Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1860-03-02

Of reform. Dangerous tendencies throughout
society were seen and it was intensely felt
that something must be done, or that moral ru-
in would desolate our country These wax
ings, and fears aud tremblings, and consulta-
tions growing out of them, among the friends
Of temperance. were rays Of light on the thick
darknoss-werc oucouragements 10 hope for
change for the better for these compelled
men to bcstir themselves, and as "lor dear
life' 90 work plans for reformation. And
though at or near the bottom of the hill, it
was soon evident that an ascent had been be-
gun by the friends of temperance and their
cause and that, with everything 90 gain, they
had powerful motives for putting forth their
full strength to bring men up out of the de-
gradation Of slavery to most hateful vice
But now, in 1860, after all that has been
granted, in the good Providence of God, Of
success to our cause tendencies arc in opera
tion towards ease and quiotness and inactivi-
ty The successes Of many years past have
become temptations to sit down and enjoy
victories achcved-to comfort and indulge
selves in the idea that amended public scnti-
mont and good and strong laws prohibiting
the traffic will insure, seal and perpetuate the
temperance reformation. Oui State laws seem
by some supposed to be a newly inaugurated
system Of good, which will, by is orn ioher-
0t forces. move about in society as if ga thing
Of life, and ezecute itself; without any living
Nermonter having anything to do in the ca
pacity of complainant, witness, grandjuryman,
justice, constable, sheriff, or court of any
grade and that the friends of temperance
have nothing to do but rat. drink and sleep
plough, plant, manufacture and make money
marry, and give or be given in marriage;
and let the act entitled, "The act 10 preuent
traffic ua Intoxicating liquors for the purposes Of
drmkipg' tote care of ITSELF That such :en-
denotes are in operation is virtually asserted,
and warned against by our State Society, in
their annual report for 1859. Recognizing
the fact that the State law Of 1852 has been
and is approved by good majority Of our
citizens; yet that Society report from every
county in the State conditions Of things which
give reason for apprchensions OF shuHefully
retrograde movement Of the cause of temper
ance in our commonwealth They speak II
use the language of their report Of "apathy
on the subject in one county "the cause
roceding' in another Fan increase of drink
ing in another 1.-THE law outwardly respect
ed, but secretly broken, in another and Of
"the numbers Of resolute men quite to small
for the efficient execution and triumph of the
law, and other like expressions Respecting
us here in Rutland county, they say land we
wish in our souls IL was trnc), tout Of Rut-
land it is believed that the temperance senti-
nent was never stronger than it now is, nor
the law more favorably regarded In many
towns it is enforced with thoroughness but
they proceed) in Rutland it is said liquor
is sold openly and drunkenness stands out in
bold figures"
If the Vermont State Temperance Society
do truly report the condition Of things in our
commonwealth and if these things are really
so, then it must be admitted that indeed
alarming tendencies are in existence and
which, if not speedily arrested, will carry us
backward and downward, to the old and de-
plorable condition of things which existed
thirty-fve or forty years ago. And if that
which the Society unfavo.ably reports of our
seat county be not a slandcr upon the place
if they have come down upon Rutland with a
mertcd rebuke, in saying that there "liqpor is
sold openly. and drunkenness stands o,d i5i
bold figures then Rutland, and the county of
Rutland, too, have their good name at stake,
in fashion which it is high time should re-
coive attention. On the other hand, il such
a representation and robuke be unmeritcd;
the State Temperance Society has perpetrated
upon us in this c0untrya slander to be repell-
cd and if there be present in this assembly
any good or well informed citizen Of the town
Of Rutland, who feels himself justified in con-
tradiction, it will doubtless be listened to
with great satisfaction by this meeting.
One other point only Of unfavorabe con-
trast can now be noticed. In 1925, the ma
terials for intoxicaton--the liquors Of all
sorts, in use as beverages, We're generally
speaking, unadulterated, genuine. Distilers
manufactured rum out Of West India molas-
ses and importers brought into this country
the same sort Gin and whisky were made
Of rye, corn, and sometimes potatoes. Cider
brandy was made of the Juice of the apple
And foreign wines and brandies were made of
the grape. The manufacture of liquors in
our country, as it was then carried on, was an
honest and bonafde turning of the products
of the soil which we have named into alcohol
ic or Intoxicating liqors and every man who
drank them could quite certainly know what
he drank. For example the Gin distilerics
which sent up their smoke and filled the at
mosphere over aud around Warehouse Point
in Connecticut and the smell of which would
meet the otactories of the approaching trav-
eer on the hills, miles out of the village
were places the doors of which stood open;
and every man who pleased might "walk in,
and see for himself the process of carrying
rye through from the grain, till it was run
out stubborn absolute aud genuine Gin. And
thus of all the other staple liquors. But in
this year, 1860, are made and sold liquors,
called, forsooth, by the old names, and with
the most exact likeness in taste and having
the same stimulating and exciting effects but
which have come from other places than such
distilleries as those of Warehouse Point and
other old fashioned establishments of the
kind; made, too, of ingredients widely in
contrast and difference from the products of
the harvest field aud vineyard ;--liquors in
which accurate chemical analysis discovers
some Of the most deadly poisons, both miner
al and vegetable. To any ono in this assem-
bly, who, two years ago, listened to the late
excellent John Hawkins. in his lectures in our
State on the subject Of adulteration of liquors,
it is unnecessary to state at length what rois-
onous Ingredients now enter into the compo-
sition of those intoxicating liquors going un-
der the old names, and of which to drink, is
to drink "the cup of derils' and Of death.---
Aduiteration threatens to wide extent to
supplant distiHatioa. In these days no man
knows what he is drinking who drinks what
is called RrandV Wine Din Whisky Rum