en- gineers, foremen, watchmen) drinking is pro- hibited. The habits of applicants for employ- ment are carefully scrutinized, especially in the business of transportation. Even where moder- ation is overlooked, excess is never tolerated. Saloon property pays a higher insurance rate. Some life insurance companies refuse to insure men engaged in the liquor business. Bibliography. Important contributions to the i!tudy of the liquor problem have been made by the Committee of Fifty formed in 1893 and com- prising representative men in the fields of educa- tion, religion, and sociology. The committee had its origin in a group of men who, beginning in 1889, had associated themselves for the purpose of pursuing the study of practical problems in sociology. Papers written by various members and criticised by all were published in the Cen- tury Magazine and the Forum. Meetings of the committee take place twice a year in New York. Four sub-committees deal with the different as- pects of the liquor problem, physiological, legis- lative, economic, and ethical. The publications of the committee comprise: (1) Wines and Koren, The Liquor Problem in Its Lefjislative Aspects (Boston and New York, 1897); (2) Koren, Economic Aspects of the Liquor Problem (ib., 1899); (3) Calldns, Socio/ Substitutes for the Saloon (ib., 1901) ; (4) Billings, Physiologi- cal Aspects of the Liquor Problem, (ib., 1903) ; Twelfth Annual Report of United States Com- missioner of Labor (1897); "Economic Aspects of Liquor Problem." Cyclopedia of Temperance and Proliibition (New York, 1891); Temperance of All Nations, edited by Sterns (Papers of World's Temperance Congress, 1893, New York, 1893) : Tracts, Publications, and files of papers of W. C. T. U. and temperance societies; Samuel- son, The History of Drink (London, 1880). TEMPERANCE, Sons of. An order founded in New York in 1842 with the object of making the great temperance movement of that period permanent. It has life insurance, sick and funeral benefit features. There are male and female members and there is a cadet branch for boys of sixteen years, who are known as the Cadets of Temperance, and who subscribe to a pledge which binds them to avoid all connection with the use. sale, or manufacture of spirituous liquors. There are four grand divisions of the order, one in England, where it was introduced in 1846, two in Australia, and one in North America. About one-half of the members are in the United States and it is estimated that 3,000,-