Part 7

No one unacquainted with the life of a drunkard, but especially of an habitual female drunkard, can form a correct idea of the irrepressible thirst which the constant use of intoxicating liquors imposes. In a man it is usually a love of the _taste_ of drink and the habit of social drinking; and the habit is often broken and the male drunkard restored. In woman the desire is for the _effect_ of liquor, the feelings to which it gives rise; and the indulgence is more frequently solitary than social: and however strong the sense of wrong, however deep may be the regret for the folly when the evil moment of intoxication is over and the secondary results succeed, still it rarely happens that the repentance is deep or the amendment permanent. We do not know how many women have triumphed over a strong appetite for intoxicating liquors; thousands, of course, have solemnly but terribly wrestled with the deadly enemy and conquered; many thousands maintain “the irrepressible conflict” with various degrees of success; but the prison and the almshouse records show that with another class, mighty in number and important in interest, resistance is relinquished, shame forgotten, and the daughter, the wife and the mother confess themselves the captives of that one vice which sacrifices every female virtue to the gratification of rapacious appetite. This subject commends itself to the regard of the philanthropist, it calls for the attention of the magistrate, and it asks for some new legislation; what that legislation should be in detail, we do not pretend to say; our duty in the capacity in which we now act is done when we thus expose the evils whose existence and a part of whose terrible effects we discern in our prison visitations. We do not exaggerate the means nor the devotion to drunkenness in what we here state. The inducements to intoxication are double those which we have mentioned, and all vices and passions are made subservient to the work of selling liquor, while the effect of the poison sold is promotive of other vices. The accursed bottle is not confined to the house, the cellar, the dram shop, nor the saloon, it follows the miserable devotee to the police station, and the very van in which the drunkard is conveyed to the prison has its illicit bottle, so that if a single one of the inebriates should have failed of the necessary quantity for entire intoxication, or one should have recovered a gleam of reason, there should not be wanting the means of completing or restoring the work; and, it may be added, that it is with the utmost vigilance that the officers of the prison are enabled to keep intoxicating liquors from the cells. It is a melancholy fact that the husband endeavors to smuggle a contraband bottle into the cell where his wife is confined for drunkenness; and mothers while lamenting the hereditary misconduct of their daughters, seek to convey comfort to the young offender in the form of coffee strongly “laced” with whiskey. The right hand of fellowship extended through the aperture of the cell door, is the means of conveying a phial of brandy carefully deposited in the ample sleeve, and the affectionate friend that comes to sympathize with her incarcerated companion, exposes as she reaches forward to reciprocate a kiss, the forbidden bottle hidden in the bosom of her dress. It is then not only the appetite for whiskey against which opposition is to be made at our prison, but the deep sympathy which is manifested for those who suffer for a want of means and place to gratify that appetite.

Undoubtedly an immense saving in city expenditures would be made, to the relief of the tax-payer, if such an abuse of humanity could be corrected. And while we know that society would recognize at once any successful effort to suppress drunkenness, we feel that a moral desolation would be removed, could we cut down root and branch, the terrible Bahan Upas of our country, whose pestiferous branches destroy all vegetation beneath their ample shade, and spread misery and ruin throughout the circle of influences.

We dare not say however that, because almost all who are brought to the County Prison are habitual drunkards, that the entire _abolition_ of intoxicating drinks would depopulate our prisons. The experience of the world is different. In Great Britain, Ireland and Germany, the frequenter of the prison is usually a drunkard. In Italy, especially in the South of Italy, drunkenness is almost unknown among the natives. Three years’ residence in the city of Naples failed to present to the narrator a single instance of a drunken Neapolitan, high or low, rich or poor; while frequent visitations to the prisons showed them amply populous. Perhaps there is in Italy some prevailing vice as productive of evil as drunkenness—perhaps drunkenness is in other countries the resort of the bad—of men and women who seek the gratification of a diseased appetite, not as a consequence or means of crime, but only to enjoy such gratifications as are consistent with and are punished by crime. The destruction of the Bahan Upas then may not restore herbage to the field; nay, to find a comparison nearer home, the stately pine is often cut down that culture and care may ensure a profitable crop for the soil which it has overshadowed, but a single season’s neglect shows that in the same earth there lies concealed the germ of other trees and shrubbery, and instead of the single overshadowing object, fifty smaller ones spring up to occupy the ground and prevent the growth of herbage. So the avoidance of a great leading vice does not without watchful care insure with certainty a growth of gentle virtues, some lesser passions, some yet uncultivated appetites that lie latent in the heart, spring into active growth, and become as dominant by their multitude as the ruling one did by its single power.

