Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-05-10
1etters to tbe DeopIt:.
In which the Author meets his Readers at their
own Fireside.
TO THE VOTER-NO. VII.


TO THE VOTER-NO. VII.
My DEAR CITIZEN Now, to the ex-
animation of the North Carolina Regulator
of the Rum traffic, as recorded in the eighty
second Chapter of her Revised Statutes
The Legislative Quacks that attended on
the birth of this deformed child of the pit,
christened it OrdinarieS, and a very or
dinary STRIPPING it is, as you shall see.
The Law provides that persons applying
to the Court for license to retail Intoxicating
liquors must not be given to gross immor-
atty or in poor circumstances or slender
credit And so if man is not grossly
immoral and be not in slender credit he
can buy tl.e privilege Of engaging in bua
siness that produces no fruits better than
vice of the grossest cast and immortality of
the deepest dye! buy it of good, old, moral
Carolina buy it of you, Sir, as one of the
free voters !! Look at the Peoples servants
engaged in this business. What is their
general character for morals, probity and
virtue ? Would the twentieth Knig ght Of
the toddy-stick bear the test of the common
law, to say nothing of the test of the Bible?
would moral man, one who wished his
fellow-man we'll on earth and in eternity,
engage in business to make money that is
always and everywhere damning in all it's
tendencies? There once came before GER
tain Court, a man praying License to sell
whiskey. Two of his neighbors swore the
applicant was man of FgO0d moral char
acter.' The magistrate asked the witness
severally again if they did swar Mister A.
was mon nit good moral ker-rack-ter
They both reafirmed what they had sworn
to. The Dutchman leaned back from the
Bench and said gravely, { 1 dosh not pellet
it /; for no mon NIT good moral ker-rack
ter wants to sell viskey! We think just
as did the honest Dutchman; for how can
a man of good moral character reconcile
himself to engage In the sale of souls He
must harden his heart lest his guilty hand
trembles as he Eputteth the bottle to his
neighbor's lips He must stop his ears
lest he hear the plaintive wall of suffering,
as it comes up from the stricken hearts of
wives, mothers, sisters and orphans his
damnable vocation has crushed and man.
gIed. He must close his eyes lest he see
the corruption and crime he turns loose in
the land, as we'll as the imaginary ghosts of
his murdered customers. The Rum Trag-
edy in its day and night rehearsels renders
the soul of the Manager callous and sears
the fountain of human sympathy with a
craven love of gain. The rabble of the Iiv-
ing actors behind the scenes mingles with
the 6tage@tr -gThgss t5r the gfasyatis anu
coppers forms treble and alto, while the
grating Of the Sexton spade and the gloomy
echo of falling clods make tenor and bass
to swell the chorus of the orchestra!
Better, Sir, that those engaged in the
Rum traffic be men in slender credit and
selected from the lowest pits of in amy anc
degradation infesting earth then would the
traffic be divested of it's tinselled habilia
ments of mock responsibility and stand ou
in its corrupt deformity, unsheltered from
the just blows ofan incensed peoples curse
Again, this magnificent Regulator out
laws Rumsellers themselves After it i
deemed necessary to the comfort of the pub
lie to have an Ordinary Grogshop, and
candidate of proper moral qualifications fo
Knight of the swillpot is found and ha
given the required bonds, thus saying to tn
public that it is not only necessary but MOI
ally and legally right that Rum be sold
after all this contemplate farce and trick
cry, if the 'keeper shall sell on credi
liquors to any person to a greater amour
than Ten Dollars, he shall lose the none
so credited; and in any action brought fl
recovery of such debt the general issue ma
be pleaded and this Act given in evidence
How is this We feel like crying out f
the benefit of the poor outlawed Rumse
lers, from the highest masthead of our Graf
their own darling watchword-' unconStit
tionat!? A citizen comply with all II
requirements of republican law-of {
good, moral character too and bonds give
to his State to remain such-engaged i'll
moral, respectable, useful and legal occur
ton, and, yet, if he Inadvertently cred
his customers over Ten Dollars, cannot c.
lect the same in any suit Why take
price of the license from the moral Ru
seller, and then set bout regulating him
the prosecution of lawful vocation VIII
he has paid his money for the right to pr
ecute it in all its branches with profit
himself? If the traffic is morally right a
necessary to the comfort of the public, W
not let those engaged in it in legal "
do all the business they can? the more
better, is the rule applying to all other u
ful branches of industry Why do
the Rumsellers hold Conventions, decl
strikes and Resolve their disapprobat
of this aggression and violation of the
trade and sailors rights doctrine? Beca
they are willing to bear the oppression
order to secure the tenfold profits aris
: from the sale of Rum by The glass Th
is the secret. But why give him lett
patent to sell his commodities, and then
bar him from collecting his well ear
a dues? SIR can you explain the justic'
z this sweeping outlawry? How dare
+ Government interpose its strong hand
i rob citizen of the fruits of his toll in a
v gitimate business? Apply this infam
y principle to the honest and useful trade
our sturdy farmers-enact law, say
e. that if they sold wheat, corn or cotton
le credit beyond certain amount, they shC
- - forfeit the amount so credited, and Il
al would be an oath of resistance sworn Oh
IS, cry home-altar, while the fame-banner
red rebellion would CLEAN, and blaze,
fash in the sunlight on every plain,
cir the blue hills of Cherokee to the CT
ey beech of Currituck
Again, if the licensed keeper of the