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TEMPERANCE

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 581 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TEMPERANCE . The word " temperance," which strictly means. moderation, has acquired a particular meaning in connexion with intoxicating liquor, and it is here used in that limited sense. The " temperance question " is the See also:

equivalent in See also:English of l'alcoolisme and Alkoholismus in See also:French and See also:German-speaking countries respectively; it embraces all the problems that arise in connexion with the use or abuse of alcoholic drink. This usage has arisen from the practice of See also:societies formed for the purpose of suppressing or reducing the See also:consumption of such liquors, and calling themselves Temperance Societies. Their activity is often spoken of as the Temperance See also:Movement, though that See also:term properly covers very much wider ground. See also:Historical.—Ever since See also:man in some distant See also:age first discovered that See also:process of See also:fermentation by which See also:sugar is converted into See also:alcohol and carbonic See also:acid, and experienced the intoxicating effects of the liquor so produced, there has been, in a sense, a temperance question. The records of the See also:ancient See also:Oriental civilizations contain many references to it, and from very remote times efforts were made by priests, sages or -See also:law-givers in See also:India, See also:Persia, See also:China, See also:Palestine, See also:Egypt, See also:Greece and See also:Carthage to combat the See also:vice of See also:drunkenness. But the evil appears never to have been so See also:great or the See also:object of so much See also:attention in the ancient See also:world as in Western countries and our own era. Two circumstances mainly differentiate the See also:modern problem; one is the use of distilled See also:waters or See also:spirits as a beverage, and the other the See also:climatic conditions prevailing in the more See also:northern latitudes which are the See also:home of Western See also:civilization. The intoxicating drinks used by the ancients were wines obtained from grapes or other fruits and beers from various kinds of See also:grain. These products were not confined to the See also:East, but were known to the ancient civilizations of See also:Mexico and See also:Peru and even to See also:primitive peoples who used the sugar-containing juices and other substances indigenous in their See also:country. In the See also:time of the See also:Romans the barbarians in the See also:north of See also:Europe used fermented liquors made from See also:honey (See also:mead), See also:barley (See also:beer) and apples (See also:cider} in See also:place of See also:grape-See also:wine.

All such drinks produce See also:

intoxication if taken in sufficient quantity; but their See also:action is so much slower and less violent than that of distilled spirits that even their abuse did not give rise to any opposition that can properly be called a movement, and the distinction has repeatedly formed the basis of legislation in several countries down to this See also:day. Extremists now place all alcohol-containing drinks under the same See also:ban, but fermented liquors are still generally held to be comparatively innocuous; nor can any one deny that there is a difference. It is safe to say that if spirits had never been discovered the See also:history of the question would have been entirely different. The See also:distillation of essences from various substances seems to have been known to the ancients and to have been carried on by the Arabians in the dark ages; but potable spirits were not known until the 13th See also:century. The distilled essence of wine or aqua vitae (See also:brandy) is mentioned then as a new See also:discovery by Arnoldus de See also:Villa Nova, a chemist and physician, who regarded it, from the chemical or medical point of view, as a divine product. It probably came into use very gradually, but once the See also:art of distillation had been mastered it was extended to other alcoholic substances in countries where wine was not grown. See also:Malt, from which beer had been made from time immemorial, was naturally used for the ' Hence it used to be called " See also:water-See also:work "; see See also:Shakespeare, See also:Hen. IV., See also:part ii. See also:act ii. sc. I. purpose, and then See also:gin or See also:Geneva spirits and See also:whisky or usquebagh (Irish for " water of See also:life ") were added to grape brandy; then came See also:corn brandy in the north and east of Europe, See also:rum from sugar canes in the Indies, See also:potato spirit, and eventually, as the process was perfected, rectified See also:ethyl alcohol from almost anything containing sugar or See also:starch. The concentrated See also:form of alcohol, thus evolved, for a See also:long time carried with it the See also:prestige of a divine essence from the See also:middle ages when See also:chemistry was a mysterious art allied to all sorts of superstitions. It had potent properties and was held to possess great virtue.

