The organ of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, O. [Ohio]) 1852-1853, 1852-12-31
REFORN Nl.
Intemperancs.


rance that we have ever seen; yet, il
comes far short Of telling all that may
be said of this greatest Of all evils. It
was written by gentleman Of this
State. in memorial to our Legislature
for the abolition Of the liquor traffic.
Certainly, such a picture Of human
woe, flowing from one single cause,
should elicit the serious attention Of
the most obdurate; yet, the subject
has become so familiar to many, that
the enormity of the evils are lost in
their frequency, and the oft-told story
is to them but an idle tale.
"And yet its march of ruin is on
ward still. 1t reaches abroad to others,
invades the family and social circles,
and spreads woe and sorrow all around.
1t cuts down youth in its vigor, man
hood in its strength, and age in its
weakness. 1t breaks the fathers
heart, bereaves the doting mother, ex-
tinguishes natural affection, erases
conjugal love, blots out filial attach
ment, blights parental hope, and brings
down mourning age in sorrow to the
grave. 1t produces weakness, not
strength sickness, not health death,
not life. 1t makes wives widows, chill
dren orphans, fathers fends, and all Of
them paupers and beggars. 1t halls
fevers, feed rheumatisms, nurses gout,
welcomes epedemics, invites the chol-
era, imports pestilence, and embraces
consumption. 1t covers the land with
idleness, povetty, disease, and crime.
1t fills your jails, supplies your aims
house, and demands your asylums. 1t
engenders controversies, fosters quar-.
rels, and cherishes riots. Itcondemns
law, spurns order, and loves mobs. 1t
crowds your penetentiaries, and fur
nishes the victims for your scafolds.
1t is the life-blood of the gambler, the
ailment of the counterfeiter, the prop
of the highwayman, and the support
of the midnight incendiary.
1t countenances the liar, respects
the thief, and esteems the blasphemer.
1t violates obligations, reverences
fraud, and honors inlamy. 1t defames
benevolence, hates love, scorns virtue,
and ISLANDERS innocence. II incites the
father to butcher his offspring, helps
the husband to massacre his wife, and
aids the child to grind his parricidal
axe. 1t burns up man, consumes
woman, detests life, curses God, and
despises heaven.
Itsuborns witnesses, nurses perjury,
defles the jury-box, and stains judicial
ermine. 1t bribes votes, disqualiies
voters, corrupVs elections, pollutes our
institutions, and endangers our gov
ernment. 1t degrades the. citizen,
debases the legislator, dishonors the
statesman, and disarms the patriot. y
brings shame, not fonor; terror, not
safety; despair, not hope; misery,
not happiness. And now, as with the
malevolence Of a fiend, it calmly sur
veys its trightful desolations, and insa-
tiate with havoc, it poisons felicity,
kills peace, ruins morals, blights con-
fdence, Stays reputation, and wipes
out national honor, then curses the
world, and laughs at its ruins.
To secure our protection, and pre-
vent the evils above mentioned, most
ofwhich originate and are perpetuated
by permitting keepers of taverns and
groceries to vend sPirituous liquors
that is, to poison for hire, sell insanity,
and retail death; we would respect
fully solicit your honorable body, by
appropriate legislation, to entirely sup
press the retailing of ardent spirits in
our State, except from the shops of
apothecaries. there to be dealt out as
arsenic, prussic acid, and other poi
sons are sold; or, IT that measure
should, by any possib lity, seem now
premature, which humanity most re-
luctantly suPposes,) then, by severe
penalties, to restrain such grocers and
inn-keepers from vending, or in any
manner furnishing any intoxicating
liquors to any person known by them
to be a resident of the same or an ad-
jacent township to that in which such
tavern or grocery is kept to hold
them responsible for the support of all
individuals and families reduced to
pauperism by their instrumentality; to
punish them as accessories to all
crimes committed by inebriate persons
whose intoxication they have procured;
and to empower the Courts of Com
mon Pleas and the Supreme Court to
appoint guardians to all habitual
drunkards, who shall be charged with
the care and protection of their prop
erty, and the maintenance and educa.
ton of their families.