Yet however appalling may be the vice that is adopted by those who do not fall into the habit of drunkenness, there is always more hope of reclaiming the unfortunate male offender, whatever may be his vice, than there is of inducing the female inebriate to forsake the bottle. Larceny is committed to supply some want, not to gratify an imperious appetite; it leads to solitary confinement for a length of time, and the thief is easily persuaded to reflect, and often induced to amend. He understands, indeed, that his offence is directly against others, and that it provokes the injured to visit upon him the penalty of the violated law, and the anger of an offended society, that arms itself against him. The poor drunkard awakens from his debauchery, and finds a craving thirst for that which prostrated him, and feels that as he has done little or no direct wrong to others beyond his family, his offence is against himself, and the offended one in such a case easily pardons. If it is a female, it is not merely the love of liquor, in the use of which “increase of appetite grows by what it feeds on,” but it is that desire for the forgetfulness of sorrow, that love for the excitement of the nerves, that oblivion of the unhappy past, and that elevation above the miserable future which distinguishes her delirium of drunkenness from the effects of intoxication in man.

The impure female, in her rapid descent, is rarely unmindful of her degradation; and thousands are redeemed from vice by the kind interference of the humane; but when once she has found in the use of intoxicating liquor that paradise of the drunkard, she is rarely ever led by persuasion to return to reason and sobriety; nothing but forceful restraint will keep the wretched victim from the use of the means, and that restraint will not quench the thirst, nor diminish the desire, for the deceptive dreams of happiness.

_Prevention! Prevention!_ domestic discipline, social care, and social censure, can alone diminish this evil, and free our community from that awful scourge—a drunken woman—and alleviate the miseries which are found in the cell of the inebriate prisoner.

It is not to be denied that there has been a great increase in the habit of using intoxicating liquors within a few years. It is a growing evil of terrible dimensions and appalling effects; and the worst part of the curse is its continued augmentation. How is this evil to be lessened? How is society to be saved from the terrible maelstrom, which seems to draw all to its eddying circle, and involves in ruin all that it embraces. It is not the business of this Society, perhaps, to resolve itself into a “temperance association;” but there are precedents in its proceedings for direct action in the matter, at least so far as concerns the prisons. We have asked, by solemn resolve, that the use of tobacco may be restrained in the cells; not, perhaps, merely because tobacco is in itself so injurious, but principally because the use of that narcotic creates a thirst, which seems to have no appeasement but in strong drink. To use a salutary and direct influence, then, in diminishing drunkenness, must _a fortiori_ be within the plan of our Society.

But it may be said that while the use of tobacco has generally been among the admissible indulgence of prisoners, strong liquors have not been allowed. It is by no means certain that in other times the laboring prisoners were not allowed a regular, limited, supply of strong drink, but certainly not lately; yet as it is admitted that most of the criminal and vicious that are sent to our prisons owe their confinement to drunkenness, or at least make their condition worse by intoxication; and especially, as it is evident, that efforts to redeem from crime the released, are defeated by the facility with which intoxication may be had, it can scarcely be doubted that the Society is in the exercise of its legitimate powers, and in the discharge of its assumed duties, when it encourages all good efforts to lessen the prevailing sin and disgrace of the age, and lends its sanction to efforts directed to the diminution of the habit and the means of drunkenness.

How shall that be done? Shall this Society initiate a plan for promoting temperance, or shall it lend its hearty co-operation to some association that shall have for its principal object that which could only be a branch, a true, living branch, indeed, but only a branch of the duties of the Society for alleviating the miseries of prisons?

This Society can at least, and by the adoption of this Report, does, bear solemn testimony against the prevalence, the multiplication, and the existence of the magazines of mischief, where drunkenness is secured by the cost of the honor of the inebriate, and the disgrace of Society. Citizens who watch with most painful vigilance the action of the City Councils that enhance or diminish by a _single per cent._ the tax upon property, would consult their own interest more if they would look into this one cause of the increase of rates. But our business with the subject is in the interest of humanity. That is cheapest, at whatever cost, which produces the greatest good of the greatest number; and the good of the greatest number must depend on the promotion of sound morals.

