CHAPTER XXVII.

Ben as a Reformer--His Opinions on the Temperance Question--Physical Culture--The Social Evil--Prisons and Penitentiaries--Gambling.

The reader who has followed these pages to the present point will, I think, admit that the life of Ben Hogan has been one of strange adventure and untiring activity. It would be singular, indeed, if such a career had not left strong impressions upon the mind of the man who has followed it. These impressions have given rise to convictions on many important questions, which, to my thinking, are sound and reasonable. I shall attempt to lay before the reader some of the opinions held by Ben Hogan touching the subjects of temperance and the social evil.

With respect to the first, it is Hogan's belief that the principle of total abstinence will never effect the reform which its advocates claim. The first distinction to be drawn is that between temperance and total abstinence. The words have come to be used by many persons as synonymous; but their meaning is widely different. A man may drink wine, beer, or spirits all his life, and still be strictly temperate. If we apply this rule to anything excepting intoxicating drinks, its validity will at once be apparent. For example: Beef is an excellent article of diet, and yet a man may use it in such excessive quantities as to overstrain the digestive organs and bring about all manner of diseases. We are not to reason from this that men should give up beef altogether. Its abuse, and not use, alone, is to be condemned.

So with liquor. If pure wine or whiskey can be obtained, and if it is taken only in moderation, it is an established fact that the system is not injured. But, says the advocate of total abstinence, hundreds of men cannot take liquor in moderation. If they touch it at all, they go at once to the wildest excesses. This is a fact; but for the sake of sound argument we must go behind the fact. Why is it that a man cannot touch liquor without plunging into excess? Because his system has been broken down by the vile stuff which is sold in most of the bar-rooms of this country. He does not know what pure liquor is; and having once become accustomed to the destroying fluids, which are sold under all sorts of names, it is doubtful whether he would appreciate the genuine article, even if he got it.

For more than forty years the doctrines of total abstinence have been preached in this country. Young men have been told that whatever would intoxicate should be shunned as a poison; and with this terrible announcement ringing in their ears, they have stepped into the nearest saloon and tested the poison in the shape of a cocktail. The Neal Dows and Murphys and Oliver Cotters have given their theory a fair trial; and the result is--what? That, making due allowance for the increase in population, there is to-day three times the amount of drunkenness in the United States that there was forty years ago. This stubborn fact would seem to knock the bottom out of the total abstinence theory. Evidently we are on the wrong track to suppress drunkenness. In Germany, everybody drinks beer and Rhine wine; yet Germany is freer from the evil of intoxication than any country in the world. In France, claret flows as freely as water; and yet you rarely see a Frenchman drunk. In the United States, nobody is supposed to drink anything, and the rates of drunkenness are alarming.

Now it is Hogan's theory that if light wines and lager beer were made the common beverages of the people, there would be a steady decrease in drunkenness. Instead of attempting to prove to men that a glass of wine is as bad as a dose of poison, show them that a glass of wine is infinitely better than a glass of whisky, and you will carry conviction with your argument. Let beer gardens and wine rooms be made respectable, as they are on the continent of Europe. Let a man be able to take his wife and family into these places, and not be obliged to stand behind a screen and guzzle down the adulterated stuff in company with sots and ruffians. It is fair to assume that men will go on drinking in the future as they have done in the past. Stimulus is a natural craving of the system, especially where life is run on the high-pressure principle which it is in this country. Let us not undertake the impossible task of shutting off this stimulus--of preventing men from drinking altogether--but rather let us seek to make the beverages comparatively harmless.

The facilities for producing light, pure wines in this country, at an expense which shall place them within reach of all, are unexampled. California and the Ohio Valley could and should furnish wine enough to supply the whole United States without importing a bottle. The manufacture of lager beer has already become a most important industry. To our mind, lager is destined to do more for the cause of true temperance than all the ranting and radical speeches that were ever delivered on the subject. Persuade a man to drink a glass of beer instead of the manufactured stuff sold as whisky, and you put him out of the danger of delirium tremens. These views, it is to be remembered, are entertained by a man who has had abundant opportunities to study the evil effects of liquors. So thoroughly convinced did Hogan become of the impossibility of furnishing pure spirits to his patrons, that just before leaving the oil regions he refused to sell any more distilled liquors. He told his customers plainly that it was an impossibility to get good whisky. He gave them beer and wine if they wanted it, but refused to help on the traffic in adulterated liquors.

