The weekly Ottumwa courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1857-1872, 1859-03-03

Whiskey VS.. Temperance.
Our lawyers justices, Mayor, County
Judge, and other officials and interested pr
sons, have been in u general turmoil of late
in an attempt to enforce the Maine Liquor
Law"
The officials and lawyers have Of cour..
made it pay, and "tin" to them is god
send" these hard times. While the liquor
men have bean damnins everything and the
generous-heart:d attorneys have been sym
pathizing with them in their sore affection. a
few discarded politicians have seized the op.
portunity to rake little political capital for
themselves. We have Republican city
council and marshal. Not long since, some
fifty persons, Democrats and Republicans,
petitioned this city council to enforce the lq-
uor law-describing in the most vivid man.
ner the terrible effects, &C., of the sale of ar
dent spirits IN our city. The council hesita.
ted to act, but finally directed the marshal to
prosecute under the State law. But before
anything had been done in the pr .mises, a
Democratic faction, at temperance meeting
called by some young men in the city, at
tempted to pass a resolution censuring the
city council for not prohibiting the sale of in
toxicating liquors within the city. This res
olution met with considerable opposition on
the part Of those disliking the manufacture.
Of Political buncombe in this manner. A
number of temperance resolutions seere pass
ed at this meeting, but the resolution of CEN
sure was at last tabled, ON the motion of one
Of its strongest supporters. We thought,
and do still think that said resolution Of ce:-
sure had the foll,wing objections friends
claiming that the city council should require
the marshal to prosecute under the State law:
lst. 1t was uncalled tor. and clandestincly
introduced under call for no such purpose.
I'd. 1t was partial and sounded terribly of
Democratic buncombe.
LIST. Partial, because there is no reason
why every citizen in the town should not be
sensured as well as the city council, it being
much more clearly the duty Of citizens to
prosecute, than the duty of the city council
to prosecute under the State law.
I'd. Because it is as much the duty of
Democratic peace-officers to inform and pros
ecute as it is the duty of the city marshal -
oae of which peace officers this resolution did
not reash-it appearing to be very censura-
in, fhA Nf u
publican to neglect the enforcement Of the
liquor law, but very rommendable in Dem
ocratic pesco-officers to connive at the sale Of
liquor.
But it is scarcely necessary to mention
these objections now, since our Democratic
friends seem to have become alarmed at the
position they took, nd have totally abandon
oil their temperance enterprise. We suppose
they saw that the temperance votes they
would make by the operation would be great
~ outnumbered by the anti-tempsrance votes
which they would loose. At any rate the
Young Mems Temperance Society" has
"hzsled," and, strange to tell, its most bril-
liant lights have now apr cared in the ranks
OF the opposition. The transition was sud-
den but necessarily So So soon as they had
succeeded in driving the city marshal into
prosecutions, the temperance pressure W..
Withdrawn, the cause abandoned, and anti
Temperance made to pay as neatly as pos
sibl..
While ons f.ction ofth disin tegrating de-
nocracy arc thus playing off on the citizens
Of Ottumwa, some two or three members of
another faction (who have been thrown over
board by their own party and left sticking
deep in the mud Of salt-river) have taken ad-
vantage of favorable opportunity offered to
them by tbs citizens Of Dahlonega 1t was
very pretty operation indeed for those men
when the anger Of the citizens of Dahloncga
WAS raging, to slip out therc-fan the fame
BY the most malignant vitupcrations and
abuse Of the citizens of Ottumwa-gct Judge
Flint inlorscd in every particular and NOM
mated for County Judge again-and worse
Of all convince the citizens of Dahlonega that
they should hereafter do their own voting
1t was indeed p city opportunity for thee
men to make one grand struggle for If, and
for Office What will not strong appetite
for "the loaves and fishes" cause certain
"disinterested' individuals to do!
~ We arc always pleased to record a
decrease in the Affections to which humanity
Is heir. And We do so now, in bearing tes-
timony to the woodworking powers Of Dr.
JssHOSTETTCR,S ERR ATrD eTOu