With such a view of the prevalence of intemperance, and with such an avowal of the motives of humanity with which this Society regards all vices or crimes that go to make up the sum of the miseries of our public prisons, it may not be improper to state that among the institutions which humanity has yet to establish in Philadelphia, (it has already suggested it,) is a hospital or place of reception and treatment of inebriates. The prison punishes them, it does not cure; and few, excepting those who have seen the drunkard in the agonies of _delirium tremens_, or the terrors of _mania a potu_, can comprehend all the evils which the drunkard accumulates upon his own head, (the domestic misery which he insures, and the general scandal which he causes, may be otherwise considered,) but the personal suffering of the drunkard, after his committal for protracted debauch, is beyond description. It is not without some reason that the cells of the prison which are especially devoted to cases of _delirium_ and _mania_ are denominated “Purgatory,” though it would seem from the unutterable agonies and indescribable apprehension of the inmates that even if they should “go farther,” they would scarcely “fare worse.”

It is hoped, that when the national troubles that now occupy public attention, and draw upon the fiscal means of our citizens shall have ceased, there will be some effort in the direction of a “Hospital for Inebriates,” where proper moral and physical treatment may restore to families and society, those whose intemperate habits have alienated them from the affections of friends, or failing to restore them to reason and propriety, a home may be provided where they cannot by habitual indulgence, degrade themselves further, and by which families and friends may be spared the disgrace of a drunken inmate.

HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

In the preceding divisions of this Report, it has been shown that the County Prison is peopled and re-peopled by persons who pass regularly from vice to vice, or from one degree of vice to another, marking their progress with a short residence in the cells of the prison, remaining at the longest only thirty days, and associating with those who may be their teachers or pupils in misdemeanors. It is not pretended by those who send these offenders to the prison, that the incarceration will amend their habits,—it is only the means of punishment; nor is it more than desired,—scarcely to be hoped,—by those who seek to alleviate the miseries of the prison, that the confinement of thirty days will tend to repentance and amendment of the vicious offender.

It is evident that more is required,—more in the way of wholesome discipline, more in time, more in direct appeals and instruction, more in the enforcement of industry. The prison cannot do much more than it is doing for the vicious. The solemn pledges of the intemperate to avoid intoxicating drink are slightly regarded when the means of violation are enticingly offered, and all the vices which have procured imprisonment lose their terrors, or double their attractions, when the temporary punishment is accomplished.

It is evident then that we need a resort for the vicious that will offer to society some hope that even if the vice is not avoided, the vicious shall be kept where they will cease to degrade society by their misconduct and lead others to destruction by their example.

We need a “House of Correction,” a place to receive those men and women who will not be reclaimed by monitions, or short confinement. We need a place where time for thinking can be found, and where the food for reflection may be supplied.

But in this case we cannot throw the censure for deficiency on the Legislature of the State. The wants of the community are admitted, and the right to supply those wants granted: the means are withheld by the city authority. Resolutions for building a Municipal Hospital for the reception, care and cure of those attacked with the small-pox, are adopted, and the means for carrying into effect those resolutions are supplied by the Councils of the city. That is well, and denotes a paternal care, on their part, of the interest and health of their constituents. But why—when authority is given, why not provide a Hospital for those struck with the pestilence of drunkenness and the accumulated miseries that come in its train? Is there a disease in the whole catalogue of human suffering that is more epidemic, if not contagious, than intoxication? or is there one that multiplies itself more by social contact? And why then should the vagrant, the breaker of the peace, the drunkard, multiply his or her disease more than the sufferer by the small-pox or cholera? If the hospital for the small-pox is a retreat for the sufferer, and his family and neighborhood need to be relieved from the danger of his condition, the House of Correction would be no less an asylum for the vicious, in which they could grow better by care, and escape the evil of communicating their mental disease to their neighbors.

In whatever light the House of Correction is regarded, it presents the highest claims on society for its establishment. Is it to be a place into which the vicious are to be driven by the law, that they may be punished for their offence, and society saved the disgrace and danger of their presence? Society has a right to demand such a forceful withdrawal of the elements of crime from its midst. Is it to be a place of enforced refuge for the willing or unwilling victim of vice, where habits of disorder may be broken and new habits of industry and propriety established, where good counsel shall make reasonable and acceptable the moderate discipline of the place, where good example shall illustrate the lessons of good morals, and the exhibition of orderly propriety of the place be made to contrast with the squallor and misery of the resorts of vice from which the inmates have been gathered, and thus virtue enforced and resolutions of good formed, and their exercise for some time at least insured? Then it is solemnly urged that the House of Correction is called for by all that humanity can contrive and sound policy can suggest.