Briefly summarized, then, Ben Hogan's views on temperance are these:

First, absolute purity in all liquors.

Second, the substitution of beer and light wines for whisky and other strong drinks.

Third, the regeneration of places where wine and beer may be obtained, so that they can be visited by anybody without the sacrifice of respectability.

Certainly these views are reasonable, and since the total abstinence doctrine has met with such signal failure, would it not be worth while to give them a fair trial?

Closely allied to this question of temperance in Hogan's mind is that of physical culture. He is a thorough believer in the old Latin proverb, "A sound mind and a sound body." His own opportunities for mental acquirements have been, as we have seen, limited. But if he has never delved much into books, he has picked up a large stock of useful information which the schools do not teach. Observation has taught him that all cultivation of the mind which is made at the expense of the body is to be counted in the end an unprofitable experiment. The Book of books has asked what it shall profit a man to win the whole world and lose his own soul? It may also be asked, What shall it profit a man to get the wisdom of sages, and lose his health?

This word health means nothing more than a perfect operation of all the functions of the human system. To obtain so desirable an end, is certainly worth time and thought. Ninety-nine parents out of a hundred put their children into school, and are tenacious about their mental growth, while they leave the body to care for itself. Physical culture ought to begin as early as that of the mind. A boy should be taught the laws of health before he is taught the laws of arithmetic or grammar. Yet, while money is freely expended to train the intellect, it is only in rare instances that a child is put through a proper course of physical training.

It is a generally accepted fact that a perfectly healthy condition of the body begets a corresponding state of mind. The mind, in short, is that indefinable something--even the metaphysicians have not determined what--but which relates to the brain, and is largely dependent upon that organ for its operations. Now, the brain, as we know, is matter. It has substance, color, and weight. It is, in short, a part of the body. When the brain becomes disordered, reason loses its control, and the result is insanity. On the other hand, if the body is kept well and strong, the brain performs its work without difficulty, and a person is prepared to grapple with the problems of life successfully.

All this leads up to the argument which Hogan advances in favor of physical culture. Let a man devote a part of his time to the development of his muscles. He will be better and stronger in every way if he does. Proper and persistent exercise is the best medicine in the world. A pair of dumb-bells contain more virtue than a dozen prescriptions. A sand-bag may be made far more efficacious than the biggest box of pills ever compounded. If your spirits are low, if you are subject to fits of despondency, and find yourself looking upon the world with jaundiced eyes; if the color goes out of your cheek, and your digestion is bad; if, in short, you are one of the innumerable stoop-shouldered, sunken-eyed, and sallow-faced army, throw physic to the dogs, and go into a gymnasium. Put up the bells--ten pounders, perhaps, at first, but if you keep at it perseveringly, you will raise a hundred in time. Learn to box, to fence, to swing Indian clubs, to turn on the bar, and to walk. This last accomplishment is really the most difficult of all. Not walking from your house to your office or your shop, but getting over the ground in the true pedestrian style, and counting the distance by miles, not rods. Hogan has frequently made his thirty or forty miles a day, simply for recreation. It is such walking as this that will put the blood into an active circulation, and improve the whole system.

To be of any lasting benefit to a man, physical exercise must be constant and continuous. It must not be practiced by fits and starts. Steady work is the only thing which will bring the desired result. Surely, a man would better devote an hour each day to the preservation of his health, than pay exorbitant doctors' bills, or be forced to give up work altogether. The Americans, of all people in the world, need this relaxation. They live upon the constant strain. Mind and body alike are even worked. The rest afforded by proper gymnastic exercise would be as grateful as it would be beneficial. If we want to build up a strong and sturdy race of people, we must attend to physical training as one of the most important things in life.

Hogan is free from any hobby in this matter. He has no particular kind of exercise to recommend other than that which may be found in all gymnasiums. His argument simply is, that people shall develop their brawn as well as brain, leaving the method to be adopted to individual choice.

