The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1869-04-20
An appeal to the People of Vermont

ballot DoX.
AnAppeal to the People of Vermont.
The Undersigned in behalf of the txecu-
tive Committee of the Vermont State
Temperance Society, takes this method Of
briefly addressing you, on the evils of in
temperance, the encouragements to effort
for reform, and the methods Of its prosecu.
ton. This is but an abstract of what he
has to offer The main points here given
will be elaborated IN subsequent articles,
or public addresses. Intemperance in spite
of all hindrances and restraints, is an
alarming evil, and giant crime, which
appalls us by its magnitude, and paralyzes
US with its strength, The public conscience
slumbers under ignorance, or is covered
by fear, while this popular indulgence is
sweeping our neighbors and sons to destruc,
ton, corrupting the fountains of good
morals, wasting the resources of The nation
and threatening the destruction of the
government, | need not tell you that in
these United States sixty Thousand lives
are annually sacrificed to intemperance;
and sixty thousand moderate drinkers
advanced to fill their places. | Am not
here to depict the poverty cruelty, wreichs
edness and WOO, occasloned TO their
families; nor The amount of crime, ncens
diarism and murder which alcoholic drinks
have occasioned 1t is enough iot ~ 10
know that At least seven-e eighth. Of all
these evils come Of intoxicat,on
Have we any idea of the loss to tie
country by this indulgence Mr. Wells,
Commissioner of Internal Rrscnna. est,
mates the first cost Of liqcors, sJld last
year, al 81 500, 900, 900, The materials
used up in the manufacture. the labor
bestowed upon the business, tn, Interest
on machinery, warehouses, &c, with the
money paid, as profits, by the people,
would be at least another billion So we
see the SUN total Junk on useless and
pernicious commerce is two and half
billions Of dollars which is the present
amount of orr national debt. And il is
IA tax upon the entire population OF over
twenty seven dollars per year to every
man, woman and child. Is it any wonder
that there j. so much Of poverty, and
complaint OF hard tunes, and secret muir.
nurng7, II nor open complaints. by the
laboring class, against the holdhollcrs,
and Of the poor against the rich We have
adopted the principle Of raising internal
revenue on tie larUies. and exempling the
accessories of life And, for convenience,
have imp 'sed the tax cn spirits and to-
bacco, But the working class, who feel
most the burden Of this taxation, use as
aecsS,di,e' these articles and, unless we
show them 10 he useless and pernicions,
they may he expected t., rebel against
this principle of taxation
But worse still is the danger from its
Jaacied oppression Oflhe Immense amount
paid by TIE people for alcoholic drinks but
q moiety goes 10 the governm nj The
chief amount ~ expended for corruption
purposes, and to enrich those enga ged in
the unlawful traffic All who engage 10
it roll in wealth, while their poor cu,to-
mers foot the BILL, and imagine The Govern
ment is responsible Cor the exorbtance.
Can we save Ourselves from serious dis.
content, and open rebellion, unless we en-
tighten the people on the question, who
are their real oppressors? And turn them
from their impoverishing and ruinous in-
dulgences7
1t has been settled that alcoholic drinks
contain no nourishment, or next to none;
that they do not promote, but retard diges-
ion that they do not give strength, but
detract from it; that they neither warm us
when cold, nor cool us when hot and
have no proper place but in the service of
the arts, or among the stuffs of the apoth.
ecary This is true of alcohol, pure and
simple, what shall we say of the beverages
now dealt out as spirituous liquorsi The
heavy tax imposed has wonderfully slim
ulated the arts by which the quantity has
been increased at the expense of the quality.
BY ample end reliable testimony it can be
shown that all the liquors exposed for sale
are base limitations, or poisonous adulteran
lions, of the articles whose names they
bear; that the best judges cannot dlstin,
guish between the spurious AMI the gen,
uine; and that the effects Of inebriation
are tenfold worse from this cause, No
man, who has any caution, will dare put
10 his lips cup OF SO doubtful ingredients.
Delirium tremens used to follow on long
and free indulgence, Now il comes some
times in the first stages of intemperance,
and before any body supposes the victim
is in danger Once this terrible disease
yielded to treatment, now the doctors say
they cannot cure it.
If such be the extent of the evil, AMI
such the aggravation Of its effects, have we
no ground of hope that there can be, and
must be, a grand rally for the suppression
of intemperance Our trust is in the els.
ment Of Reform, that sense of right, and
interest for humanity, which God has inns
planted in the human soul. and which ale
ways manifssts itself when popular evils,
and giant sins, come to their crises, and
require to be put down. This power was