The duty of helpful men and women is not to rave about horrors
and failures and misfortunes, but to aim coolly at remedial measures;
and I am firmly convinced that such remedial measures can be employed
only by private effort. State interference is always to be deprecated;
individual action alone has power to better the condition of our
sorely-tempted race. With sorrow too keen for words, I hear of blighted
homes, intellects abased, children starved, careers wrecked, wives made
wretched, crime fostered; and I fully sympathize with the men and women
who are stung into wild speech by the sight of a curse that seems
all-powerful in Britain. But I prefer to cultivate a sedate and
scientific attitude of mind; I do not want to repeat catalogues of
evils; I want to point out ways whereby the intemperate may be cured.
Above all, I wish to abate the panic which paralyzes the minds of some
afflicted people, and which causes them to regard a drunkard or even a
tippler as a hopeless victim. "Hopeless" is a word used by ignorant
persons, by cowards, and by fools. When I hear some mourner say, "Alas!
we can do nothing with him--he is a slave!" I feel impelled to reply,
"What do you know about it? Have you given yourself the trouble to do
more than preach? Listen, and follow the simple directions which I lay
down for you.
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