A third question, which from time immemorial has agitated the public mind, has received thorough and careful consideration by Ben Hogan. That question is the social evil.

Let nobody question the right of such a man as the hero of this book has been shown to be to pass judgment upon this all-important subject. It is to men who have gained a practical knowledge of such matters that we must turn for true reform. The theorizers who preach from the pulpits may be all well enough in their doctrines, but the practice of what they preach is impossible. As has been justly said, the wise legislator seeks to enact such laws as may be put in effect. It would be an excellent thing, no doubt, if murder and theft, and crime of every description, could be done away with altogether; but no laws can be enacted to compass this desirable end. The statute book can only throw about society a safeguard; it cannot exterminate the evils to which men are prone.

So, then, in dealing with this perplexing question, we must look the facts squarely in the face. It is a fact, to begin with, that women have prostituted themselves in all stages of the world's history. It is a fact, from the very nature of society, that this evil will continue so long as the passions of men overmaster and control their reason. It is a fact, that in every city and town of any considerable size in the United States there are a greater or smaller number of houses devoted to the propagation of illicit intercourse. It is a fact that all the laws which thus far have been enacted with a view to suppressing this evil have ignominiously failed of their purpose. It is a fact that man is addicted to folly, and that woman is weak. Until society is reconstructed on a different basis from the present, these things will undoubtedly remain as they now are. How, then, shall the evil be met?

Ben Hogan holds the views of a man who has studied the question in all its bearings. His conclusions may not be in accord with religious teachings nor Sunday-school law makers; but I think they are strictly in accord with common sense.

He claims at the outset that the social evil cannot be exterminated. The one thing, therefore, left to do is to render it as harmless as possible, and to surround it by such legal safeguards as may be practicable. First, let the house of prostitution be regularly licensed. This is no new idea, nor is it untried even in this country. In St. Louis and some other Southern cities the plan has been adopted, certainly with better effects than the abortive attempts to suppress such places altogether. On the Continent of Europe it is the almost universal practice to grant such licenses. Let us consider briefly the advantages arising from such a course.

If a sporting house is regarded as a legal institution--which of course it is, in case of a license--then the law is able to take it in hand, and dictate such rules as it sees fit. This enables such places to become respectable in so far as it is possible for them to be so under any circumstances. A license necessarily carries with it certain conditions and restrictions. Let these be made so binding and severe that it will be impossible for any diseased woman to offer her body for prostitution. Let a board of examining physicians call at the houses at regular intervals, and make a thorough examination of the inmates.

Just here I fancy some over-righteous reader may be tempted to throw down this volume in disgust.

"What!" exclaims such a one, "would you make this miserable traffic more widespread than it already is?"

Common sense, and not morality, must dictate the answer. These places will exist in spite of preachers and police. The sensible, worldly plan should be to make them as productive of as little evil as possible. When a man holds illicit intercourse with a woman, it is assumed that he breaks the law of God; but, unfortunately, no means has ever yet been devised to prevent a man from sinning. He is a free moral agent, responsible for his acts, and accountable for the disposition which he makes of his days on this earth. But while the laws of society cannot prevent a man from breaking the laws of God, it can restrain him from rushing into those excesses which may injure others beside himself.

Another advantage--and this also, it is to be remembered, is of purely a worldly nature--arising from granting licenses to sporting houses would be the revenue returned to the municipal government. Here again the pious reader may take offense at the line of argument. And yet he thinks nothing of profiting by the tax which is laid upon liquor dealers. Nevertheless, rum is as certain an agent of the devil, according to the strict Puritanic view, as anything in the world. "Wine and women are equally destructive to the soul," say the preachers.

But the question cannot be argued upon the basis of morality. It must be regarded, as has already been intimated, purely from a practical point of view. It is a fact not be disputed, that if houses of this character were compelled to pay a license, the money thus received would amount to a very considerable sum, especially in the larger cities. This revenue might, if desirable, be devoted to the erection of Magdalen houses, or even to the foundation of Young Men's Christian Associations.

