Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1868-02-08
u,uE EVILS or ExcEss-PRoHIBrroRY

LAws-MEDICIsAL srIMuLr.-lnsemper
ancs has no avowed advocates. Even its slares
curse tie vice to which they yield, or regret.
with maudlin tears. their inability to resist the
false appetite for stimulsass which lonR-consin-
ued xce.. has eneendersd. or oil the millions
whom it degrades, brutiaes, and ruins. there 10
not one who in his sober moments stands forth
its champion. Temperance, on the other hand,
has host of active and energetic friends. So
cie,y, Us . body, breaches it, although so many
members Of society fail 70 practice it. II Is I'D
vocssed in every pulpit. ,ss prohibition is the oh
feet Of large and respectable social esganiza.
tions, 10 msds . slds issue and sometimes
the main issue ct the polls, and stringent Laws
are enacted to enforce IT,
In short, ell parties. oil csesds. oil interests
unite in deprecating dsunkenssss. end the only
question connected With IL upoa which they Do
not agree, IL a. to the wissst method of ontroll
ing the evil. Prohibitory State legislation hes
been thought by many sincere and good msn
10 be the best remedy but it has been tried
again and again ia New Ensland aad elsewhere.
without having produced The beneficial effects
expected from Il and st last Massachusetts,, so
long The ,tronghold of prohibition. has repud
lated the policy by an immense majority. The
Federal Government. party in the interest Of
Temperance. and party for revenue purposes,
has imposed tax upon domestic liquors which
il the Law we're rightly executed, would q once
lesses their consumption and increase the sum
total Of the Nssionsl revenue. but It appears TO
have signally failed in both these objects. There
is no psrceptible decrease in the manufacture or
consumption Of domestic spirits, and no pro-
portionate sugme.tation in the receipts OF the
Governmsnt from that source. Laws Of this ma
ture are always excessively svsded, and result
in large amount Of oficisi corsuptios and pub.
lie Generalization, without accomplishing the
primary objects which their gosiginators had in
view.
Experience seems to teach US that moral in
fusnces are more potent than penal statutes in
restraining this species Of excess. Father Nat.
hsw's moral and religious crusade against n
ebriety probably did more good than al. the pro
hibitory laws that have ever been enacted.
The extreme prohibitionists insist that alco.
boil has no uses = . medicine that il is, when
taken into the ssomseh. necessarily poisonous
Bat here che Faculty that hes AsAs disease and
the remedies for disease its study for 90 many
ages, Increasing its knowledge and p.rfectine
its system of treatment with every passing
year, meets tie allegation with a point blsnl
denial. Who are best competent TO decide thi,
question, in which the health and lives Of mil
lions OF human beings are involved-the pro-
fessors ofthe art of he alng or indiyi duals who
| sonfessedly, are incompetent to prescribe fol
their own ailments. and who, when prostrate
by illness, place their chief reliance upon tn
| Doctors Does not the profession in whom
next to God. they put their trust in sickness
know better than they do whether alcoholic ton
les are or are not necessary in certain phases o
disease. Common sense answers in the alir m
alive. PLY sic.ans tell US that alcoholic medi
agents in the Msasria Medica-speci8cs whic
osunot be dispensed with without sacrificing th
health and lives OF multitudes oftheir patients
If VIC put trust In them-snd that ws put tru,
in them is evident.or w should not call them i
to minister TO US when injdasger-we are 6oun
to subscribe to their diotum.
So far, then. ~ medication 10 concerned, til
object ofthe philsnthropists who advocate ten,
perance should be to cid the profession in it
praiseworthy efforts to secure apure ,unad ulerat
ed alcoholic stimulant for cur alive and prevent
i've purposes. II any law could be devised 70
keeping the unwholesome and i'm pure liquors O
commerce out OF the sick room, it would be q
inappreciable blessing and if. on she othe
hand, Law guaranteeing q pure stimulant to al
who are professionally declared so need it coul,
be practically enforced, that, TOO. would be o
infinite benefit 20 mankind. But no such spec
isl legislation could DO rendered effective.
| would be evaded, and rendered null and void b.
the interests in conflict with it, just as tn
liquor laws are now nulli6ed By similar causes
But when-as in the case, for example, O
Hoststter's Stomach Bitters-a medicinal slim
uant has been proved, beyond all csvil, to b
absolutely free from adulteration, end . CON
| plsts specific for large class Of diseases, NJ
| benevolent aad enlightened friend Of Temper
ance can consistently lift up his voice against il
On the contrary. every proper effort should b.
made to procdre the substitution Of such toni
for the acrid, fiery, and poisonous fluids s~o fire.
! quently administered to inv Aids.
1t should be powerful argument in favor o
| proposition ike this. that 1t has been depriv
ed by ree.iacation end BY the medicinal vegets
BILE Ingredients Of which it ssr,ly con.i,ts. of 81
the ds.etsrious properties presest in ordinar,
alcoh ollie stiwulants. and which beget On unnat
ural ora,ing for strong drink thereby leadiui