Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1868-02-18

Federal Government, party In the interest Of
Temperance and PARTY for revenue purposes.
has imposed . Tax lpon domestic liquors which
il the law were rightly executed. would at once
lessen their consun ption and increase the sum
total ofthe National revenue. but it appears to
have signaiIy failed in both these objects. There
is no perceptible decrease in the manufacture or
consumption Of domestic spirits. and no pro-.
G1vernIaept from that source. Laws OF this ma
ture are always extensively eyaded, and result
in a large amount Of eicial corruption and pub
lie generalization. without accomplishing the
primary objects which their Yoriginators had in
view.
Experience seem. to teach us that moral in
huences are more potent than penal statutes in
restraining this species Of excess. Father Mat,
hew's moral and religious crusade against In
sbrissy probably did more good than all The pro.
hlbitory laws that have ever been enacted.
The extreme prohibitionists insist that alec.
hol has no uses as u medicine ; that it is, when
taken into the stom Ach. necessarily po;sonop.
But here the Faculty that has made diSease and
the remedies for disease its study for so many
ages, Increasing its knowledge and perfecting
its system OF treatment with every ipassius
year, meets TIE allegation with a point blank
denial. Who are ,st competent to decide this
question. in which the health and lives of mil.
lions OF human beings are lnvoived-,he pro.
fessors ofthe art of healing or individuals who.
confessedly, are incompetent 70 prescribe for
their own aim nts and who. when Frustrated
by illness, place their chief reliance upon the
doc;ors' Does not the profession in whom.
next to God, they yut their trust in sickness,
know better than tley do whether alcoholic ton.
les are or are not necessary in cortAin phases Of
disease: Common sense answers In The affirm
alive. Physicians tell US that alcoholic ipedi
cines are among the most valuable remedial
agents in the Mate-ia Medlca-speciics which
caunot be dispensed with without sacrificing the
health aud lives OF multitude- Of their patients.
Il We put trust in them and that we put trust
la them is esident.or We should not call them IN
to minister to us when in'danger-we are bound
to subscribe to their dictum.
so far, then. Ms medication il concern ed, the
obiec. ofthe philarthropists who ads ocate tenn
perance should be to aid the profession in its
p~raiseworthf Efforts to secure q pure, unadulerAt-
ed alcoholic stimuiant Tor curative and prevent
i've purposes. II aay law could be devised for
keeping the unwholesome aud impure liquors of
commerce ont OF the sick room. IL wcuid be an
innppreciablc blessing and if, on She other
hand, law { iaranteeins a pure atimuiant TO all
who are professionally declared 10 need il could
be practically enforced, that, 200. would be Of
ihtite dement, TO mankind. But no such spec
ial Legislation could be rendered effective. 1t
would be evadsd, aad rendered null and void by
the Interests in conflict with ii, just as the
liquor laws Gle nov nullihed by similar causes.
But when-as in the case, for exam pie. of
hos,et'er Stomach Bitters-am medicinal stiri-
uiant has been proved, beyond all cavii, 10 be
absolutely free from adui:era.ion, and . com
plste specific for a large class of diseases, no
beneSolent Aad enl gh,ened friend of Temper
ance can consistently lif. up his voice against it.
On the contrary, every proper effort should be
made to procare the substitution of such a tonic
fr the acrid, fiery, and poisonous fluids too fire.
q%uantiv administered TO invalfGs.
1t should be a powerful argument in favor of
a preparation ike tais, that II has been depriy-
ed by rectidcaiion and by the medicinal .vegeia-
BILE ingredients of which it partly consists. OF all
the deletsrious properties present in ordinary
alcoholic ssimulants, and which beget an unnat-
ural craving for strong drink. thereby leading
directly 10 intemperAnce. This, We say. should
be . strong argument in its favor with oil ra-
tional temperance men for since stimulauts
are medicines that cannot be dispensed, with, It
is manifsstIy Ill important to administer the
best.
Az a recognized and standard tonic Of undis-
puted purity. Aostes,er's Bitters may be cited
as sn apt illustration Of the use Of stimulsnts as
con,rasted with their abuse. 1t is not intended
as . beverage indeed. there are many varieties
of unmedicated alcohol which the man who
loves strong drink for itself would prefer TO the
Bit,ers. No topper is partial to the article, for
its effect, when taken into excess, is that of an
emetic. Ii is regarded as q medicine only, and
is prescribed for tne prevention and cure of
sickness, and for nothing else.
The temperance reader who has perused the
foregoing remarks in . candid and impartial
spiri, will see, We taink, that the cause he has at
heart. and which unfortunately has been greatly
retarded in it, progress BY intolerance and mi.-
conception, is likely to be benefited rather than
retar ded by the employment in medical practice
Of . Wholesome Phsr mseeutieal Preparation,
with a pure cumulative basis, instead of the
abominable nrewaier now more abominable
then it ever Was before, sold by liquor dealers
and at tavern -bsrs.
PREPARED AND SOLD By
Hostetter & Smith
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