Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-10-01
Temperance Golm1>r.
From the Spirit Of the Age.
PURE WKISKEY!

Our whiskey is pure, and We warrant it
free from any 'Adulteration' whatever We
find the foregoing in the advertisement Of one
of the liquor makers of this State. Why is
it that it has become necessary for such as
surances and warrants to be given? Para
graphs like the following fully answer the
question -.
The Lebanon (Ohio) Star records the death
of four men from drinking whiskey with
strychnine in it, aud says that tens Of thou
sands of fish in the stream below the distil-
lery have died. Two tons of dead fish were
taken out of the mill race, which was liter
ally choked with them.
Years ago such things were not known,
and it was not necessary for manufacturers
and dealers to assure their customers that
the compounds sold by thew were free from
all salulteration.' They were bought and
swallowed without any twinge offear sugges-
ting that possibly there might be trace of
some poisonous ingredient blended therein
that might rob them of their allotted days
Nobody dreamed of there being 'deathin the
pot The fish swan in the brook below the
old still house uuharmed by the drains from
diluted 'slops', and men drank the half hot
sdoublings' without writhing to the death in
the convulsive pangs produced by the fatal
MIR romica. But great change has been
wrought in the mysteries of distillation -
Double the number,'of gallons are now made
from bushel of graiu-thc liquor is strong
er-tipplers look into the cup with suspi-
cious lcer-and the fish die by thousands
below the distillery Well this is an age Of
wonders and astonishing achievements One
need not be surprised if tipplers perform the
journey, already swift, from the groggery to
the grave in one half the usual time hence.
forth. Progress is ever on the alert and if
topers find that they now and then fake a
horn that blows them up instanter and pro-
duces certain goring sensation in the pit of
the stomach, with twinges and twitchings
over the system, they should, in all justice,
give the credit to their last potion as being
whiskey of extraordinary ability, capable Of
performing improved tricks such as the old
fashioned stuff never could reach. And if
the drunkard finds, under the new system,
an ugly grave gaping its hungry jaws across
his path full twenty years or more before he
expected it, he need not try to shun it but
make leap towards it in the dark, and give
progress the thanks for speeding him over
the downward road in half the time his faith
er did, with fewer knocks and bruises.
Seriously: There is no telling what the
cupidity and avarice of man will lead him to-.
1t is the love of gold that prompts the distil-
Ter to mingle poisonous ingredients with his
compounds, in order to increase theirquanti-
ty, regardless of the sacrifice of human life
he causes. pure whiskey' kills men soon
enough in the old fashioned way, and if the
present system of adulteration continues, we
may expect the ratio of mortality from drunk
euness to be largely increased. This may
work we'll in the end, for all men are desper-
ately afraid of touching anything that will
kill rat, and the strychnine and other pois.
onous chemicals so much in vogue with man.
ufacturers just now, may be the means of do
ing more for temperance and morality than
all the moral suasion, the legal suasion the
preaching and printing that has ever been
employed. So mote it be.