Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-10-03
The Liquor Traffic.

AL VINO nave gwen the subject any lnveS-
must be convinced that the sale of
Intoxicating liquor, as q beverage, retards
and encourages Vice that it
trampies upon the rights of persons and pro-
perty to a criminal extent and that to pass
a Prohibitory Law, is the only means left to
remove the evils complained of. 1t is the
direct cause of more Rauperisn, Crime, De-
bauchery and Jrightfm casualties than all
other things put together.
1t Is a poison, and should be so declared
and treated, producing a species of insanity
which deadens the moral powers and in
flames the passions, causing the unprovoked
commission of crimes on the innocent and
u~nofending, of an enormity unparalleled in
the civilized world crimes that even barba-
rians would shudder at, and humanity in its
worst forms could not commit unaided by
the demon that is ever present in the drunk
ards cup.
This poison causes a reckless disregard of
property in those who use it that it is the
agent in the destruction of more property by
fire, shipwrecks, railroad disasters and bank
ruptcies than all other agencies put together.
That it impairs the health and shortens the
lives of those who are seduced blythe Liquor
Traffic, is a fact sustained by such official
records that none can deny it thereby de-
priving the State of the labor of her citizens;
the child of its parents the wife of her hus-
band leaving stricken widows, disconsolate
mothers and helpless children to an unfeel-
ing world, and those temptations that make
criminals of the d~runkard's sons, and pros
titutes of his daughters. The law will save
from five to ten thousand drunkards now in
oar State, their wives and children, from the
: awful fate to which the Liquor Traffic has
doomed them, and break the charm by re-
moving the temptation from ten to twenty
thousand more of our fellow citizens who are
j. moving on surely to fill the drunkard's ranks,
9 many of whom are most earnest in their
calls to stop a traffic accursed of God and all
r good men.
Pass this law, and it will put an end to
three-fourths of all the crimes against per-
Is sons and property now committed. The
re testimony of the Keepers Of our prisons and
O. Poor houses uniformly affirm that at least
n nine-tenths Of the criminals and paupers are
IN brought there on account Of the use of In
n toxicating Drinks.
We do not propose to recommend further
taxes Upon the good people of this. State in
charging and multiplying their prisons
d. erecting gibbets and inventing new forms o.
is. torture to deter the wretched victims of al
ne cohol from the commission of crimes, but by
I'M a simple and easy process relieve the Stat,
of heavy taxes and save society from crime
IN by prohibiting the sale of the poison as
IN beverage.
The law we desire is not a sumptuary one
see 1t does not prescribe the drink of any. I
ne merely prohibits the sale as a beverage Q
that which is wholly n~oxious, and in thi
u respect conforms with the spirit of the lax
= which forbids and Furnishes the sale of IN
wholesome food. The objection that othe
=, rights are invaded by the law, we submit
not true for no man has a right to inflict o
- the community the evils with which tn
:. traffic curses society. The s%anctity of ever
mdn 5 uWOIIlHS Is SoCuT0U 10 Hlm. he
there left to the indulgence of his cup, n,
because it is right, but because no law b.
the moral law, can there reach him.
The State should protect all valuable ar
innoxious property but her best property
in the morality and intelligence of a Writ
this Gus people. 1t is to such property the Sta
ust, owes its prosperity, and it is of more YAH
ions than all the gold of California. This invs
ling liable property-this mind and muscle
the daily, yea, hourly, rendered useless or de
new troyed by something styled property, viii
in we are called upon by certain persons
b;cb protect, and which is less worthy of prote
stu ton than the murders it makes.
d to The DIRECTORS to a Prchibitory Law thil
,;ca- it is q lawless act to knock in the head of
whiskey or beer-barrel, but what is the v
ue Of such property when compared w
Sons the multitudes of human beings that &
cond destroyed by the traffic in intoxicating drinI
noer Better destroy the poison, than let it destl
a the noblest i~ntellects in our land-men
oano genius, talent, enterprise and moral wor
1DOr- now laid waste by this desolating scourge