This view is embodied in the name " water of life," and was at one time universally held; traces of it still linger among the very ignorant. 'Ardent spirit seemed particularly desirable to the habitants of the See also:

cold and See also:damp regions of northern Europe, where the See also:people took to it with avidity and imbibed it without See also:restraint when it became cheap and accessible. That happened in See also:England, as related in the See also:article on LIQUOR See also:LAWS, in the See also:early part of the 18th century; and out of the frightful results which followed there eventually arose the modern Temperance Movement. The legislature had been busy with the liquor See also:traffic for more than two centuries previously, but its task had been the repression of disorder; the thing was a See also:nuisance and had to be checked in the interests of public See also:order. It is significant that though drunkenness had been prevalent from the earliest times, the disorder which forced legislative See also:control did not make its See also:appearance until after the introduction of spirits; but they were not cheap enough to be generally accessible until the home manufacture of gin was encouraged towards the end of the 17th century, and consequently their use did not cause visible demoralization on a large See also:scale until then. When, however, the spirit bars in See also:London put up signboards, as related by See also:Smollett, inviting people to be " drunk for one See also:penny " and " dead drunk for 2d.," with " See also:straw for nothing " on which to See also:sleep off the effects, the full significance of unlimited See also:indulgence in spirits became visible. Speaking in the See also:House of Lords in 1743 See also:Lord See also:Lonsdale said: " In every part of this great See also:metropolis whoever shall pass along the streets will find wretchedness stretched upon the See also:pavement, insensible and motionless, and only removed by the charity of passengers from the danger of being crushed by carriages or trampled by horses or strangled with filth in the See also:common sewers. These liquors not only infatuate the mind but See also:poison the See also:body; they not only fill our streets with madness and our prisons with criminals, but our hospitals with cripples. . . . Those See also:women who See also:riot in this poisonous debauchery are quickly disabled from bearing See also:children, or produce children diseased from their See also:birth." The latter part of this See also:quotation is particularly interesting because it proves the participation of women in public drunkenness at this See also:period and shows that the See also:physical ruin caused by excess and its See also:national consequences were then for the first time recognized. It was the first step towards the inauguration of the Temperance Movement in the sense of a spontaneous and conscious effort on the part of the community as distinguished from the action of authority responsible for public decency. The need was only realized by degrees.

Intemperance was one of many questions which we can now see were struggling into existence during the latter See also:

half of the 18th century, to become the subject See also:matter of " social reform " in the loth. Like the See also:majority of them it was a question of bodily welfare, of See also:health. A See also:breach had been made in the unthinking traditional belief in the' virtue of alcoholic liquor by the experiences referred to; and medical thought, as soon as it began to busy itself with health as distinguished from the treatment of disease, took the matter up. In 1804 Dr Trotter of See also:Edinburgh published a See also:book on the subject, which was an expansion of his See also:academic thesis written in 1788; Dr See also:Benjamin See also:Rush of See also:Philadelphia, a distinguished See also:American physician and politician, who had studied in Edinburgh and London, wrote a striking See also:paper on the same subject in the same See also:year; and very soon after this the organized Temperance Movement was set on See also:foot in the See also:United States, where the See also:habit of spirit-drinking had been transplanted from the See also:British Islands. Temperance Organization.—In 1808 a temperance society was founded at See also:Saratoga in the See also:state of New See also:York, and in .1813. the See also:Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance made its appearance. These seem to have been the earliest organizations, though the See also:device of a See also:pledge of See also:abstinence had been introduced in 1800. The movement made rapid progress mainly under the See also:influence ,of the Churches. In 1826 the American Society for the Promotion of Temperance was founded in See also:Boston, and by 1833 there were 60oo See also:local societies in several states with more than a million members. The See also:campaign was for the most part directed against the use of spirits only, and the proposal to include all alcoholic drinks in the pledge of abstinence, though adopted by a few societie6 was rejected in 1833 by the American Society, but accepted in 1836 and retained ever since. In Europe the earliest organizations were formed in See also:Ireland. A temperance See also:club is said to have been started at See also:Skibbereen in 1818, and others followed; but it was in 1829 that the organized movement began to make effectual progress with the formation of the See also:Ulster Temperance Society. By the end of that year there were twenty-five societies in Ireland and two or three in See also:Scotland.

