Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1868-02-04
ry,iE EVILS OF ExoESs-pRoHiBIrORY


LAws-MEDIUIyAL sTlMuLr-In.emper
auce has no avowed advocates. Even iss slaves
curse the vice to which they yield, or regret.
with maudlin tears. their inability TO resist the
false appetite for s,imulants which long coniin-
ned excess has engendered. OF oil the millions
whom il degraies, brutifes aud ruins. there is
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. as . body, breaches il, although 80 many
members Of society fail 10 practice it. II is sd-
vocated in every pulpit,,ts prohibition is the OBJ
feet Of large and respectable social organira-
tions. il is msds a side Issue and sometimes
the m ain issue at the polls. and stringent laws
are enacted to enforce il.
In short, all parties, all creeds. all interests
unite in deprecasing drunkenness. and the only
question ccsnected with II upon which they DO
no. agree. Is as to the wissst method of ontroll
ing shs evil Prohibitory State legislation has
been thought by many sincere and good men
to be the best remedy but it has been tried
again and again in New England aad elsewhere,
without having produced the beneficial effects
ENACTED from il and at last Massachusetts,, so
long .he stronghold of prohibition. has repud-
lated the policy by On 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 were rightly executed, would at once |
lessen their consumption and increase the sum |
total Of the Natonvl rev enue. but it appears TO
nave signaly fa,led in both these objects. There
is no perceptible decrease in the manufacture or
consumption OF domestic spirits. and no pro.
portionate augmentation in the receipts OF the
Government rom that source. Laws Of this ma
ture are always extensively evadsd. and result
| in large amount Of official corruption and pub
| lie decentralization, without accomplishing the
primary objects which their ,osiginators had in
view.
Experience seems 10 teach us that moral in
tuences are more potent than penal statutes in
restr aiming this species of excess. Father Mat
hsw's moral asd religious crusade against In
ebriety probably did more good than all ,hep-o-
hibitory laws that have ever been enacted.
The extreme prohibitionists insist that alco
hol has no uses ~ q medicine that it is. when
taken into the stomach. necessarily poisonous
But here the Faculty that has made disease aud
| the remedies for disease its study for SO many
| ages, increasing its knowledge and psrfecting
| its system of treatment with every passing
year, meets the allegation with a point blank
denial Who are best competent to decide this
| question, in which the health and lives Of mil.
lions Of human beings are iuvolved-the pro
fessors ofthe art Of healing or individuals who
confessedly, are incompetent TO prescribe for
their own ailments. and who, when FRUSTRATED
| by illness, place their chief reliance upon the
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 Of
disease? Common sense answers in the affirm.
alive. Physicians tell us that alcoholic medi-
| cines are among the most valuable remedial
| agents in the Mstsria Medica-specifcs which
oaunot be dispensed with without sacrificing the
health and lives OF multitudes of their patients
live put trust IN them-and that We put trus,
in them is evident. or We should not call them in
to minister 20 us when inIdanger-ws are bound
TO subscribe to their dictum.
So far, then. as medication 10 concerned, the
object Of the philanthropists who advocate tenn
perance should be to aid the profe ssion in its
praiseworthy efforts 20 secure pure ,unadulerat-
ed alcoholic stmuant for curative and prevent
purposes Ii any law could be devi sed for
keeping the unwholesomc andimpure liquors Of
commerce out Of the sick room, il would be an
inapprecisble blessing and if, on The other
hand, Law guaranseeing.a pure s.imulant TO all
who are professionally declared 80 need it could
| be practically enforced, that, too. would be Of
| infinite benefit 60 mankind But no such spec.
ial legislation could be rendered effective. II
would be evaded, aud rendered null and void BY
the interests in conflict with it, just as the
liquor laws are now nulifed BY similar causes.
But when-as in the case, for example, of
Hostetier's Stomach Bitiers-a medicinal slim
ulant has been proved, beyond all cavil, to be
absolutely free from adultsratiou, end . CON-
plese specific for large class of diseases, no
benevolent and enlightened friend of Temper
ance can consistently lift up his voice against it,
On the contrary. every proper effort should be
made TO prccarc the substitution Of such tonic
Tor the acrid. fiery, and poisonous fluids too fire.
quentiv administered TO inv Aids.
II should be powerful argument in favor Of
preparation ike this, that 1t has been depriv-
cd BY rectidcation and BY Che medicinal .vegeta.
Bile ingredients Of which il party consists. Of all
the delesssieus properties psesest in ordinary
alcoholic stimuiants, and which beget IN unnat-
ural craving for strong drink. thereby leading
directly to intempersnce. This, We sey, should
be strong Argument Ia its favor with ill RI.
tionsl temperance men; for since stimulants
@e medicines that cannot be dispensed, with, it |
10 manifestly 81 important to administer the |
best. 1,gstoss b.s-
AsAFspgeasa ami ssspdard tcnis Of undis.
putsd purity. Hostetter's Bitters may be cited