Plymouth banner. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1852-1855, 1853-04-28


nit TO all kinds OF imposition? Shall an
apothecary be required 10 label his poi
sons, while the stamp of the Empire
State shall reco nmend those of the rum
seller? Snail one pig in a respectable
sly. because, forsoo;h, he is an offence
to some lordly nose In the neig Eborhood,
be removed By law as nuisance. while
these pestilential distiilerieS are allowed
TO remain in our midst, injecting the at
mosphere for miles around with their
loathsome, disgusting odor, a stencil in
the nostrils of whole coummunities?-
Verify are these diStillers and rumsellers
The special pets Of this government. No
other class of men could make themselves
so disgusting 10 community without
being voted nuisance at once, and dis
posed OF as such. Now, we ask you, as
our representatives., to divorce yourself
wholly from this a5on Unable traffic. Ii
you have not the strength to cut off the
head of the giant, aud kill him outright,
then urn your backs upon him. and re-
fuse to shake hands with him in the mar
ket place.
Bat above all, we conjure you not to
let this session pass, without giving us
law making Drunkenness a just cause OF
divorce. Such a law would be far great
er in lis results than the Maine Law even.
Suppose we have the Maine law to-day;
you have then disposed OF all inloxica-
ting drinks, but you have still the animal
natures--the morbid appetites for stimu-
lant5 and excitement entailed on genera
lion after generation. which will work
themselves out in some direction But
back up the Maine Law by the more i'm
portant one on divorce. and you make
permanent reform, in so regulating your
laws on marriage, that. In your opinion.
1t is crime so enormous as to furnish
just cause for the separation of man and
wife. Inasmuch as such law would be
imperceptible TO the mass. in its first ef-
fects, it would meet with but little OPP
position, and once passed, We have no
fears that it would ever be repealed. 1t
would be one Of those onward steps new
er TO be retaken.
Second. As our legal protectors. we
ask you TO release us from taxation. Un-
der the present system, the drunkard's
wife is doubly taxed. As she has no
right to what she has helped TO earn, the
rumsel!er can take all she has for her hrs-
bands debts, and leave her to day house.
less, homeless and penniless. Ii then.
as widow, she have the energy TO earn
for herself and children home OF her
own, :hen comes the State and taxes her
to support prisons. ails. and poor houses.
Thus do you permit the rumsellel first to
strip her of her legal protector, and then
tax her to support the pauperism and
crime produced by this traffic. Verify,
mo just government can be formed but
by the consent Of the governed If you,
gentlemen, were all ilicted with drunk
ards for your wives, your substance, your
daily wages, could not be swept away by
the rapacity of the rumseller. You have
in your hands the means OF self-protec-
ton. Not so with us. The law gives
man the right to all he can get, and to
what we get, too. The new property
law protects what we inherit. but not
what we joln,ly earn; hence you see how
hopeless is the condition OF the drunk
ards wife.
Look but one moment at her legal po-
sition. If she have inherited nothing.
she owns nothing no matter how intelli-
gent, virtuous, and industrious she may
be; and if the join. property be wholly of
her own earning. by your laws it is her
husbands. be his character what it may
whether tippler drunkard or sot.
If she go out to work by the day, she has
no right to her wages; and if, given to
her. by your laws the husband may col
lect them again of her employer. Then
he may abandon her for years-m making
no provision for her or her children; aud
it he return and find them in comforta-
BILE circumstances. by your. laws he may
scanty earnings in riotous living. If the
wife refuse to receive the vagrant as her
liege lord. then. by your laws, he can rob
her of her chldren-and no matter how
tyrannical, loathsome, and utterly dis
gushing he may be, by your laws he is
still her husband. And if found guilty
of the only crime which gives just cause
of divorce, of which your laws take cogni
must. even then, pay some
thirty dollars or more to put asunder
what some priest bound togethcr-for
God hath joined those only who are one
in spirit. and united by love. Now, |
ask you as men. are these laws just'-
Are they such as you would like for your
selves? The first object Of government
is to protect the weak against the strong,
but such laws take from the weak all de-
tense. from the helpless all hope-and
hundreds Of women this very day, are
suffering from this legal bondage. The
drunkard s wife sits crushed and hopeless,
fearing to break the chains that crate on
her naked heart; she dies. the victim o
a false public sentiment whilst the priest