1883.] Vice as an Eliminative Agent . 277 
crime. It is probable that in countries where alcoholic 
drinks are in common use the majority of criminals are at 
the same time drunkards. But before we conclude that 
their drunkenness is the cause of their criminality we must 
first examine the state of affairs in countries where alcohol 
is not an ordinary beverage, or where at least it is used in 
much smaller proportions than in England. If we do so 
we shall find that murder, robbery, and the like, do not 
become rarer as the consumption of intoxicating liquors 
decreases. 
Mr. McElroy, commenting on the lamentations of tem- 
perance advocates that “ the demon Alcohol is yearly 
dragging down to dishonourable graves hundreds of thou- 
sands of the brightest and fairest of our land,” replies that 
this is supreme nonsense. “ With very few exceptions, 
every one who goes to perdition by the Alcohol route would 
reach that destination by some other highway if the Alcohol 
line were not running.” 
We often forget what a fortunate circumstance it is for 
Society that the majority of criminals are men of profligate 
habits. Were it otherwise they would be far more formidable 
enemies ; they would live longer ; their families would be 
less likely to die out ; their plans would be more skilfully 
laid and executed. Should we ever have a temperate cri- 
minal class we shall encounter a danger more serious than 
most of us even imagine. This hazard is to be remembered 
when we think of rendering sobriety compulsatory by Maine 
Laws and Permissive Bills. 
Says Mr. McElroy, “ It was exceedingly unfortunate for 
the community that all the leaders in the James Gang were 
strictly temperate men. Had it not been so their career, 
instead of extending over twenty terrible years, would have 
been cut short inside of five. . . . Temperance and chastity, 
in a rascal of any kind, mean an immense amount of mis- 
chief to the community. Fortunately they are quite rare.” 
Less rare, perhaps, of late than they ever were before. 
But another consideration here appears. Many a man 
owes his rise in the world — perhaps even his opportunity for 
earning a livelihood — to the fa (51 that he has been sober and 
steady, whilst his competitors, or, in plain English, his 
enemies, have been profligates or drunkards. But if we 
compel all men to be sober the struggle for existence will 
necessarily become more frantic, since a number of the 
combatants will no longer, as at present, be eliminated. 
Dr. Lees, in his celebrated prize essay on a prohibitory 
liquor-law, pronounces the number of men whose lives are 
