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Show TEMPERANCE IN FRANCE-DRUNKENNESS FRANCE-DRUNKENNESS IN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND A SATURDAY NIGHT IN GLASGOW. By Rev. Thomas H. Malone. (Editorial Correspondence.) Glasgow, July 29. I certainly had unexcelled opportunities to observe the every-day life of the people of France. My observations were not confined to ! one class alone, such as the dominant class in Paris, but I saw the people of Normandy and Brittany and all the way from Paris, eastward to the German Ger-man Avricourt. and then again northward north-ward from Paris to the coast. I saw the French people In cities, towns and villages. I observed them in their hours of work as well as in those of recreation. And I must confess that a more temperate people, as far as strong drink is concerned, it has never been my fortune to see. The Puritanical reformers, who vainly vain-ly imagine that temperance should be legislated into the individual, may find a salutary lesson to the contrary in the life of this people. They drink wine freely, men, women nd children; in fact, it may be said they drink nothing noth-ing else, although I am told that the drinking of absinthe is working dis- astrous results in some of the larger cities. But. notwithstanding the universal uni-versal wine drinking that exists, excess ex-cess rarely found. There is absolute freedom, too, in this respect, for the law does not step in and forbid the sale or use of wine on certain days or periods of days. In this respect, individual in-dividual liberty finds fullest play in France. What is the - consequence? Drunkenness, as I have, said, is a rarity. During my stay with the unlimited powers of observation at my disposal I never saw one drunken man in France. The Catholic Church teaches the virtue of the proper use and the j heinousness of the abuse of all things created by Almighty God, and it must be said that among the children of France the church's doctrine finds a living, practical application. Just think of it! Not one single drunken person did I see in any part of France; the land whose water is wine, and whose people are free from all legal restrictions and inibitions, such as surround sur-round the individual in many parts of America, England, Ireland and Scot land. But what a different story I must tell of England and Scotland. The first three days I was in London, I saw nine women arrested for drunkenness, and the number of men was too large to be reckoned. If the total number of men and women arrested for drunkenness drunken-ness each day were known it would , stagger the most incredulous. Speaking last week to Professor Hermanns of the West Denver High school, he told me that he was simply appalled at the number of intoxicated men and women he had seen in the London streets. Like myself he, too, had not seen one man in France under the influence of liquor, and, in passing, I may observe that my experiences in Germany were similar to those in France. But to return to London. Recently the Pall Mall Gazette took exceptions to certain criticisms made by an American Amer-ican clergyman, whereupon a well-in formed Londoner wrote as follows to the Gazette: ' "You accuse an American priest of exaggeration in calling London 'the dirtiest and most immoral of cities.' I am acquainted with most of the European Eu-ropean cities, and with many beyond Europe. I see no exaggeration in the description. Last Saturday week I arrived ar-rived late at King's Cross, and walked from there to Great Portland street. I met. I suppose, about 1,000 persons. Certainly 500 were under the influence of drink, and at least 200 women appeared ap-peared to me to belong to the unfortunate unfor-tunate class. In a side street against some railings I saw several women lying ly-ing in the road dead drunk. The men were shouting and the girls were screaming, making a scene which has no parallel either in civilized or uncivilized un-civilized communities. I have no particular par-ticular sympathy for the complaints about Hyde Park, because no one need go to such a place after dark; but Euston road is a necessary thoroughfare, thorough-fare, and its condition, at least on Saturday Sat-urday nights about midnight, is a disgrace dis-grace to Londoners." I do not intend, in this article, to deal with the phases of abject poverty and consequent squalor, such as exists, not only in the Whitechapel district, but in many other parts of the British metropolis. That is a subject too vast for a newspaper article. Suffice it here to say that the degradation of the congested con-gested centers in London surpasses anything to be found in America. But bad as is the intemperance in London it is quite overshadowed by the conditions existing in Glasgow. Here drunkenness, both in men and women, obtrudes itself more than in London, or perhaps, than in any other city or place in the world. Much, of course has been written about Glasgow in this respect, and a great deal of it, no doubt, appears to be exaggerated. I found the city libeled, in one matter mat-ter at least. The story that they keep wheelbarrows on the street corners to wheel the intoxicated to their homes is not true, or rather it was not practiced prac-ticed last night. I will not say that they were not needed, for in a drive about the city for an hour last night I saw numberless arrests for intoxication. intoxica-tion. Men, women and boys were staggering stag-gering along, the streets in a pitiable condition. Their number was legion, and a gentleman said to me: "It was not a good night, either." meaning that as there had been holidays in the a. city for some days past the money to supply drink was exhausted. Well, if, as my chance acquaintance said last night was not a "good night" to see drunkenness in Glasgow I do not care to see the real thing. To have seen scores and scores of drunken men in one hour was quite enough. Another feature most repellant to Americans is the custom that permits women and girls to sell and serve intoxicating in-toxicating liquors in the so-called public pub-lic places, called in America saloons. This custom must be degrading to the sex and its baneful influences are quite impossible to estimate. Notwithstanding the excessive and appalling use of intoxicants in these parts Sunday, or as it is called by the Scotch Presbyterian the "Sabbath Day." is surrounded by Puritanical restrictions re-strictions that must make the religion existing here obnoxious to everyone. Good and well-meaning men no doubt are much exercised at the deplorable de-plorable condition of inebriety, which besets such a large portion of the population pop-ulation of Glasgow. But they are relying re-lying on c false philosophy to affect a cure. Neither the rigor of the law nor the Puritan mandate of a religious relig-ious sect can compensate for the lack of a religious philosophy which implants im-plants in the heart of man the virtues of temperance and sobriety. Summary and arbitrary laws destructive alike of personal liberty and real manhood are plentiful in Glasgow. In America too we have men who imagine they can make others temperate and sober by the force of law. The attempt of boards of aldermen, or state legislatures legisla-tures to legislate morality into men has been and ever will be a farce. Not until a people are thoroughly imbued with the Christian principle which recognizes rec-ognizes free will and personal responsibility respon-sibility can they hope to abolish intemperance intem-perance and attain to that moderation which characterizes the people who have been taught that all things were created by Almighty God to be used, not abused. The man who said he would rather see "England free, than England sober," so-ber," was a philosopher as well as a statesman, although his saying was misderstood and misconstrued, j I, of course, want to see America sober, so-ber, but not on the grave of individual freedom. Glasgow seems to possess neither freedom nor sobriety. Many of the virtues, however, which apparently are lacking in Glasgow, are to be found in Edinburgh, which is, indeed, a city indicative of the noble aspirations of its people. By the way, Glasgow is to have an exposition next year, and already there is a keen scent in the air for dollars! The authorities of the University of Glasgow would appear to have been among the first to have been seized with the greed for gold, as they now charge an admittance fee to visitors something heretofore unheard of. As for some of the hotels, they have a system sys-tem of robbery that would cause the French "bonifaces" to turn green with envy. Since coming to this city I have devoted de-voted much time to a systematic study , of the public works of the corporation, such as street railways, etc., but of this I will speak in another article. THOMAS H. MALONE. |