Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-07-26
To the Voters Of Wake:

Observation-Disclosures of party issues, and "
far above mere party ties and Influences
The candidates on this ticket are placed upon
a platform of principles with which are iden-
tilted all the best interests of society the
safety and happiness of the present and sue G,
ceeding generations.
Theissue raised and upon which the friends sa
of this movement ask your support, is a Re- W
form in the Liquor Trafic-an evil %univer-
sally admitted, and grievously complained of
by almost every good citizen. By the present K
system, grog shops are scattered without a
stint and spare from one end of the State to c
the other. By it society is visited with eve e.
ry calamity-red-hand crime stalks unblush- a
ingly throughout the land-families are en- 0
poverished, degraded and ruined-wicked- a
ness is encouraged and emboldened-prop- a
erty is corrupted and destroyed; and our p
very lives put in jeopardy every day. These J
things are so common and notorious, that t
they scarcely excite wonder or remark. S
This evil is entailed upon US, supported /
and kept alive by the laos Of our State land !
nothing short Of the supreme lasO Of Me land !
COI T6UtUO6 u L IL law a cih ~ oPOhI
community, for a consideration, from our
earliest history and in justice to its out
ragged and Injured subjects, it should b$ban-
ished from the statute book, and the stern
arm of justice be extended to protect the in
jured and the innocent.
Political parties have been invoked and
importuned to effect this desired end but
these opportunities have been treated with
insult and contempt, and the side of wrong
boldly espoused and advocated. What, then,
are the Reformers to do Cravenly to sub
nit and let whiskey rule and ruin US and our
country ? Such was not the stuffof which our
fore fathers were made-such not the spirit
that prompted to the noble deeds of daring
and prowess against a tyrant's usurpations
and injustice in "the days that tried mems
souls" As in those days, the Rulers and
mighty ones of the land espoused the cause
of despotism and of King George, sothat our
heroes and statesmen had to be called forth
from the workshops and the plough-handles;
so in this great moral and political struggle
our rulers and legislators have sided with
King Alcohol, and we have to turn to the
honest, hard-fsted yeomanry of the land, and
call upon them to repel the base invader
from our beloved country.
. The objects, tendency and consequence
of this movement, have been a thousand
, times misrepresented and its advocates viii
I fed and traduced as tricksters and d~eceivers F.;
I that the object is to take away mems iber-
ties and exercise over them a tyranny as re-
~pulsive as it is insulting and degrading
Against such an accusation we put forth a
r fat denial, and insist upon the first iota Of
: evidence to sustain the charge. Upon the
. contrary we point with e%xulting pride to the
h Resolutions adopted from time to time by the
e friends Of this movement-to the platform Of
q and we defy any man to gainsay its stric
q republicanism or its plain common sense
le Every man can understand the positions lait
Is down-they are so plain that they admit o
II no two constructions. Now what is our plat
form $751;.
lst, That the Liquor Traffic is a political
moral and social evil of sufficient magnitud,
y to call forth the mightiest efforts for its extir
y patton.
n End, That having been engendered, fos
he tered and perpetuated under the sanction Q
$, law, the interests of society require that tn
lc same power should be called into requisitiol
Or for its removal, and thus be made to atom
le to injured society for evils it has been tn
IL agent in inficting.
ry Sd, That the whole matter should Weld /
st the we'll ascertained and expressed will {
the majority Of the sovereign people, to /
be allowed, restricted or prohibited, as they ma
rs desire-to be regulated and controlled as ii
III majesty of the People may dictate.
IL In a word-It is a matter in which til
C WHOLE PEOPLE are deeply and vitality intel
n, ested therefore let the PEOPLE have til
disposal of it.
us This is our Platform of principles, fellow
citizens, and we challenge any man to poin
'h out an :" anti-democratic, anti-whig, or ant
80 republican" plank in it. By no fair and Il
nc climate criticism can it be assailed. BIZ
no yet, just, and equitable, and reasonable as
is, political candidates have refused to stan
~ upon it. 1t has been offered them, and the
no have been pleaded with to espouse the caus
ne of Right! But they have spurned it as a
% unholy thing, preferring to ally themselvt
e' to the whiskey jug and the liquor-ocracy.
III We have therefore been forced to bringo1
al candidates for the Legislature friendly
IN this Reform-and we now appeal to evel
1T good citizen of Wake county to give them
generous and cordial support. The gentl
Id men who have been brought forward are M
IT,, of good standing among the ~people-equ
a in all respects, for intelligence, moral intej
70 rity and public and private worth, to an
ad others before the people. If elected, the
ID, will serve their constituency with as mut
rs honesty, acceptability and usefulness &
all the questions coming up for Legislation
lte as others-but on the particular question
he issue they will vote to give the people Il
me power Of staying this monster-they will $;
On to the people, yo~ shall have the right al
ale the power to " down with the LIQUOR traHc
a. if you desire it. They are not afraid to tru
led the people with this or any other questic
.ba 1t is their province to rule and manage It {
to themselves, and to them let it be entrusted
Try And now, fellow-citizen, in conclusion.