THE PROBLEM OF VICE AND CRIME ijg 



explains not only much of the mad activity of 

 our time, but a large part of its dissipation also. 

 An environment of suffering, with little trust in 

 Providence, or faith that happiness in the sequel 

 works with righteousness, results in attempts to 

 drown consciousness in alcohol, or to dull it with 

 opiates. Moderate drinking does not always or 

 usually, among the better classes, end in drunken- 

 ness. Its evil appears more in the second gen- 

 eration than in the first ; but failure in business, 

 unhappy domestic life, ill-health long continued, 

 change the cry in " Locksley Hall " to 



" I must drown myself in liquor 

 Lest I wither by despair." 



Intemperance is of course a potent cause of 

 misery; but the reverse is equally true, — misery 

 is the cause of intemperance. What strong and 

 perennial fountains, then, of the thirst for strong 

 drink must the slums of our great cities be, 

 where tens and even hundreds of thousands of 

 people live amidst conditions which forbid aspira- 

 tion and even decency, and invite despondency 

 and despair ! Often the saloon is under the same 

 roof, and the sight and fumes of liquor constantly 

 present ; while the food is so coarse that any- 

 thing which promises to help digest it, is welcome. 

 Add to this that most of the restraint which 



