Drinking is supposed to be the great cause of crime
in England; but Mr. Fawcett, in a speech on Wednesday to the Post-Office employes, told them that in the Department the great causes were drink and betting. He rarely or never had to -order a dismissal or a prosecution not traceable to one or the -other. The postmen, it would seem, steal in order to meet their bets, a curious example of a perverted sense of honour. Mr. Fawcett added that drinking was diminish- ing, and he had not had to order a single dismissal due to drunkenness on last Christmas Day. The respectable -workmen, in fact, among whom postmen rank high, are giving up drinking to excess, but are increasingly tempted by the hope -of making money without exertion. That is the report from the whole world, education rather stimulating than depressing greed, while it creates a certain shame of drunkenness. The moral gain is not much, if the social gain is great.
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