In 1830 the movement spread to York-See also:

shire and See also:Lancashire, and supported a newspaper called the Temperance Societies' See also:Record, according to which there were then 127 societies with 23,000 paying members and 60,000 associated abstainers. In 1831 the British and See also:Foreign Temperance Society was founded in London with the See also:Bishop of London (See also:Blomfield) for See also:president and See also:Archbishop See also:Sumner for one of the vice-presidents. This important society, of which See also:Queen See also:Victoria became See also:patron on her See also:accession in 1837, came to an end in 1850, when the whole cause was under an See also:eclipse. At the time it was formed temperance meant abstinence from spirits, as at first in the United States; but very soon afterwards the more drastic form of See also:total abstinence began to be urged in the north of England and acquired the name of See also:teetotalism from " tee-total," a local intensive for " total." It led to strife in the societies and damaged the cause, which suffered in public estimation from the intemperance of some of its See also:advocates. The early promise of the movement was not fulfilled; it ceased to grow after a few years and then declined, both in the United See also:Kingdom and in the United States. The most remarkable See also:episode in the temperance campaign at this period was the See also:mission of the Rev. See also:Theobald See also:Mathew of See also:Cork, commonly known as See also:Father Mathew, the greatest of all temperance missionaries. He travelled through Ireland in the years 1838–42 and everywhere excited intense See also:enthusiasm. People flocked to hear him and took the pledge in crowds. In 1841 the number of abstainers in Ireland was estimated to be 4,647,000, which is more than the entire See also:population to-day. In three years the consumption of spirits See also:fell from ro,815,000 to 5,290,000 gallons. This was not all due to Father Mathew, because great depression and See also:distress prevailed at the same time, but he unquestionably exercised an extraordinary influence.

In 1843 he went to England, where he had less, though still great, success, and in 185o to See also:

America. He died in 1856, by which time the cause had fallen into a depressed state in both countries. In the United States a flash of enthusiasm of a similar See also:character, but on a smaller scale, known as the Washingtonian movement, had appeared about the same time. It was started in See also:Baltimore by a See also:knot of reformed drunkards in 1840 and was carried on by means of public meetings; many societies were formed and some half-million persons took the pledge, including many reformed drunkards. But the public See also:grew weary of the agitation and enthusiasm died down. The decline of moral suasion and of the societies was followed by a tendency to have recourse to compulsion and to secure by legislation that abstinence from alcoholic drinks which the public would not voluntarily adopt or would not maintain when adopted. In 1845 a law prohibiting the public See also:sale of liquor was passed in New York State but repealed in 1847; in 1851 state See also:prohibition was adopted in See also:Maine (see LIQUOR LAWS). The same tendency was manifested in England by the formation in 1853 of the United Kingdom See also:Alliance " to procure the total and immediate legislative suppression of the traffic in intoxicating liquors as beverages." Since that time the organized movement has embraced both elements, the voluntary and the compulsory, and has combined the inculcation of individual abstinence with the promotion of legislation for the reduction or suppression of the traffic. On the whole the latter has predominated, particularly in the United States, where -organized 'agitation has for more than half a century made temperance a See also:political question and has produced the various experiments in legislation of which an See also:account is given in the article on LIQUOR Laws. In 1869 a National Prohibition Party was formed. In Great See also:Britain the political See also:element has been less predominant but sufficiently pronounced to form a distinguishing feature between the early and more enthusiastic See also:stage of temperance agitation, which after lasting some twenty years suffered a reaction, and the later one, which began between 186o and 187o and made way more gradually. In addition to combining the moral and the political elements the modern movement is characterized by the following features : (1) See also:international organization, (2) organized co-operation of women.

(3) juvenile temperance, (4) teaching of temperance in See also:

schools and elsewhere, (5) scientific study of alcohol and See also:inebriety. (t) International organization appears to have been started by the Order of See also:Good See also:Templars, a society of abstainers formed in 1851 at See also:Utica in New York State. It spread over the United States and See also:Canada, and in 1868 was introduced into Great Britain. Some years later it was extended to Scandinavia, where it is very strong. Temperance societies had previously existed in See also:Norway from 1836 and in See also:Sweden from 1837; these seem to be the earliest examples on the See also:continent of Europe. The Good Templar organization has spread to several other See also:European countries, to See also:Australasia, India, See also:South and See also:West See also:Africa and South America. There are several other international societies, and international congresses have been held, the first in 1885 at See also:Antwerp. A World's Prohibition See also:Conference was held in London in 1909. It was attended by about 300 delegates from temperance societies in nearly all parts of the world, and resulted in the See also:foundation of an International Prohibition Federation, which embraces every country in Europe with three or four See also:minor exceptions, the United States, Mexico, See also:Argentina, the British self-governing Dominions, India, China, See also:Japan, Palestine, See also:Tunisia and See also:Hawaii. The formation of this body indicates the growth of the most uncompromising form of antagonism to the liquor traffic. Its object is the total abolition of the legalized traffic throughout the world. (2) The organization of women, which has also become inter-national, See also:dates from 1874, when the National Women's See also:Christian Temperance See also:Union was founded at See also:Cleveland in the United States.

