Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1856-04-30
For The Chronicle
The Present Crisis.

I'VE publish the following communi-
cation by request, although we cannot
say that we fully endorse the sentiments
or language of the writer.-EDs.
A strange apathy seems TO exist in
the minds of our citizens. relative 10 the
unlawful sale and use of intoxicating
liquors in their midst. There are at
the present time some fourteen estab-
lishments in Warren, where liquor is
covertly OIL openly sold, and drunken
men stagger through our streets at noon
day, in open defiance of law, order, and
common decency-yet no one takes cog
nisance of the act. Our laws are suf-
i%ciently stringent TO protect our tax
payers and citizens generally, from this
curse, could they be brought to bear
But there are many difficulties in the
way. In the first place, this is a money
loving age. Morality, justice and right,
are as a general thing sunk in a blind
scrabble for gold. Propose any benevo-
lent project-and the response is =" does
apay %
Things of a ~humanizing and moraliz-
ing cast are not apt 10 pay, lat least
very largely while the spOils of such
as prey upon the baser passions and appe-
tites of men, are sufficient to build pala-
ces for their friends, and still furnish a
large revenue for the defence and prop
sgation of evil. And her woe betide
the unfortunate wretch who single handed
and alone should attempt to block the
wheels of this juggernaut of wealth,
passion and physics force. What. let
me ask, is to be the end Our law
makers may legislate until the end of
time, and those who are out of the sphere
of its influence, may mentally anathe'
matise both the outlawed .drinker and
vender. Yet the evil will grow green
and flourish. We look with horror at
the Cuban slave trade, but it is not a
whit worse than what is daily enacted
in our midst. Capital and influence
backs this traffic which kidnaps the best
men in community and sells them into a
slavery more hopeless than that of a
Cuban task master. Yet limorous or
careless citizens, and easy officials wink
at those outlaws, and let them pass
Many no doubt have felt those truths
pungently, and await an organized move
ment in which they can work with safety
and advantage, while others jangle and
contend as TO the method, and its partici-
pants. and thus fritter away their efforts
to nc pupose.
When will our citizens arise en- mass,
and decide that law and order shall tri-
umph over anarchy and wrong? When
will our tax payers see that it is policy
to do a little towards suppressing this
evil, rather than to pay hundreds and
thousands of dollars annually inthe shape
of taxes TO maintain it, and its contingent
train of crime and recklessness? Nine
tenths of the crimes that are committed
are directly or indirectly the result Of
the use of alcohol. Hence it would be a
business transaction to suppress
its use as a beverage, to say nothing Of
it in a moral light.
With regard TO those who are at pres
ent engaged in this traffic, l would say
that l am not so destitute of confidence
in the real humanity of human nataIe
as many. l doubt not but could they
zee themselves in a true light as ouadws
md destroyer, IT their roce- instead of