i86 THOMAS D. CROTHERS 



opens up a new field of effort and suggests a different class 

 of means and remedies. The question arises, Can we halt 

 this army and turn it into other paths? Can we stay this 

 tide of destruction and the terrible losses which follow from 

 it? Can we solve this problem and stop its evils? 



Appeals to the moral nature of the inebriate are useless, 

 because that part of the brain is palsied. Intimidation by 

 punishment and suffering fails for the same reason. The 

 pledge is powerless because the will is unstable and incapable 

 of consistent action. The prayer fails because the emotional 

 nature is incapable of permanent impressions. Thus educa- 

 tion, morals, law, and religion are powerless to remove or 

 check this disorder. 



The inebriate is literally a madman, who persists in de- 

 stroying himself at all hazards and irrespective of all interests of 

 his relatives, friends, and the community. Such conduct 

 forfeits all right to personal liberty and makes him an outlaw 

 and an antagonist to all the highest interests of society. Any 

 one who persists in drinking to intoxication is dangerous and 

 may at any moment peril the interests of individuals or the 

 community he lives in and commit acts of very serious con- 

 sequences. He should be restrained and be confined in a 

 hospital, where his conduct can be regulated by others. 



Rev. Dr. Bellows said long ago in an address on this sub- 

 ject: ''No man has the right to peril the interests of others. 

 Society learns nothing by tolerating the presence of any one 

 whose liberty is dangerous. Society gains nothing by holding 

 for an hour any one who is fit to be at large. Liberty and 

 human rights gain nothing by allowing any man to be at large 

 for a moment who is destroying himself, his family, and neigh- 

 bors. All we need is what we are fast gaining a possession of — 

 the tests and gauges of this fitness or unfitness." 



The true remedy is a united public sentiment that this 

 army of inebriates are diseased and dangerous, and the highest 

 interests of society require that they should be quarantined 

 and their personal Hberty restricted, not as criminals for short 

 sentences in jails, not as willful sinners, to be helped or cured 

 by fear, suffering, and the law of vengeance, but as diseased 

 and helpless people needing guardianship, medical care, and 



