The organ of the temperance reform. (Cincinnati, O. [Ohio]) 1852-1853, 1852-01-16
ADDRESS

eating liquors within our State, as your
fellow citizens, having an identity of inter-
ests with you, ask your serious attention to
the following considerations, connectedwith
this important subject
THE EVILS OF NTEMPERANCE.
Itseems work of fsupererogation to dilate
upon the manifold, measureless evils in
flicted upon US as a people, by intemper-
ance. That it is the giant evil of our age,
is foregone conclusion. The use of alco-
hollc drinks, as beverage, has been again
and again, tried at the bar of public opinion,
and condemned, as guilty of demoralizing,
debasing and running its countless victims.
1t is condemned alike by the moral and re-
Igious sense of mankind. The political
economist, the press, the physician, the
bench, the bar, the pulpit, and the pAilan-
thropist, have, to.a great extent, united in
swelling the trumpetn6te of denunciation.
II is useless to appeal 70 statistical facts to
Ishow its injurious effects; when theAexpe-
rience and observation of every individual
proves them. Amidst all the dscussi0Hs
and examinations of this subject, extending
through period of over thirty years, no
person, who cared for his reputation for
sanity, has come forward in public manner,
to deny this to be the case 1t is evil, and
only evil, in its influence and effects. 1t
has destroyed, and is now destroying, char.
acter, property, and even life itself By it,
not only its Immediate victims are ruined,
but, extending its effects through all the
ramifcations of society, want, shame, deg
radiation and misery, follow in its train. It
preys like vulture on community, infiic-
ting mighty evils, with no compensating
good. These, as before remarked, are un-
contradicted facts axioms requiring no
proof, except the ordinary observation of
every individual.
What continues and promotes Intemperance?
We answer, unhesitatingly, the traffic in
liquors, This is the great temptation which
lures men from the paths of sobriety, ruins
and destroys them. Men, alike regardless
Of the interests of individuals and of society,
make trade of their miseries, and for the
sake of gain, profer the poisonous cup.
Thousands who would never seek it, find it
in their very pathway; placed there by
these incendiaries of ruin. These men who
thus promote and cause drunkenness are not
involuntary agents. They have an interest,
a moneyed interest, in selling and in ex-
tending their sales. Like men engaged in
all other occupations, they labor to increase
the number Of their customers course, in
most cases, laudable; in this, devilish. The
result is seen in the evils inflicted by this
hellish traffic upon our people. Moral
= suasion, experience has abundantly shown,
is lost upon these agents of the Pit. They
are not moral men, they are not religious
men, they are not, as their cause shows,
y humane men. Hence, moral, religious, and
PhilanthroPic considerations and arguments,
fail to influence them. They are rendered
by their business unfeelng, and they care
nothing for the misery and suffering they
0 produce.
Il What is the remedy p If mtemperance is
, thus injurious to people, and its chief sup
port is the traffic in liquors. and those en-
gagged therein refuse to heed the pleadings
of outraged humanity, common sense at
b once dictates the suppression of that traffic By
L Ia'0, for that, in rightly organized society,
is the Ouly resort when other means fail.
Destroy the traffic, and no one has an inter-
est ia promoting iRtempeTaaCe. If it still ex-
> lists, twill be voluntary thing Suppress
. the traffic, and the temptation is removed
from the path of the unwary. The gilded
serpent will no longer bask in the bowers
Il Of Eden. The splendid rum palaces and
+ the dazzling saloons of Bacchus will disap.
= pear, and no longer by their deceitful splen,
'S dor, lure men to destruction. The smiling
dealer will no longer ply his seductive arts,
'e to promote his soul destroying trade. The
g young and the unwary can walk our streets
" without meeting temptation temptation
before which thousands, young and prom.
ising, yearly fall. Moral inducements have
failed. They have confirmed the tempe
"a rate, in many cases reclaimed the inebriate
is but have failed to influence the seller. What
1t measures then does common prudence die
le tate The old man in the fable, when
al "gentle words and tufts of grass" failed
ID used "stoDes." The moral, all will remem
Is ber, eff good words and gentle means fai
v to reclaim the wicked, they must be deal
D. with in a more severe manner" The strong
II arm of the law must be invoked, not ai
10 heretofore, for regulation, but for annihila
ton. Attempts at regulation have failed tC
do good, because they rather served to dig
nifty and perpetuate the evil, than to sup
ii press it. AS has been well said by DR.
to Jewett "The traffic is itself an iTreguIaritl
er which cannot be regulated. When it il
to properly regulated, it will cease to exist
ID The same law which attempted to restrict
or virtually recognized the traffic as a legiti
u mate and legal one. The advocates of tenn
n perance, like other reformers, have pro
a. gressed, and now the best earnest Of thei
ct ultimate success is, that, disc 1rding all TEN
1t, porizmg measures and counsels, they arr
p laying their axe at the root of the tree, anC
inscribing on their banners, OBSTRUCTION t.
no the Traffic" The long beleagured castl,