Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1857-03-18
PeddIing Whisky.

POPULAR Misrepresentation Of this CUSTOM ia
s-lssng strength IN al portions Of the State.
Since the rising Of the recent Legislature. we
hear on all sides expressions Of surprise thas
the hneksters of whiskey we're not taxed
The Justice of such a tax has taken deep root
in the public mind, and nothing short Of it's
consummation viii satisfy the demands of
the popular will.
There need be NO elaborate argument Ia
prove the necessity Of such a tax for the
practical workings of the system itself is suf-
heient evidence to demonstrate the equity and
Justice of the measure. If one man is taxed
because he makes money by bis trade, the
whiskey pedler would come in for his share.
because he makes q large per centum upon
bis eapi.al invested. If another man is tax
ed because it is presumable that his vocation
is not conducive to public interests, the liouor
huchster would Gene in for. his full share.
because every sane man is ready to agree
that of all tradesmen. the dealer in vbisksv
does less for the public veal than any other
man.
tits a little remarkable that the last Leg
~
isktnre taxed almost everything and every
body except srhiskeyhEekssers andMnisters of
The Gospstg Ii would seem that the law.
gisers had some design in compromisinp
matters by suffering our very BEST men and
our very scOrst men to go Scot FIRE. -
There may be some policy in this-we one.
heard of an eccentric Divine who always re-
Trained from speaking Of King Satan in snv
very harsh terns, and generally alluded to
him as rather an usfertunats parsonage, and
assigned as a reason for this course that one
never knows until the last svAoss hands h
may faR into! Men cannot be too careful.
Dealers in patent medicines are taxed hsa.
Willy, yet they do ne more harm, that we are
aware of, than whiskey huckstsrs. Il i,
true, if they were to sell all their compounds
there might be an universal expecsoratioa,
but that would not be half 50 offensive a, ths
slavering of the drunken host recling in the
wake ofthe Whiskey huckster. Lawyers and
doctors are taxed, yet the one, with his doe
er dem, and the other. with his bottle Of cas-
tor oil, his salts, SIENNA, ipecac, tartar nd
mauseuns Of greater magnitude than him of
the quart pot. Il is true the huckster rives
the one, clients to be cl.ansed of moral in
hrmities before a sworn jury, and to the 9TH
er, turns over many patients to be healed of
divers diseases and broken heads; and . We
~ profitable business indeed might be thus
driven all around to the fobs of all parties
concerned. but unfortunately the huekstsr
generally drains his customers of the last
: penny before he turns them Of as eli ents and
! patients. So the lawyer and doctor have to
pay tax for the honorable pririlsge of mending
E broken characters and broken heads conse,
) quent upon the highly protective tariff on
whiskey peddlingi
8 II would really seem TO q man, of ordinary
4 capacities nothing bnt a measure of Justice,
\ that whiskey hucksters should be taxed in
: common with other tradssmen, but it NAV be
that the wise lawyers, by the aid of glasses,
: saw further into this great political milestone
than common men can possibly see. WINS
tkey peddIing NAV be some kind of q " cir
q cumiocution" affair with something in II. or
4 at the bottom oft, or somehow blended with
it, unseen, unknown, unrealized by an ordi-
nary man, but wonderful to contemplate bv
those understanding il. There il a secret
: somewhere about it. It may be a magic Ie-
d yer to prize men out of political mudholss-
a ladder to climb higher and higher unon
q towards fame, or something of that kith and
kin. Who knoweth :