| Show THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC IN ITS RELATION TO CRIME will you kindly give space in in your valuable paper to the enclosed it is a portion of an article by the honorable john hipp hip 1 presented to the state board of fh charities rarities and corrections of colorado it is one of the most recent utterances upon the subject ot of the title ot of this article and is a good summary of the effect of alcohol upon the human system and its results upon crime as well as of the beneficial effect ot of prohibition legislation the article is is as follows in the treatment of this subject I 1 beseech you to do as I 1 desire to do myself viz to consider this question without prejudice or bias fairly ano an impartially as a jury in a box or as a scientist in his laboratory dealing with the phenomena of nature as they appear to him in his experiments men drink liquor whether beer or a ale e whisky or brandy wine or spirits for the alcohol that it contains and for the effect of the alcohol upon the nervous system no man would drink either beer whisky or wine with alcohol removed from it the alcohol that is found in intoxicating drinks varies from four per cent in the lightest beer and ate ale to fifty three per cent in the stronger brandies and whiskies its affinity as determined by 1 the nut careful experiments of the best chemists and both in europe and america is for the brain and it affects particularly the albu albumen 1 en which is found in the blood and brain so that the results of its use can be readily determined under the microscope e so well known is this fact that physician phy in conducting an altop autopsy 81 y can a determine from the texture and condi tion of the brain whether the subject subject were a moderate drinker whether he occasionally became drunk or whether he died irom from delirium tremens cremens tr emens it is as true today as when the record was made in sacred writ that they that tarry long at the wine have wounds without cause have babb bab lings blinks have redness of eyes and woes boes more than can be told we need but to look at the bloodshot ey eyes esthe the swollen face the idiotic ex of the countenance of the drunkard to see the dreadful warning god has given against the me use of alcohol and with one elc exception eption nn other sin mars and sears its victim as does strong drink this being the effect of alcohol upon the human system it explains why every feeling of honor of parental love of reverence for that which is pure and good is destroyed we can fully understand the cause of the horrible crimes that fill columns of our daily press aud and swell the number ot of victims ot oj the liquor traffic into thousands and tens of thousands annu annually aliv we are also prepared to accept the testimony of the wardens of prisons and penitentiaries aries and the judges of courts that from three fourths to nine tenths of all crime is drink brought about by the use of strong strong s in 1670 chief justice hale of en eng land said the places of judicature judicatures I 1 have long held in this kingdom have given me an opportunity to observe the khz original cause of most of the enormities that have been committed for the space of twenty years and by due observation I 1 have found that if the murders and slaughters manslaughters man the burglaries and robberies the riots the adulteries adul teries forni cat ions rapes and other enormities that have happened in that time were divided into five parts four of them have been the issue and product of excessive drinking judge noah davis of new york says that ninety per cent of the criminal business of the courts is caused by bv the liquor traffic the report of the state board of charities of massachusetts traced four fifths of the crimes of that commonwealth to intemperance the inspector of the massachusetts state prison in 1868 said that four our fifths ot the number committed the crime for which they were sentenced either directly or indirectly by the use of intoxicate ing drinks the committee on intemperance in 1874 propounded this question to the keepers of jails what proportion of those who have come under your cognizance have been the victims of drinking habits and associates from many replies I 1 select the following if by the term criminal is meant persons convicted of any offense against the law sixty five or seventy five per cent nearly all auly ful y nine tenths fully twenty per cent of the summary convictions vict ions of one year are absolutely for drunkenness exclusive of a large proportion of the residue attributable to dmn drunkenness kenness about three fort obi this is the testimony of england ireland scotland and every state stale in union where any observation at all has been made or any record kept of this subject we can therefore reasonably expect 1 that hat if drinking were abolished rime crime would decrease and this has been found to be the case the state of rhode island was under prohibition from july 1886 to june ing 1889 the rhe 1 total arrests for all offenses in the city of providence from january to june im 1886 for six months prior to the en of prohibition was the total tor for all of fences ces for the corres bonding period of 1887 under tion lion atter after the law had been in six ix months 2061 the total arrests for the first six months after license was restored I 1 from july to december 1889 89 georgia the city of atlanta georgia was under prohibition in the year 1887 and under a license lee fee of a 1000 in the year 1888 under prohibition there arrests during the year under were 4 high license for the year 1888 there were the S tate state i of kansas adopted the prohibition hibi bibi tion law in 1882 at that time the inmates of the penitentiary numbers in 1890 after eight years of prohibition il although though the P population had increased the inmates of the penitentiary were fifty four per cent less to the total population than in 1880 after the prohibitory law in iowa had teen been is in effect tor for on year there were counties in the state without If tine single prisoner in the county jails idt the last term of courtin court in the city i of dubuque a city of population there abere was not a single serious serious criminal the court case aae before so well known is the relation of the traffic to crime to the officers of wr towns and cities that when a great crime is R committed they look forthe for the criminal in the saloon or the gambling ell as his bis natural abiding place I 1 would feel that I 1 had failed in my duty as a citizen of this state and as a 4 speakers of this conference if I 1 tailed failed to urge upon you the inestimable bless ang financial social and moral that mg would come to this nation by the clos inz ing u P of the saloons that are A BOW legalized legalized by the municipal state and national government these saloons supply no economic want add 1 nothing to the wealth of the country abut but simply absorb the strength of our country Cle destroy stroy the peace of the home and ruin the brightest intellects in our nation tion I 1 do not indulge in speculation when isay I 1 say that the time is at hand for all i good citizens without respect to party y or creed to unite in abolishing the IL brewery and saloon from one end of the country to the other while every t attempt at local prohibition has been h helpful i 11 ful to reach the highest success it will be necessary for the natio national naf gov lk to prohibit the manufacture sale exportation importation and trans por tation of liquor and then will indeed prohibit and the saloon and distillery be relics of a past age then and not till then will our country achieve the high destiny which I 1 believe is in store for it and it will indeed be the land of the free and the home of the brave GEORGE F GOODWIN SALT LAKE CITY utah february aist 1895 4 |
