The Massachusetts spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1831-1858, 1832-04-11


year. This annual sum. with simple inter
est, amounts in ten years to about one thousand
dollars This is 10 trifie 10 be taken from the
earnings of laborng man. But pursue ihe
history Of this family. In two or three wears
the man becomes diseased. lie is frequently
affected with rheumatisn, and cold, and fever
and headach and cannot perform his accustcm.
ed labor. lie does not find employment az
readily as formerly, and in year or two more
he complains that the times have become hard
He is often destitute of fuel and of provisions,
and finds dtficulty in meeting his payments
with punctuali;y. His children are badly clad,
and his house is in bad repair Presently, l.. ::
necessary consequence, sickness ensues, and
medical attendance is added to his other expeil-
SEES. Things thus goon worse and worse, un-
I'll, before the ten years have elapsed, he has
been frequently sued, his business is destroyed,
he is IN debt to every one who wi trust him,
and a. last his family is broken up, his children
are scattered, and most probably are vagabonds;
and you find his name on your catalogue Of bad
debtors, with sum SET against il sufficient to
overbalance all the profits of his last FIVE year 5
! custom
Now take the case of family that does no:
drink. The money spent by their neighbors in
drinking is sufficient in ten years, to buy a
house, and if put out at interest would pay the
rent of one. BY health, and frugality, and in
dustry, their means increase every year, and
are thus becoming every year the instrument
Of more rapid accumulation. As their ability
| to purchase increases, they become every veal
more and more extensive purchasers and Is
their character rises in public estimation.
they will certainly be better paymasters. Their
children grow up accustomed to I! ugalitv and
industry, and find their faculties daily expanded
| by enjoying the blessings Of good eGnca
| 4. I.,a., IL
and the happiness of home attracts them ia
their own neighborhood. You have thus a
family of increasing competence for your Gus
toners, and all their younger branches growing
up to become your customers, your acquaintan.
ces, your friends.
| as.y Which of these two families is your
preferable customer? By which of these two,
at the md of ten years, will you have been the
greatest gamer Now, by arresting extensive
ly the sale of ardent spirits, in moral, well in
structed community like our own, almost all
the families around you will be like the latter
which have described. BY the use of spiritu
GUS liquors, very great proportion Of them
will be made like the former. ask, then, Is
the seller the gamer by the of ardent spirits?
| But il will be said these remarks apply mere
! Iy to the retailer. Is not the wholesale trade
| profitable answer, How can the wholesale
dealer be paid but by the produce of the labor
of the community? Whatever dminishes that
labor, or renders il less productive, diminishes
the ability of the laborers to consume, and
renders them worse customers. What mer
chant would not rather supply with the
articles Of living rich than poor district
a temperate than an incorporate town? Let
| the wholesale dealer then remember that every
cask Of ardent spirits whcitle sends into the
district from which his custom comes, annih-
lates for ever large portion Of the power which
that district possesses to purchase -four and SUI
gar, and tea, and coffee, and all the other ne
| cessares and Injuries of life. And yet, more
IL tnis Trade be thus improbable To tho dealer
in ardent spirits, how mech more destructive
must it be to the manufacturer and to all who
are engaged in those branches Of industry
which furnish us with apparel The one loses
much, but has some prospect Of gain. The 9TH
ers suffer from the Giminuton of consumption,
produced by the sale OF liquor and have not
even the shadow of an equivalent
But once more. The appropriateness Of the
use of ardent spirits is capable Of numerical de-
monstration. II is computed that the annual
consumption of ardent spirits in this country
! equals seventy-two millions of gallons, at sixty
six and two thirds cents per gallon, or forty
eight millions of dollars. Now of this forty
eight millions it cannot be supposed that more
than one half is profit to the seller. But it is
calculated by Judge Crauch of Washington, a
most competent authority, that the annual loss
to this country by the use Of ardent spirits
amounts TO ninety four millions Of dollars. If
from this we subtract the gain of what is sold,
or twenty four millions of dollars it will leave
seventy millions Of dollars loss to the whole,
for every twenty-four millions gain from the
use of intoxicating liquors. But if we reflect
that those who gain this twenty-four millions
would gain more by abandoning the trade alto
gether, which is the fac: it is clear that the
whole ninety-four millions of dollars is fairly
charged to US for our indulgence in this vice.
ask, then, Who is the gamer by the use of
ardent spirits Is the buyer the gamer? No.
Is the retail dealer? No. Is the wholesale
dealer? No. No one is gamer. We are all
losers. 1t is vice by which we are all grow.
ing poorer.
come. then, in the next place, to consider
the practical question which arises on this sub
Ject Is THE TRADE IN ARDENT SPIRITS RIGHT !?
| Here allow me to offer two suggestions
| First. l stand here 10 condemn no man, but
TO set before you all, the truth so far as can
discover il, upon a question of duty. That
many excellent and worthy men are engaged
in this trade, do not doubt. Far be it from
me to detrGct in the least from their reputation
for excellence They may never have thought
seriously on this subject They may not have
been allowed sufficient time to decide Upon a
question involving large portion OF their trade.
| What the particular moral state of any man $
mind is, on subject like this, pretend not to
decide, nor ought any one else to be forward to
( decide upon it, Yet this is no reason why the
moral nature Of the act should not be fully and
clearly set forth. Upon this subject we have
been all Of us either in the right or in the wrong
Neither suppostion will afford sufficient reason
why the nature of our actions should not be ex-
amned. good man may do wrong but q
good man will always listen with candor TO any
one who will show him how he may do better.
Second. / do not stand up here TO inquire
into the rectitude of any particular branch Of
this trade, but into the rectitude of the whole
trade itself. l have TO do with wholesale as
well as with retail dealers. If it be wrong tC
sell little, 1t seems TO me that il must also be
wrong to sell great deal. If it be wrong tc
be accessory TO the destruction of one neigh
borhood it seems TO me that it must be wreno
! to be accessory TO the destruction of great
many neighborhoods | reason here as we Dc
about the slave trade. If il be wrong To i'm
port one slave, il is wrong 10 import cargo.
ask then the candid attention of my fellow
citizens TO the following questions.
! First. Can it be right for me TO derive my
living from that which is spreading disease, anc
poverty, and premature death, throughout IN,
neghborhood? How would it be in any similar
case Would it be right for me 10 derive my
living from selling poison, or from propagating
plague, or lenrosy around me'
Second. Can ii be right for ME 10 derive
my living from that which is dehasing tho mind.
and running the souls Of any neigbbors3 How
would il be in any other case Would il be
right for me to derive my living from the sale
of drug which produced misery or madness