In 1907 it had branches in every state in the Union and in about to,000 towns and villages with an aggregate membership of 350,000, It employs all means, educational and social as well as political, but it has exercised great influence in promoting that drastic legislation which characterizes the United States. It has also taken up many other questions See also:

relating to women, in addition to temperance, and has adopted the badge of a See also:white ribbon. About the year 1883 See also:Miss Frances See also:Willard, who had been the moving spirit of the Union, carried the organization of women into other lands and formed the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, which now possesses branches in some fifty countries with a total membership of half a million. It has held several conventions in America and Europe and circulated a polyglot See also:petition, said to be the largest on record, which has been presented to a large number of sovereigns and other heads of states. There are several other See also:female organizations in the United Kingdom. (3) The inclusion of children in temperance organization goes back to 1847, when a society was formed at See also:Leeds, in See also:Yorkshire, of juvenile abstainers who had taken the pledge; it took the name of See also:Band of See also:Hope. The practice spread, and in 1851 a Band of Hope Union was formed. There are now a number of such unions, for the United Kingdom, Scotland, Ireland and See also:separate counties in England; the Bands of Hope are said to number 15,000 in all. There are also several other juvenile organizations, some of which are branches of the adult societies. By far the largest is the juvenile See also:section of the See also:Church of England Temperance Society, which has 485,888 members (1910). Children's societies in the United States are usually called the Loyal Temperance See also:Legion, but there are some Bands of Hope also. On the continent of Europe juvenile organizations exist in several countries and notably in Sweden and See also:Belgium (societes scolaires).

(4) The teaching of temperance in schools, which has become a great feature of the moral propaganda, was begun by private effort In 1852, when the See also:

late Mr See also:John Hope inaugurated a See also:regular weeklyvisitation of day-schools in Edinburgh. In 1875. at the invitation of the National Temperance See also:League, the late See also:Sir Benjamin See also:Richard-son wrote his Temperance See also:Lesson Book, which was adopted by many schools as a primer. In 1889 school-teaching by travelling lecturers was taken up by the United Kingdom Band of Hope Union, and the example was followed by many other societies. The Band of Hope Unions in England alone have spent over 3000 a year for the last twenty years in itinerant lectures; object-lessons on the nature and effects of alcoholic drinks are given to children in the higher See also:standards. The Church of England Temperance Society carries on similar work in diocesan schools, and examines the children in the subject of temperance; in 1909 it had in use 6000 See also:lantern slides for lectures, and set 7598 examination papers. The voluntary temperance teaching having grown continuously and become very extensive, has led to action by central See also:education authorities. In 1906 the See also:Board of Education in Ireland made " See also:Hygiene and Temperance " a compulsory subject in the public schools. In 1909 the Board of Education for England issued a See also:syllabus of temperance teaching, the See also:adoption of which in elementary schools is optional. In Scotland also courses of teaching in hygiene and temperance are permissive and have been adopted by many local educational authorities. In the United States compulsory teaching is of much longer See also:standing and more advanced. The question was first taken up by the Women's Christian Temperance Union (see above) in 1879; it was believed that by teaching the physiological effects of alcohol to all children the problem of in-temperance would be effectually " solved," and a systematic political campaign was planned and carried out for the purpose of obtaining compulsory legislation to give effect to this See also:idea. The campaign was successful in New York in 1884, in See also:Pennsylvania in 1885 and subsequently in other states.

