Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1868-03-03
THE EVILS OF ExcEss-pRoHIBlroRy

eursc TIE vice to which they yield, or regret.
with maudiin tears. their inability TO resist tie
false appetite for s.iuulau.s which long con.n.
ued excess has ensendered OF the millions
whom IL iegrades, brutilies. and ruins, there i.
not one who in his sober moments stands forth
its champion. Temperance, on the other hand,
ha. host Of active and energetic friends. So-
cie'y. as body, breaches it, although SO many
members OF society fail TO practice it. 1t is ad-
vocated 10 every pulpit, prohibition is the OBJ
feet Of large and respectable social orgsnira-
tons. tits m!ds . side issue and sometimes
the main issue .. the polls. and stringent laws
are enacted to enforce it.
In short, all parties. all creeds. all Interests
unite in deprecating drunkenness, and the only
question connected With it upos which they do
not agree, 10 a. to the wissst method of control
ing the evil. Prohibisory State legislation hes
been thought BY many sincere and good men
TO be the bes, remedy but it has been tried
gain and again in New England and elsewhere,
without hsv ing produced the beneficial Effects
expected from il and as last Massachusetts, so
long he itronghold 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
II tho law were rightly executed. would ~ once
sssen their oonsump tion and increase the sum
total of the Nationvl revenue. bu: it appears to
have sienally fAiled in both these objects. There
is no perceptibls decrease in the manufacture or
consumption OF do nestle sriri.s, and no pho.
portionate augmentation in the receipts OF ths
Government from that source. Laws Of this na-
ture are always extensively svaded, and result
in large amount Of official corruption and pub
| lie Generalization, without acco BplisAing the
primary objects which their sorigiuators had in
view.
| Experience seems to teash Us that moral in
dusnces are moro potent than penal statutes in
restraining this species Of excess. Father Nat
hew's moral sad religious crusade against In
sbriety probably did more good than all thep.s
hibitory laws that have ever been enacted.
The extreme prohibitisnsts insist that alec
hol hes no uses a. . medicine that II 10, wber
taken into the stomach. necessarily poison Gus
But here the Fseulty that has made disease and
the remedies for disease its study for % many
| ages, increasing its knowledge and psrfectinf
its system of treatmsn, With every passing
year, meets tie allegation with . 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 healing or Individuals VIII
confessediy, are incompetent to prescribe fol
their own ailments. and who, when prostratst
BY illness, place their chief reliance upon tn
doctors Does not the profession il whom
ns1t to God. they put their trust il 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 afr m
alive. Physicians tell Us that alcoholic msdi
cines are among the most valuable remedia
agents in the Materia Medica-spsci1cs whie
cauno. be dispensed with without sacrificing tn
health and lives OF mulitudes oftheir patient,
If VIC put trust IN them and that We put trus
in them is evident.o We should not call them i
to subscribe to their dictum.
So far, then, as medication is concerned, tn
object ofthe phianthropisss who advocate ten
perance should be to aid tho profession in il
praiseworthy efforts TO secure pure ,unsdulera
i've purposes. Ifany Law could be devised 70
keeping the unwholesoms and impure liquors Q
commerce out Of the sick room, itwould be q
inapprecisble blessing and Iii, on i:he othe
hand, . law guaranteeing pure stimulans to a
who are professionally declared TO need it coul
be practically enforced, that, too. would be @
infinite benefit 10 mankind. But no such spes
isl legislation could DO rendered effective.
would be svaded, and rendered null and void b
the interests in conflict with it, just as tn
liquor laws are now nulliaed BY similar cause.
But when-as in the case, for example. q
| Hostst.er's Stomach Bittsrs-a NJ edicinal stm
ulans has been proved, beyond all caviI, to b
absolutely free from adulteration, and con
plste specific for . large class Of diseases, n
benevolent and enlightened friend of Temper
snce can consste nifty lift up his voice az ainst il
On the contrary. every proper effort should b
1
for the acrid, fiery. and poisonous fluids too fire.
quently administered TO inva..ds
II should be powerful argument in favor G
q preparation ike this. that 1t has been depriv
Cd BY recti6caton and BY ths medicinal vegets
BILE ingredients of which it partly consists. OF a
the deleterious properties present in ordinar
alcoholic ssinulants, and which beget an unnai
ural GRAZING for strong drink. thereby leadin
directly to intemperAnce. This, W cay, shout
BE- strong argument in its favor with ell RI
tional temperance men; for since stmulaut
ere medicines that cannot be dispensed, with,
is manifestiy oil important to administer tn
best.