The hydraulic press., 1860-06-16
Tte Avdraalie gress.
ADUArhRATED LIauoRs.


ADUATERATED Liquors.
The last California legislature enacted a
law to prevent the adulteration of distilled
and fernnented liquors, which has been thus
epitonized by the Sacfarhento JEaiox:
t'tt is declared an o4fense, punishable by
fine of from twenty-five to FIVE hundred dol
lars, with fees and costs as in a criminal
case, 10 adhiterate any liSaors 1sed as bev-
eHage, TO calse the satAe tb be done, or to
import, seii, or give away THE same, or sell
or give receipt for adalteratfon. ANY Jus.
tice Of TIE Peace; UPON an affidavit being
made, that to THE best ot the belief of the
party making the same, adslterated liquors
are being Imported, manufactured, or sold
by any person, may issae an erder to seize
ANY amount not not exceeding one gallon
thereof, to be tested, and the testimony of
any competent chemist or examiner shall be
received in any trial. Persons convicted
shall never again be permitted to import or
sell any liquors in the State. In default of
payment of judgment and costs, the defeA-
dsnt shall be Imprisoned in any county Jail
for aay humber eff days at the rate OF two
dollars for efefy days imprisonment Col
lections to be paid into the School fund of
the county,"
Itfsa melancholy fact that, notwithstana-
ing the strenuous exertions of various tenn
perance and total-asstinence associations,
for the last thirty years, the majority of
American r,en still have a too great thirst
for intoxicating drinks; and the fact has be-
come more and more melancholy, by the
knowledge that the makers and dealers of
these intoxicating drinks are every day,ren-
deffhg them more and more deleterious to
health and life, by mixing them with poison
Gus drugs. Forty years ago, when men, and
also women; drank even more vigorously
Than they do at present, delrium hemens, now
SO frightfully common, was almost entirely
unknown. In those days, when even pious
deacons kept their sideboards we'll garnished
with brilliant cut-glass decanters, 6lled with
the tempting liquids, and always insisted on
making their guests happy BY offering Ubla-
tions to Bachus, people got drunk and got
sober again, without any marked detriment
either to their health or social Standing
Now 1t is sadly otherwise. The poisoned
drinks of to day contain ingredients that
make men mad, and hurry them into strife
ahd murder. The miserable drunkard fn-
ishes his career, either by the hangn,an's
rope, by pistol shot in the brain from his
owR hahd, or by the awful pangs and ffen-
sies of ntaait pota'
Win the recently enacted law tend to BAN
ish this great moral and social evil? Is
there sufficient fhural courage in the cities;
villages, and mining camps of our State, IL
carry out its requirements ? Is anybody
brave enough, after swigging glass of sus-
picicus whisky, which at first makes him
farioucly belligerent, and in The end, horri-
bly, sick, to enter formal complaint against
the man who sold him the poisonous COM
pound And, if such brave informer can
be found, will he be lucky enough to find
magistrate willing to risk his popularity by
enforcing the law? And, if such boldly
conscientious magistrate can be found, where
is the competent chemist" to be had p
There may be various opinions as to his
but, cten if that should be
generally admitted, he may not feel willing
to place himself in an attitude of antagonsm
against the liquor seller, who, peradventure,
may be his bosom friend. With all these
apparent difficulties, the enactment may
prove itself famply sufficient; and, that it may
so prove itself, ought to be the prayer of
every philanthropist. Alcohol, whether pure
or poisoned, is bad thing to swallow but,
if men must swallow it, let them have the
best of bad thing.