Litchfield enquirer., 1831-11-17
[nH nRouEaT.

c;,.,,,,y of hks NeU Fork SinGe Tkmperomcs
 Sociefv to the Citizens of tkdt Ssafe.
 rxLlo,c Citizems,--We want your aid tn a
 s--.-4 .,vorE. Not your money nor your tiEces
 0or fine sacrifice of any real interest. We
 wrkNt your names with the pledge and inAu- | .sace which is attached to them. We are
 earnest in our application: You will therefore ahtkIlis three questions. tt'
 What is your enterprise! S as psi,What is to be gained by it's successful ac- accomplishment? r, What service safs our names render! a: We respectfiIIiI Sslx bur attention, while we. attempt t0 answerthsse inquiries. What is the enterprise? It is ore of pure benevO .lence and patriotism in which we have DO nsspaEate interests. We have been driven to
 it by facts which concern yoW. Our state is IInuW harhoring fatal enemy: cherishing a plague of dreadful malignity; submitting to ajax aohick brings no increase to our treasury, ', while it perpetuates poverty, misery and
 crime. To prove this, let us state a few facts which may be relied on. Whatever may be
 Said in favor of the temperate use of ardent
 spirits, (f that definite line could ever be drawn.) facts will show incontestibly that the
 excessive use of them is the scverest scourge with which our nation and our state are visit eds and yO0 know that all drunkenness com Snaences in the moderate use Ofthem. Ardent spirit destroys health: ardent spirit creates
 idleness: ardent spirit raiHs character: ardent
 spirit makes paupers ardent spirit makes cfiminals: ardent spirit brutalizes men: ar
 dent spi,it destroys domestic happiness: ar dent spirit ensures premature death: ardent hspirit makes three ESnrths of the business e aud expense of our crinina: courts, jails and a6lms-houses ardent spirit throws an im- y isi1ense tax on christian community tO supp port vice ardent spirit units thousands and tens sf thousands for the duties of this life, 7, And exposes them to the awful retributi0n :. .ef the next. All these charges and more, can be substantiated. The testimony of the bsost e,ninent medical men in New. England. New York, Pennsylvania and Europe. has ] been obtaiBed on the first point. Some Of
 them say, that fhree-quartcrs, some that one - half their practice would at once cease, far
 dent spirit were nO longer drunk as bever- age. That ardent spirit makes three -fOurths , of our csiminals. is the united testimony or
 judges and lawyers in this country and in Eng
 land. Tho most shocking cases of murder ahave occurred under tha influence of alcohol
 Almost all the cases of assault and battery . likewise. Those guilty of burglary. larceny.
 connterfeting, riots, Ste. are almost uniform. nly ascartained tO have destroyed their inOral sssnsibilities and emboldened themselves for
 tho violation of their cOuntry's laws, by the
 inehriating cup. That every nlaD loses his character when he drinks to excess is obvi-
 Ous. That it brntalizrs the man, the hns-
 band, the father, the mother; that it induces < poverty, disease, and premature death
 that it units fer social and refAed enjoy ,rnents; far duty to man, and to our Maker. in this life; for the pure and elevated joys Ot heaven, nOne can qucstion who have ever N:otp st,n sr1Iso osAu~1 nt to what extent it is infictipg all these evils upon cur fellow citizens. is now the point which we wish more immediately tO cOnten- plate. In thu early part of the prescnt year a care ifdl investigation was made by committee consisting of gentlemen chosen from the most | respectable citizens in one of the wards of the | city of Albany, relative to the intemperance
 of that saction. The result was most alarm 1 ing. It was ascertained that there were in | Ihe ward liz places where ardent spirits were 1 rctailed and that the quantity thus sold
 amounted to 45,50O gallons. and cost to the | consumers 56.875 dollars. In this ward there was found one place for retailing liquor for every 45 inhabitants, or about one to every mine families. The enormous profits were
 also sdyersed tot being about 200 per cent. sn foreign, and 600 On domestic spirits when sold by the single glass. The ward alluded
 tD contains population of 5000 and should
 she four remaining wards consume in the .eanae pfopoglipn, then the consumption of SAhe whole ely would amount to the enor.
 nous sum of 2B4, ,S55 dollars. In candor it | kg1ay he admitted, that the ward mentioned |
 soRsnmes more than the average of the city 1; 1 .6Lt when it is calculated that there are in the | city 4l5 lcences granted to tayerns and gro- sceries. and that should each one sell only Sq i per day, then the whole amount would be
 ,95O for the whole city when, therefore,
 take into consideration tie Time spent in drinking, recovery from Fdr1nkenness, &the strength diminished by tt 'i Paupers made by intempcrancs, thrown on tho poor-house or relieved by private charity .i Expenses of criminal prusecutions and in. | ! lprisonments occasioned by intemperancs;
 - Loss to the public by carelessness, misr,an. l -sgetnent. sIc. of the incorporate;
 There cannot be n doubt that the city suf. 1
 fers q dead yearly loss of threa hnndred 1 thousand dOlMrs; tax which is annuallv
 paid by the temperate and intemperats of Al.
 bany, ts support a most detestablc monster.
 Now suppose the city should entirely aban. don the 9ss of ardent spirit, and raise this snm rbysag directtax on the very indivduals who .nOw payit: merely to give up the use of the article would enable the former consumers to meet the tax and would at once secnre moro Iphysicai strength. moro industry. more econ- ,Omy, and more happiness among the lahOring
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