New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-10-08

double or ausdruple load of Pauperism aud cr.. ne
er than to invade the traffic which is the cause of It.
II il not contesded that Alcoholic Beverages are Ne
cessares Of life. They at best lu1urie, Il dOss
not follow that because the law has lel its prohibtoy
finger on luxury, it has established precedent for
invading tie necessaries Of life, Tor for invading
other Injuries which have injurious Effect Society
or are not productive Of Paupersm and Crime. But
tie Law in this case does not prohibit the use Of the
luxury il only prohibits the public production and dis
tribution Tie personal right to poison onese-waat
ever that il worth-is left intact and sacred
IN the abstract and as we are talking Of abstrac
ticn this ia significant The whole exteut OF tie IN
vsson of personal right or liberty is this that man
shall not be allowed to minister to the luxury Of Others
whenever by so doing lie Injuries Society at large both
in means and morals In hs general statement we re-
coenize principle Of law old as Society itsef II
not az old as the everlasting hills. Personal liberty
srart from it would be worthless II in7aies no mans
privacy more ,ban any other law il simply prohibits
public branch of business which sacrifices public good
to private eln in the enterprise Of plmperu5 an ab-
normal app tite. The Maine Law occupies no un.-0l-
den ground ~ landmark Of liberty is OyeriLTowa TO
make way for it. Laws on the same principle have
existed wherever Civilization las hOurished. The only
peculiarly in this is the great exten; Of the prac
tee prohibited and the proportioualy urgent demaul
for the law.
1.-THE legislative power has no right TO enact sucha
law then what right has it to NEEDLE with Paupsrsm
and Crime at Oh Is Society Limited To the eare OF
these evils ard precluded from prevention Then it
might as well give up the hopeless enterprise first as
last-et the unfortunate and incompetent feed an1
clotle Themselves they can, an tie rogues run at
large 70 satiate themselves with ylainy. Personal
liberty just as much requires the overthrow Of all
laws which prevent the mercensry from seducing ant
yietimizine the weak and unwar!, as tie Maine Law
If we yield the opponents of the Maine Law their
sacred principle, must establish the unrestricted
right of tempting and being tempted, the arch-enemy
would have it: and, that being done, what revenue
would long suffice for grated palaces. snl the e1pen
siye and tedious processes by which justice nils
them Common sense prOclaims Ike the voice OF the
infinite multitude of waters. that Society has d'lne
rght to relieve itself and sopgl Of this whole business
of swilling the human mind into faulty by poisonous
drink individual right against social power depends
uron tie nature of the thing TO be done-the balance
Of the good and the evil there is in IT, Now, IN this
age of the world as in none before Alcoholic Be'er-
ages have undergone the scrutiny of science The Isy
cLoloeis the Chemist and the Psychologist have traced
the subtle spirit through all the nerves and hbers OF the
human frame, and noted nothing 10 compensate
its inevitable mischcfs The Political Economist and
Statican have watched the effect Of this business on
wealth and found it every way destructive The The
ologist las weighed its results upon the soul and found
nothing hat imrneasurable woe The good and the JOY
of it is like the momentary lash OF the exploding mag
azuc which scatters black wreck aud manged corpses
in all directions.
Now here is established marked, broad, eternal
distinction between this traffic and the ordnar! tritcs
by which the tributaries TO human necessity and comfort
are distributed The danger that the prohibition of
this viii lead to The invasion of the others is fictitious
and rdic uousy absurd The immunity of the old dead
past must not be lug up against the sautary prohibit
bition BY the same token that Science now knows
the workings Of the alcoholic poisons, it knows how to
correct them as never before Society has now to con
tend against a foe OF teniod power made by the I'M
proved arts irresistibly seductive and superlatyey
doqchcsp. Therefore Society, By failing TO use It's
right Of solfprotection in circumstances which less
imperatiyely demanded its use has not lost thar right
IL not only ,,H use r. but it mgst. TIE Maine Law is
necessary result OF the progress of the age-a worlds
law which broke ont in Maine, by one Of those aPpa-
rently accidental circumstances which so often give
rise 10 q universal movement; but which must have
come forth somewhere else, if not there Those who
would stay its progress might as we'll undertake 10
abolish the fundamental truths Of Ma.hemltics and
Chemistry