drink has not
the slightest effect upon him. The sophistry of passion outweighs
all that reason can urge. In other words, the man is the victim
of disease, and until the disease is arrested, his will is not his
own. He may wish to reform, but wish is not will. He knows all
of the arguments in favor of temperance--he knows all about the
distress of wife and child--all about the loss of reputation and
character--all about the chasm toward which he is drifting--and
yet, not being the master of himself, he goes with the tide.

For thousands of years society has sought to do away with inebriety
by argument, by example, by law; and yet millions and millions have
been carried away and countless thousands have become victims of
alcohol. In this contest words have always been worthless, for
the reason that no argument can benefit a man who has lost control
of himself.

_Question_. As a lawyer, will you express an opinion as to the
moral and legal responsibility of a victim of alcoholism?

_Answer_. Personally, I regard the moral and legal responsibility
of all persons as being exactly the same. All persons do as they
must. If you wish to change the conduct of an individual you must
change his conditions--otherwise his actions will remain the same.

We are beginning to find that there is no effect without a cause,
and that the conduct of individuals is not an exception to this
law. Every hope, every fear, every dream, every virtue, every
crime, has behind it an efficient cause. Men do neither right nor
wrong by chance. In the world of fact and in the world of conduct,
as well as in the world of imagination, there is no room, no place,
for chance.

_Question_. In the case of an inebriate who has committed a crime,
what do you think of the common judicial opinion that such a criminal
is as deserving of punishment as a person not inebriated?

_Answer_. I see no difference. Believing as I do that all persons
act as they must, it makes not the slightest difference whether
the person so acting is what we call inebriated, or sane, or insane
--he acts as he must.

There should be no such thing as punishment. Society should protect
itself by such means as intelligence and humanity may suggest, but
the idea of punishment is barbarous. No man ever was, no man ever
will be, made better by punishment. Society should have two objects
in view: First, the defence of itself, and second, the reformation
of the so-call