Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-03-08
Look to your Taxes.

to attend Wake County Court, at It's Age"
asst term, we heard read the reports of the eggs
Committees and Wardens, for the that
year. The Chairman of the Wardens for nest
Poor. reported that there must be a hea7 Th
Ter tax laid for the support of the Poor House our ?
than had been hitherto that the expenses OF Snoa
that institution were constantly Increasing -
and that it required more funds to sustain 1t. stI,
We were forcibly reminded of the truth OF zoo,
Mr.. Delayan's remark, who said to a friend plea
If his once: "Do you know that there Is a talk
mortgage on your property % "No sir" said SOU
his friend, "my property is free and unln- ny
numbered" "But there is a mortgage upon ~
it." said Mr.. Delavan. 81 have examined On
the records, and l find, that you pay one an
thousand dollars taxes, and over six hundred on
dollars of that, goes to pay for lntemperance' pa
Your property is mortgaged to the rumseilers vO
for 10000 dollars, and you have to pay the Of
interest every year and, if you were to die III
tomorrow, it would go to your heirs with u
chat incumbrance, and they would have to :,
pay up the interest regularly. or it would De tc
sold by the sheriff" S
Here, then, was an astounding truth de- d
welcomed to Mr.. C. and, if it was truth to Mr.. $
c., it is no less so to every property hoiderln I
the State of North Carolina. We invite sucn .
to contemplate it. Look at it unflinchingly,
We who groan under the burdens of taxation.
See. for whom it is that ye gain money in the
sweat of your brow by whom, it is wrested
from you and who they are that are tatten-
ing on your tolls.
A murder has recently been committed at
a liquor shop near Raleigh, which will cost
t Wake County some $500, at the very lowest
3 calculation. How many more may occur
this year, God only knows: the murder holes
! have been licensed-time only can reveal the
u consequences.
But we have not yet told you the worst OF
q your state. Not only is there a mortgage up
!. on your property, but a prescription upon
YOUR sons. When Napoleon was rising to
a the height of his power and trampling down
m the nations by his iron foot, he demanded eV
at cry tenth young mar when OF age, Tor ms az
e- mics and, sometimes, he anticipated one
s.. two and even three years, under the plea ina
his interests demanded it. O! what weeplnj
e and wailing was there as the young conscrlpt
>, were dragged from their homes! People
lch the Old North State in as merciless a ty
rannv and one no less Irresistible and ce
0' tain. the rumsellers of the State have a maj
but ~ oon = hos hos
found that one in thirty of our best popul
ton have been converted into common drum
~ ards. that the farming districts have lost
deaths by Intemperance about 81 per Gel
among the male adults the villages aoo
~ ffhty that of $50 maniacs in various al
" Inns. 400 owed their loss of reason to int
~icating liquors; and that 400 out OF 6OO
- yenile delinquints either drank themsei
or were the children of drinking parents
,nIfPysur- rrEvnr4r. rehf6s fR46SG
YOUR give them your property, but your sons
? tb. They will drag them from your dwellings
nght fore the eyes of Fathers and Mothers, q
f for throw them into loathsome dungeons and
9sent them to early deaths. They are doing it
cry day and every hour. They fill up "
graveyards and Rachael refuses to be &C
forted because her children are not.
80 And yet, at this very Court to which
49, have referred above, when Mothers were |
Iood. morializing that liquor shops be not est
~ Ished in our midst, an u~nfeeling Counsel
"a; the feed Attorney of his Whiskey clients,
elared that woman had no business with 81
matters-that home was her place, and
H. the Courthouse! Woman has no busin
~ with trying to prevent the ruin and 6estr
~ ton of her sons! Monstrous, inhuman
COOS. claratlon! But if his whiskey clients reqr
VS. at ed the evidence of one of these Ladies',
whom it was so very indelicate and impro7
take to send even their names into the Court-hoI
talk to protest against a grievous wrong and e,
COM why she would be dragged, in person, il
You open Court, against her will, and be subj
c. to the torturing inquisitions of brazen-fa,
, !" Attornies. Verify, this is 9 straining a
hem gnat and swallowing a hog"
5hree @
+ the THERE look at the crowd around the d,
n ex- of the grog-pit. Who are they One OF t
head old palsied drunkards-an half score rowd
and and blackguards, and perhaps a dozen b
CO to grown boys. Your own or your neichbo
NY. sons are IN that throng. They are at
very threshold ofone of the pits on earth a
a devil sits at the entrance in an Angt
? Tho hablllments to stab them as they go in
..hlo fend sits at the gate watching their coi
60 out! Is there nothing alarming in this ?
;oon the boys safe Away from the love-lis
49, Of a fond mothers eye, they are there in
stah high school Of vice, learning those hah
~ that blight their physical, mental and mo
os;+1 strength. In lounging about these abomil
bic stencil pits of corruption they soon bee
ons; to initiate they fancy they are thirsty, a
.;aht with the air of ruffians they boldly approa
the bar and call for ale or beer, and w
grand fortitude gulp down the vile, fit
compound. Soon something a little strong
- is %ventured upon-whiskey and brandy th
rnnLo-- ~ w. 0"ioon'
can then foresee their destiny of disgrace.
tax, 80 :, ~
to how low a hell of infamy and guilt th
10 may finally reach.
'e.- H. ocIu5
with = L:L- -"