Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1855-03-17

voice OF reason, OF virtue, of religion and hat
manity, and ordain wise and salutary and Ell
clent ld1rS
We do assert, without fear of being gainsay-
ed, thata PrOhibitory Liquor Lac IS necessary,
most e$1~c1aAy necessary, at this tine. The pre-
sent law, which licenses or permits any person,
on the payment OF a certain sum of money, to
sell intoxicating beverages, has been found to-
| tally Intellectual III the suppression of intemper-
ance. Nay, as it may be satisfactorily shown
from the records of the Courts of Philadelphia
county, the number of cases of drunkenness,
assault and battery, riot and murder has been
doubled and trebled since the passage of the
License Lac. According to the best informa-
! ton can procure the revenue which accrues
from the granting of licenses is something more
than 10000 dollars; but mark the county
pays directly or indirectly, in costs or expenses
of crimes, clearly traceable to ntemperance,
more than l30, 900 dollars So that, in pc
cuniary point Of view, the people of our city and
county are greatly the losers by the present
law-this feeble, Intellectual, injurious, execra-
BILE law
But we are to consider the subject in anoth-
er aspect; not merely in the light of dollars
and cents; we are to consider it in moral, in
a spiritual light, Thirty pieces of silver are
paid into the treasury by heseyudases, but the
filthy lucre is the price of blood. When we
reflect on the hundreds and thousands urged to
the grave of the drunkard, and the fate of those
hundreds and thousands beyond the grave, we
may we'll stand appalled, We may ask what
| indemnity can the venders of spirituous liquor
make, for the destruction of which they have
been the cause? Oh said our Lord, with con-
summate wisdom, What shall a man give in
| c., =, A
stand in need of q restrictive, Prohibitory
J Law But, we hear men say, "a Prohibitory
Law is in contravention of liberty; you take
away our liberty-you deprive us of our
rights" But | say such opponents are mista-
| ken, and attempt to cause Others to be mista-
ken. They make no distinction between nd-
tural liberty and social or ciril liberty A Pro
hibitory Law is not opposed to social or civil
liberty.
What is natural iiberty2 Natural liberty
consists in the power of acting as one thinks
fit, without restraint or control except from
the laws of nature. This liberty is necessarily
abridged by the establishment of organized So
ciety.
What is civil liberty? Civil liberty is the
liberty Of men in state of society; or natural
liberty, SO far abridged and restrained as is ne
cessary and eXpedient for the safety and inter-
est of the society, State or nation. Civil liber
ty is secured by established laws, which re-
strain every man from injuring his fellow man.
, As the wisest jurists have laid down. the re-
f StrdintS of law are essential to civil liberty
, Yes, verify. there is distinction between ma
tural and civil liberty. On entering the social
state we must relinquish many things, many
| rights and privileges that we might have pos
seSSed i'll the savage or solitary state,
t In this latter state, man may kindle as ma
ny fires, and burn as much wood as he plcases
In the social, he shall not burn his neighbor's
forest; he shall not set fire to his ncghbor's
house or barn. Should he do so, he entrenches
on the rights of his neighbor; he Injuries the
property of his neighbor, the just fruit of his
labor. In state of nature, man may
shoot as many beasts of the field or fowls of
the air as he pleases; in the Sociai state he shall
; not shoot his neighbor's fowls or his beasts Of
burden. In state of nature, a man takes
food wherever he may find it, on the tree, on
the BUSH in the river, in the lake; in the So
cial, he shall not take his neighbours grain or
| fruit; he shall not appropriate the products of
his field, his garden or his orchard. No. to
prohibit the selling of SO great a source of III
jury to our fellows as ardent spirits, is in no
, antagonsm to the rights and privileges of So
cial liberty.
But, would prohbitory law be indeed such
strange and unheard of thing? Have we
not already laws against lotteries against stor-
ing more than a certain quantity of gunpowder
in our towns and cities, against the running at
large of mischievOus and injurious anmals?-
Why could not law be enforced against the
vendors of intoxicating drinks, as well against
the venders of lottery tickets Both are nui-
Hot Io I,,+
er of the magistrate We have laws against
selling unwholeSome meats in our markets, and
what umbrage is taken at them? And | de-
mand. are the evils occasioned by unwhoesome
meats one 1.-THE, one-hundredth, one-thonsandth
part as deadly and destructive to the commu-
nity as those caused by unwholesome drinks!
We have not time to speak of the various
reasons, why prohibitory law should be en-
acted. Had we time, we might advert to the
enhanced prices of grain, -four, and butchers
meats and the probability of their continuing
enhanced, in consequence of the troubled aspect
of the political horizon in Eastern Europe
Why are they almost beyond the reach of our
suffering poor? One great reason is, because
so much of our corn and rye and other grains
instead of being ground into -four, or fed to
beeyes and swine, is made use of by dlstlllers,
to be converted into alcohol.
But doubt may arise in the minds of some,
in regard to the enforcement of prohhitory
law. You query, "can such law be enforc-
edW We think it can, and we bespeak a can
did and patient hearing of our reasons. Such
law commends itself to the moral sense of our
citizens. 1t is "a just, wise and salutary law
for the protection of the lives the health, the
fortunes, the reputation, and the public and
to bopn Of YpOpIp Such n law
will be agreeable to public sentiment, The re-
ligious, the wise, the good, the friends Of law
| and order are in favor of it, And it is well
| acoarto;pod fact that many confirmed iYebyi1fes