New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-04-03
uIMrERANCE AND TIDE GOVERNOR.


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TEMIERASCE AND THE GOVERNOR.
The People Of the State Of Newly Ork have for
time rendered over the crime and dlussd aud
aggravated n their midst through the sale and of
Intoxicating Beverages Protrac'ed aud careful in
curry has demonstrated that here, almost every
where else great majority Of the violations Of law,
the outrages persons or property, tie misery in
families the pauperism of adults the vsgraucy aud
destitute orpbanage Of children, are the direct and
necessary results of the traffic in Alcoholic Liquors
The truths now established this vitality important
subject have collected by patient labor and willing
sacrifice on the part Of men generally poor aud in humble
life The high-born the rich the titled, the powerful
have not generally shared in these sbOrs aod sacrifices
The two extremes of society have stood ao0f from the
Temperance Moyement-tle fortunate in their lux
urious contentment the wretcbed in their dark des
pair. Yet the Reform has moved on through alterns-
tons good and III fortune, such attend all efforts
TO make the world better until these truths have been
demonstrated to the perfect conviction Of nne ten.hs
of all those who have not shut their eyes to the
evidence aGduced-namely
/ /. hieohOt is poison certainly n0xious 10 the
human constitution any other poison and the liquids
containing it sre baneiu not because Of the vtriol
cocuus indicus, quassa, &c. &c. with which their
manufacturers aduterae them in order to produce the
coveted results at cheaper rate than they could be
produced with Alcohol alone but because the Alcohol
itself is substance at war with human health aud life
3 10 letter 10 PREVENT Crime than 10 PUNISH it.
to keep the vogrant from becoming thief than to send
him to State Prison for stealiug-to teach than TO
hang-to remove ana temptations from the feet
of the ral aud unwary than to leave them uuwsrned
to fall into the pit and then cudgel them for not keep
ing out.
B. 1heg ,rhO are compelled 10 bear The burdens Of Grim.
and PGuptr.,a hare legitimate interest and right Of
Surveillance Orer hc CAUSES Of Crime and Paapcrism
That is no true Liberty which makes a. b. free 10
make fliy dollars out of the ruin by dissipation and
drunkenness of &. d, and then oblges + f., G. H.,
and j., to pay five hundred thousand do lars to
support said drunkard aud his family ia the Poor
House. Tie very moment the State established Poor
Laws aud compelled the thrifty to contribute for the
support of the destitute it armed the former with the
right OF investigating and counteracng the causes OF
Pauperism nay, it laid Itself under moral
obligation to do likewise
A. A,ape EIper.eaoc pror6s that he eriS Of Iasmyer.
cannot be orercome BY any REGULATION Of ne
Traffic IN Intoxicating Drishs By any effort seeking
Oniy 10 restrict Tie Of such Beverages ,oifia certain
hnus-For fAlcohol be essentially poison, burfu TO
the bumsn constitution whether imbibed in large or
small quantities and whether it compose four per cent
forty of the liquid containing it, then there can be
no such thing as moderate and legitimate consump-
sion OF Alcoholic Beverages by persons in health any
more than there can be moderate and innocent Gam.
bling Lewdness or Stealing PoisOns may be laudably
mbibed under the direction Of skilltul physician to
counteract tie effects of other posons already 10
the system-u just as block of houses may be blown up
tOprevent fire spreading and consuming whole
eilybut he who in state of health or in any state
for the mere qualification OF an appetite the enjoy
ment OF momentary exhilaration of spirits imbibes
poison, whether in large or small quantities warsup
bis own life and del es the benefcent Creator who has
given that life for other than selfish or sensual ends
B. Alcohol, unlike Cor, a! least abors) all other pois-
ons, IS a Social and Political eril-Tobacco niure.
the user, but does not mpe him to abuse his family
nor slsy his unofending neighbor. So with Opium,
Indian Hemp and other Narcotics But Alcohol at
fects more directly the brain, and renders its victim
not merely useless but dangerous-not drveler only
but often murderer. OF all the great crime. against
the person committed in State, at least three
tourths peTpetrated under the direct inspiration
OF Alcohol while not onetwenteth are fairly attribute.
BILE 10 oil other stimuants whatsoever The use OF
Alcohol therefore, stands on u totally different basis
far the State concerned from that OF any other
noxous substance whatever; and laws forbiddng the
sale of intoxicating Beverages stand on exactly the
same footing, and justified by the considera-
tons, with those which inteIdict the keeping of gam.
bling houses and dens of nfamy.
Well the People of our State, after long ami anx-
ious consideration prompted by the success of po-
neer experiments in other States, have at length con
cluded that the true TO be pursued with regard
to Alcoholic Liquors is TO prohibit entirely their sale as
hrerGgts This is no novelty: the United States have
had just such law among their statutes for over thirty
seven years except that applies only TO the sale of
these beverages to Indians So the Slave States all
nearly all, forbid and punish the sale of such bev
erages 10 SlGres. Our own State, with most others
has for at least generation prohibited the sale of
these Liquors except by persons specially licensed
surely We need not argue that the right 10 prohibit
the sale by nineynne hundredths of our whole People
plainly involves and implies the right to interdct their
sale by the hundredth also And. If il be within the
legitimate sphere of Government to protect Indians
and Negroes from the evil consequences of the Liquor
iiehc IL cannot be usurpstoa to extend that same
protection to White Men. So thought the People of
York when they elected their present Legislature
expressly to outlaw and prohibit the LIQUOR Traffic