Then, again, if the houses were licensed, it would tend to make them more orderly. As it is at present, they are outlaws at best, and therefore there is no incentive to keep them within the bounds of decency. But if their existence depended upon their conduct--that is, if the license was to be revoked in case of any disorderly outbreak--then the proprietors would see to it that order was maintained.

To recapitulate, the license system would secure freedom from sexual diseases, a rich source of revenue to city governments, and comparative freedom from scenes of violence and disorder.

Such are Ben Hogan's views with regard to the manner of conducting sporting houses. Another, and perhaps more interesting phase of the case, deals with the treatment of women who have gone astray.

In nine cases out of ten the fault lies not with the girl who follows the downward path, but with the world. Without indulging in any of the stale and sickly sentimentality respecting the guilt of the man who seduces a woman, it may be said that society makes prostitutes by its method of dealing with the erring. Take the example of a girl who has fallen from the strict paths of virtue. Her offence, we may say, is the result of thoughtlessness, of temptation, of passion. She finds herself robbed of that priceless jewel which she has been taught, or should have been taught, to regard as more sacred than anything else in life. Still she has not become hardened or criminal by her one misstep. She might, at this stage in her career, easily be reclaimed. But what is the treatment which she receives? Her friends cast her off, her home is shut against her. Even those nearest and dearest to her steel their hearts and regard her as a stranger. What possible alternative is there left but to follow in the path which she has already entered?

Let us suppose that this girl is young, innocent, and ignorant of the ways of the world. She finds herself an outcast, wholly unfitted to fight the stern battle of life single-handed. She has been taught nothing that will avail her in this hour of extremity. Perhaps she is able to play on the piano, to crochet, and to speak a few words of doubtful French. These accomplishments afford but a sorry means for gaining an honest livelihood.

In sharp contrast to the misery and privation which present themselves on the side of virtue, is the luxurious ease of a life of vice. Is it any wonder that the weak girl chooses this latter path? It seems broad and smooth and tempting to the feet. The other is dark and narrow, with sharp thorns in the way and no sunshine ahead.

So the girl enters upon the course which a thousand have trod before her, only to bring up at the inevitable goal of wretchedness and despair. She cannot see the end at the beginning of her career. For a time she finds all rosy and delightful. She lives in a whirl of excitement. If, now and then, memories of the past--thoughts of home and friends thrust themselves before her mind, she resolutely crushes them out with the bitter reflection that those who should have been her protectors have cast her aside. She follows the gay life for a brief time, drinks in the intoxicating pleasures of the moment, and awakens, sooner or later, to find herself stripped of her beauty, forsaken, and without a refuge except that offered by gracious death. This picture is no exaggeration. It finds its counterpart in nature every hour of every day of every year. Now, think for a moment how differently this girl's life might have been shaped had her first offense been forgiven. Suppose the parents of the girl had said to her upon the discovery of her first wayward step:

"You have been tempted, and the temptation has proved greater than you can bear. But we will forgive and forget. Let the past be wiped out forever. Your life is still before you, and you may redeem yourself yet. Our love shall cover your sin, and you shall still be to us a beloved and loving child."

Words like these would save many a woman from a life of shame, but words like these are too rarely spoken. Are those Christians who are so ready to hurl the first stone? Have they forgotten the words of Him who bade Magdalen of old to "Go, sin no more?"

The common error is to assume that when a woman once loses her virtue, she thereby forfeits all claims to respect. With men sin is smoothed over, and sometimes even admired. Stokes commits murder, and at the end of his term of imprisonment returns to New York, mingles in the gay society which knew him of old, and gazes critically through his opera-glasses from the box of the theatre. He has committed a crime, to be sure, he is an ex-convict, and all that; but society does not hesitate to receive him back with open arms.

The worst libertine that walks the earth may still hold his head erect in the charmed circles of aristocratic society. But the woman who once goes astray is lost forever. The taint of suspicion is about her, and, strive as she may, the doors of respectability, of decency, of an honest life, are barred against her.

