Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1853-08-11

government to seize and destroy the
implements of a gambler has not been
questioned, but repeatedly affirmed
The gambler, the thief, the highway
man, take money without giving an
equiYalent-so does the hquor-seller.-
The vender of unsound meats impairs
the health-so does the iquor-seller
The vehder of lottery tickets, or OBJ
scene books and pictures, corrupts the
morals-so does the liquor-seller. The
liquor-seller does more; he endangers
the lives of innocence, blasts character,
destroyes reputation, disturbs the public
peace, encourages idleness, promotes
ignorance; his entire work is one OF
death. How comes it, then, that this
is a mere question of morals? Let
those who assert the doctrine dare main
tain it!
If appeals to those engaged in the
traffic are the appropriate and only
remedy, then indeed may we make up
our minds to bear forever the cruel and
merciless infections, for the whole maga-
zine of argument, persuasion, and en-
treaty has been exhausted without
effecti
The press, pulpit, and platform have
discharged their heaviest artillery
The miserable drunkard, the heart
broken wife, the ragged and starving
child, have all made their touching,
eloquent appeals. Alms-houses and
prisons, crowded with wretched in
mates, have sent forth their piteous
tales. A countless company of liquor
sellers, ruined in body, estate, and repu-
tation, have lifted their voice of warning;
and that the whole earth might know
the wickedness, and the blighting and
damning nature of their business, God
has uttered his voice, and pronounced a
woe upon him, who dares to put the
bottle to his neighbor's lip. But all
these appeals, and expostulations, wall
ings, warnings, and woes, have been
disregarded.
CAN NOT GET RID OF EVIL BY LEGIsLA-
TION.
tits maintained that you cannot legis-
late evil out of the world, and, there
fore, it is useless to attemptit. Is this
sound philosophy?
Laws from time immemorial have
been passed against theft and counter
feiting, attaching in some instances the
penalty of death to the violation of
those laws. Yet these crimes have al
ways been committed. and who will,
therefore, say that the laws against
theft and counterfeiting have proven a
failure and ought to be repealed? God
has legislated against evil, yet evil
exists; yet none would be impious
enough to say that his government was a
failure and his laws nullity. To assert
that there is social, political, or ma
tional evil which must be borne in 81
lence, because there is no remedy, is to
utter a libel upon the popular govern
ment.
What legislative body ever stopped
to inquire whether men would steal any
how, before they enacted laws against
theft? Who in such case would stultify
himself by saying, "It is no use to
prohibit larceny, for there always will
be thieves and robbers?"
The only proper question to be con-
sidered is, do the rights and interests of
civil society demand the extinction of
the liquor traffic? If this be settled in
the affirmative, then all the departments
of government should be invoked to aid
in the work of determination.
ALAw CANNOT BE ENFORCED.
"You cannot enforce the law
''more liquor will be drunk than ever"
These are stereotyped remarks, and are
proclaimed by liquor-sellers and all
their pimps in legislative halls, and in
the corps editorial. Then, why in the
name of consistency, are they arrayed
in such strong opposition against it?-
Are they so pre-eminently the friends of
morality, decency, order, and good gov
ernment, that their righteous souls
would be vexed by having the laws a
dead letter on the statute books? Does
their opposition to the law grow out of
their fears that liquor drinking viii be
increased, or of their love for the tenn
perance cause? They know they lie.
They presume too much upon the
credulity of the people if they hope to
practice so silly a deception. They
fear the law viii be enforced. :
They know it has been, and that ii
works like charm wherever tried
They see the accursed traffic yielding
before it, and with it all the train Of
evils which are inseparable from its
very existence.
The law we ask for has been found
easy to carry oat, because it attacks the
thing and not the person. If the
liquor-sener was seized and conveyed
to prison-as he deserves to be-his
wife, children, and friends would have
their sympathies aroused, and the re-
mainder of his liquor, left upon the
premises, would inspire patriotism
\ which would be dangerous to resist
Seize the liquor, convey it to prison, try,
condemn, and destroy it, and you viii,
in most instances, command the graft
.tude of the owners family; and the
drunkards themselves, now sober, would
bless you for the deed. Fellow citizens
. you are already advised through thepub
I;c iournaIs that the law Is nonular anC