In this matter the Society has done its part, and is ready, when empowered, to continue its labor in the direction of amending the vicious. But whether the Society have or have not any direct relations with the House of Correction, it must feel that the interests of this great community, of humanity and of virtue, suffer by the delay in providing for its erection. If there be truth in the statements submitted with regard to the number and character of those who are habituées of the County Prison, we need no argument in favor of the House of Correction.

AUXILIARY SOCIETIES.

“To do good and to communicate” should be the object of every philanthropist, as it certainly is the aim of this Society; and it is with pleasure that we now announce that a correspondence between the President of the Society and several distinguished gentlemen in different parts of this State, warrant a hope that before long, Societies, auxiliaries to this, will be established in various counties of the Commonwealth, and the philanthropy of the good of both sexes will be called into new action and concentrated upon the great object of lessening the miseries of public prisons in their neighborhood, by suggesting improvements in the police and general administration of the establishments, and by dealing directly and affectionately with the miserable inmates of the cells or the crowded rooms.

The correspondence with those to whom the measure has been opened, shows a readiness on the part of some to begin the work; but prudential considerations have suggested a postponement of the undertaking, in some counties, till a strong and steady co-operation can be secured from those who are now absent in the service of the country, or till the state of the country will allow men of public spirit and of philanthropic principles to withdraw their attention from national matters. Certainly a postponement upon such grounds is to be preferred to a failure of efforts from a want of thorough co-operation.

It is desirable that auxiliary societies should be established, in order to call into exercise, and direct into proper channels, the spirit of philanthropy that abounds in our State, and to give object and employment to that self-denying devotion which marks the character of woman, and is found in a class of men that rarely are named with public benefactors, though they are found, when opportunities present, where humanity has its most repulsive duties and earns its highest rewards.

A correspondence between the parent Society and its auxiliaries in the interior of the State, or with independent associations laboring to the same end and with similar means, would diffuse information that would stimulate exertion and promote the great object of alleviating the miseries of prisoners. Especially would such auxiliaries often assist the agents and committees of the parent Society, by information as to the character of prisoners, and aid in procuring employment for the repentant vicious and criminal, who would strengthen their good resolution by seeking occupation where the chance of meeting old associates would be greatly diminished, and where temptations to a recurrence to former faults would not abound. It is now believed that the hopes of forming these auxiliaries will soon be realized. But there has always been found some difficulty in the first steps towards an organization. The willingness of many needs information to strengthen resolve; and especially is it found that where there is to be a concurrent action, there is great need of some representative of the views and sentiments of the parent Society, to concentrate and direct the efforts of those who, with the best motives and most earnest wishes for success, pause upon the initiatory step, from distrust as to their ability to organize and direct a society, or an apprehension that they may lack the hearty co-operation of others no less philanthropic or energetic than themselves.

We, perhaps, then shall need, at a proper time, some representative of the parent Society specially deputed to stir up the public mind in the direction of humanity in prisons, and to take advantage of the effects of his labors to unite the exertions of the good in the form of auxiliaries, that shall have their committees in every place of imprisonment, doing the work of philanthropy by alleviating the miseries of prisons and improving the moral condition of the prisoners. These auxiliaries will aid the parent Society in influencing legislation favorable to the cause of humanity, and, in proportion to their number and to the character of their members, they will be felt and their power acknowledged by the Representatives of the people, not in any attempt at dictation, but in the mild, steady presentation and advocacy of measures of amelioration that shall triumph by their inherent beauty and mercy, influencing public sentiment and purifying legislative enactments.

In a subsequent part of this Report, under the head of “Correspondence,” will be found large supplemental abstracts of British Parliamentary Reports; and it is thought that a few words explanatory of the British and Irish system might, in this part of our Report, be made useful in aid of the plan for auxiliaries. England has learned much from us in the work of Prison Discipline: we might learn something of her, (more, indeed, than we _shall_ acquire,) were our institutions more assimilated, and especially were we as geographically circumscribed as she is.