Why should this distinction be made between the wrong-doing of man and the wrong-doing of woman? No other answer can be made to this question than that society has so willed it. Now, society, in this matter, as in many others, is at fault. The girl who has fallen from the upright course should be given a fair chance to reform. She should not be branded with the scarlet letter for a sin which, in many cases, is less her fault than that of another.

This question of reform leads me to speak of another matter, which has claimed much of Hogan's attention. All over the country there are so-called asylums for fallen women, reform schools, and charitable institutions without number. Besides these, are the prisons and jails, which are supposed to be instrumental in making their inmates better. How much good do you suppose these institutions accomplish.

Take the reform school, for example, as it is found in almost every county in the more populous States. A boy who has been guilty of some minor offense, or who is found difficult to manage, is committed to one of these schools, professedly with a view to reformation. Instead of learning anything good, he falls in with a class of boys more hardened than himself, and from these he gets his first lesson in crime. Reference to this very point has been made in the preceding pages, where it was attempted to show that Hogan's brief sojourn in the Rochester Reform School fell far short of reforming him.

If this is true of the institution in which boys alone are confined, it is still more true of our prisons and penitentiaries. There the association with hardened criminals does more to foster crime than any other one thing in the world. A man may enter such a place comparatively innocent, but, after serving out an average sentence, he will return to the world thoroughly posted in the ways of evil. The great mistake lies in huddling all classes of prisoners together like so many sheep, and treating them as if they were all equally guilty. The young man, for example, who may have been driven by necessity to commit his first theft, and who might, under proper circumstances, be made a useful member of society, finds himself sandwiched between a veteran cracksman and a life-long adventurer. From such companionship it is only natural that he draws a fund of information which fits him only for a career of crime. All the good that may have been in him when he entered the institution is eradicated before he leaves.

If this be true in the case of men and boys, it is even more so with respect to women. The latter find in the institutions, which are supposed to be reformatory in their nature, the vilest kind of associations. Indeed, it may be safely asserted that when a woman once enters a prison or penitentiary, her utter ruin is inevitable.

Still another subject which has claimed Hogan's attention is that of gambling. Here, again, his personal experience is large enough to enable him to speak understandingly. A man who has himself lost and won thousands of dollars over the green cloth, is perhaps better fitted to express himself on the evil than one who has no practical knowledge of its operations.

To begin with, no man who voluntarily enters a gambling room has a right to grumble if he loses his money. He is tempting fortune, and fortune is too fickle to be trusted without bitter disappointment. Even supposing that a man is playing at a perfectly square game, his chances of winning are less than even. But, in modern times, and in this country especially, absolutely square games are rarely found. The general policy among all professional gamblers is to take unfair advantage of their victims. Let it be understood that Ben Hogan does not denounce all men who make a business of gambling. He has counted among his personal acquaintances many of this class who were naturally generous and noble-hearted men. But the very nature of their occupation tends to blunt the sense of honor, and to make them treacherous even to their best friends. Outside of the game they may be genial, open-handed and companionable; but the power of the cards is such that they lose these qualities as soon as they are engaged in play.

This dishonesty is, in short, but another form of the petty trickery resorted to in almost all branches of business. The grocer sells stale butter, if he can find a purchaser; the butcher cuts the bone so that it weighs more than the meat; the baker makes his bread an ounce lighter than the regulation weight, and the dry-goods dealer measures cloth so that thirty-five inches make a yard. All these things are counted a species of shrewdness by those who practice them. On precisely the same principle, the gambler deals from the bottom of the pack, or stacks the cards whenever he thinks he can do so without detection. In one case, the dishonesty is called sharp bargaining; in the other, it is called cheating. Both are equally disreputable, and, therefore, the gambler is not to be signaled out for especial denunciation.

But knowing that he will be swindled, if possible, the man who gambles has no claim for sympathy. When he enters a faro bank, for instance, he should reflect that the men who are running the place do so in the expectation of making money; if they cannot make it fairly, they will make it by questionable means; and they will not be dainty in the selection of their victims. If, therefore, the man loses his money, he has nobody but himself to blame.

All these opinions are, it will be admitted, sound and reasonable. If Ben Hogan's views could be infused into the public mind, the world would be the better for it.