Laws have now been passed in every state and territory, making See also:

anti-alcohol teaching part of the curriculum in the public schools, and See also:tobacco is usually included. The manner of teaching has given rise to much controversy and opposition. Temperance is taught in connexion with See also:physiology and hygiene, but the promoters of the movement insisted that prominence should be given to it and that the See also:text-books should be adapted accordingly. Consequently a class of text-books came into use which were offensive to men of See also:science and well-educated teachers because they contained false statements and See also:absolute nonsense. The effect of forcing teachers to See also:teach what they knew to be untrue was very unfortunate, and in some states the laws have undergone revision. With regard to other countries the practice varies greatly. School-teaching is compulsory in Canada, except in See also:Quebec and See also:Prince See also:Edward See also:Island, where it is permissive; in See also:France since 1902; in Sweden since 1892, and in See also:Iceland. It is recognized by authority but optional in See also:Australia, South Africa, some provinces of India, Belgium, See also:Finland, See also:Denmark, Norway, See also:Germany, See also:Austria-See also:Hungary and See also:Switzerland. The movement in favour of school-teaching is continuously and generally advancing. (5) The scientific study of the physiology and See also:pathology of alcohol is a very large subject in itself. As has been shown above, the pioneers of the temperance movement were medical men; and though the Churches soon became the See also:chief moving force, doctors have always exercised an influence, and in more See also:recent times since people learnt to See also:bow down to the name of Science there has been a marked tendency to have recourse to scientific authority for arguments and support, of which the teaching of temperance as a See also:branch of physiology or hygiene is an See also:illustration. At the same time the increasing See also:interest taken in all questions relating to health has directed the attention of scientific investigators to this subject, while advancing knowledge of physiology, pathology and chemistry in See also:general and improved means of investigation have enabled them to pursue it in various directions.

Consequently a large amount of See also:

research has been devoted to alcohol and its effects both by experimentation on animals and See also:plants and by observation of the morbid conditions set up in human beings by excessive and long-continued indulgence in alcoholic drinks. Another See also:field of inquiry which has been actively worked is the statistical study of drink in relation to See also:nationality, occupation, disease, See also:insanity, mortality, See also:longevity, See also:crime, See also:pauperism and other aspects of social life. In London there is a society, consisting chiefly of medical men, for the scientific study of inebriety; it holds periodical meetings at which papers are read and discussed. But the subject is being worked at in every country, and a vast See also:mass of See also:information has been accumulated. An See also:attempt will be made later on to summarize the more important results of this activity. There is no doubt that it has exercised a strong influence on public See also:opinion and on the whole in the direction of temperance. A great See also:change of attitude has taken place and is still going on. The See also:ill-effects of excessive drinking, especially of distilled spirits, have long been recognized, but the tendency now is to question whether any alcohol-containing drinks are of any value at all and to deny any valid distinction between distilled and fermented liquors. Medical abstinence societies have been formed in England, Germany, Belgium, See also:Holland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. See also:Present See also:Slate of the Movement.—No comprehensive data are available for estimating the numerical strength of the temperance organizations or the number of abstainers at the present time; but the Alliance Year Book contains a See also:directory of societies, which at least give some idea of the wide See also:distribution of the movement. The following See also:summary figures are extracted from the See also:list; they relate to distinct organizations, exclusive of branches and sub-sections, having for their object the promotion of individual abstinence or of legislation : The United Kingdom, 62 ; Australasia, I I ; Canada, 2; South Africa, 3; India, 2; United States, io; Austria-Hungary, 8 ; Belgium, 2 ; Denmark, 5 ; France, 4 ; Germany, i2 ; Holland, 6 ; Sweden, 6; Switzerland, ii. The figures are no doubt very imperfect and must not be taken in any way to represent the relative strength of temperance organizations in the several countries.

The list for the United Kingdom is much more See also:

complete than for the other countries. The Alliance Year Book indeed gives the names of 130 organizations in the United Kingdom connected in some way with temperance work; but these include local branches, juvenile sections, See also:insurance companies, orphanages and so on. An attempt has been made to pick out the temperance societies as ordinarily understood; but some of those included are merely committees for promoting particular pieces of legislation, and on the other See also:hand bodies like the Salvation See also:Army and the Church Army, which do a great See also:deal of temperance work but are not primarily and principally engaged in it, have been omitted. Altogether the subject is full of confusion and not susceptible of exact statement. The number of societies is no See also:guide to the number of individuals, for many persons belong to several organizations. There can be little doubt that the organized movement is numerically strongest in the United States and next strongest in the United Kingdom, but no reliable estimates can be made. Some of the British societies See also:call for particular See also:notice. The two See also:principal ones are the Church of England Temperance Society and the United Kingdom Alliance. The latter, founded in 1853, is the chief fighting political organization, having total prohibition of the liquor traffic for its object; its income is about £12,000 a year. The Church of England Temperance Society is much the largest of the British societies.

End of Article: TEMPERANCE

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