Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1855-02-28
For the REGISTER,
License or no License.


Mr. EDITOR After havin giasserted in
former communication that there should
be change in the present Liquor License
Law Of ViIginia, now will bring forward
the proof I will lay down the following
as safe maxim for the people of every
State, viz AL la,cs, after being thorough
ly tested. aOhicA are found to be productive Of
more eVH than good, should be abandoned.
Now do not think it difficult task to
prove to every intelligent mind, that the
workings and bearings OF our present law
upon the health, wealth and peace Of our
citizens, are pcrnlclous. But what is this
license law, about which there is SO much
ado and what are its bearings upon com
munity'? will now attempt to Show
some OF its features. Some three hundred
years ago an Arabian chemist discovered
the art of producing from grain and fruit.
by chemical process, the substance which
is called spirituous liquor, at which time
it was used in small quantities. even in
drAchm ;--4Lh Of an ounce. Hence the
phrase "takc drachm." Since that, it,
use has increased greatly-so much SO,
that it is AN article Of commerce of no
small magnitude.
The Legislature Of Virginia, seeing the
enormous quantity of splrIluous liquors
used within the Stale, passed law that
no person within the State 81 old retail
spili;uous liquors without paying a GER
tain sum of money for license, which sum
is taken to defray the expenses of the
State. Now he who drinks this liquor Is
no longer himself, but he at once becomes
clamorous, quarrelsome, abusive and III,
sulting to his best friends. He neglects
his business, beggars his family, destroys
his constitution. and finally becomes a
redeyed, bloated and polluted sot. The
vitaIs of life, thus abused, flicker for a
time and then go out. The affrighted
soul is thus forced from its clay tenement
to its eternal home in the shades of night.
In proof Of what have said let me re-
fer to few facts. In the neighborhoOd
OF - a man lived who had great pros
perity in his worldly business for time;
but like many other business men, how
ever, he took to drinking. Soon he be-
came peevish, fletful. and unkind to his
family. Afterward, from wound he re-
ceived, modification took place in conse-
quence of his system being filled with Ii
quor, and death ensued.
In the village Of B. lived family
the father of which betook himself to the
licensed tavern which was near at hand.
His wife soon saw, to her great grief, that
it was to their ruin. He became sot-
and when he would get tired of the tav-
ern. he would stagger home, and Ihele
beat and abuse his wife. So when the
wife felt that she could endure it no long
err, she went to the man who sell him the
liquor, and besought him for her sake and
her helpless children, not to sell her hus-
band any more liquor. For, continued
she, when he is sober he treats me and
my little ones kindly. but when he comes
home drunk he abuses US most unmerci-
fully. To all this the rumseller replied
with a sheer, it is my business t. sell IL
quor, and will furnish your husband with
liquor as long as he pays me for it-and
in this do just what the law authorizes
me to do, and for which have obtained
a license by paying my money. The poor
woman turned from this unfeeling wretch
with heavy heart to her cherries home.
Some days after this, her husband was re-
turning home, and while he was entering
one door the afflicted wife picked up the
youngest child and slipped out at the other.
When this Legitimate monster found not
his wife at home, SO he could beat and
abuse her as he vas wont to do, he then