Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1869-09-22
Iiuuor Prohibition,

Liquor Prohibition.
) EDITOR CHRONICLE Il find the
following, concerning the MdSSdchu-
sets PrOtibitOTy Contention and its
doings, in the NATIONAL TEMPER
ANCE ADVOCATE, l72 VIM. St., N. "
and knowing the question of prohi-
bition to be of especial interest to
many of your readers at this time, L
send this with the request that you
will publish il for their benefit.
sin pursuance to a call issued by
the State Prohibitory Committee, a
convention of delegates assembled in
| fremont Temple, Boston, the 18th of
August. Hon. Whiting Griswold, of
| Greenfield, was chosen temporary
chairman, and w. Lithgow, secretary.
/ The committee on credentials report
ed two hundred and eleven towns and
cities, represented by fourteen hun
dred and twenty-six delegates"
1.-THE convention was one of the
ablest. most earnest and successful
Temperance conventions ever held in
Boston. Hon. P. Emory Aldrich, of
Worcester, was chosen permanent
chairman, and made thrilling and
eloquent address, the keynote of
which was, that the duty of temper
anee men is to attend the primary
meetings, to see that the right men |
are nomina:ed, and that the law ought |
to and should be enforced"
"a committee of nineteen on reso- |
lutions was appointed, who, after full |
deliberation, reported an address, to- |
gether with twenty resolutions, which |
although long, we publish, because |
the entire argument is there present.
ed, as well as the declaration OF prin-
ciples and proposals for action. We
bespeak for them 8 careful perusdl"
The following are the resolutions
WHEREAS, The people of this COM |
mOnwealth, through their legislative |
representatives, have enacted a law /
prohibiting the sale of intoxicating |
liquors as beverage, we, representa-
tives of the citizens of the common
wealth, in convention assembled, in |
behalf of the people of this State do
hereby resolve:
l. "That the use of Intoxicating |
liquors as beverage, has ever proved
an injury to mankind, as is shown by
the attempts in all our history as
commonwealth, and in that of other
nations, to limit and restrain their
use and sale.n
. "This confession of all ages and
countries is strengthened by the con-
victiOns of our own generation, as is
seen in the movements in this country
and in Great Britain, for the abandon
ment of their use and the suppression
of their salen
8. "This reform has made vast pro-
gress within the last fifty years, in
abolishing largely these beverages
from the table, the side-board, and
the social circle, in sweeping them
out of the church, in raisingup a gen.
Grafton from childhood to age thathas
been largely kept free from habits
that had previously been of universal
indulgence"
4. "This reform is not only social
and moral, but, like all others that
seek the purity and upbuilding of So
ciety, must suppress by law the sale
of that which, by the confession of
philanthropists of all ages, has been
a chief source of poverty and crime"
5. "This mode of treating popular
vice has always been adopted and will
always be adopted. Thus gamb-
ling was denounced as wrongful
and harmful, and then legally sup
pressed thus lotteries were adjudged
condemned and forbidden; thus sla-
very was arraigned and extirpated.-
The prohibition, therefore, of the sale
Of intoxicating liquors as q beverage
proceeds upon precisely the same ba-
sis as that on which all other trium-
phant reforms that mark the progress
of mankind have marched TO victory
first, a clear proof of the dangerous
4 fafx
of the evils opposed, and then the
abolishment of them by law"
6. 'HThe statistics of boards and Off
GERS of prisons, alms-houses and chari-
table institutions, show that not less
than one-half of the pauperism and
crime of the land is directly caused by
the use of intoxicating liquors as
beverage, while large portion of the
remainder are indirectly caused by
the same indulgence"
Z. "As the State has to support its
paupers and criminals, it has the right
to forbid the public sale of that which
makes them such, and all attempts to
deny that right are answered by the
fact that those who pretend to oppose
this prohibition are themselves COM
PEELED to attempt its restriction and
Imitation
8. "It is no infringement of person
al liberty to forbid the sale of that
which is harmful in its indulgence.
and is the cause of general suffering
and crime. The claim of personal
liberty in dueling, boxing, cruel amuse-
ments, and gambling, is as consistent
and strong as that of personal liberty
to indulge in this drinking of poison
ous beverages, and the prohibition of
their sale for these purposes is no more
an infringement upon personal liber-
ty than the prohibition of these other
indulgenees which society has long
since forbidden, and in whose extir-
patton all good citizens rejoice"
9. "This danger, from the use of
these intoxicating drinks, is further
increased by the fearful adulteration
of these beverages, so that every class,
from the mildest to the strongest, is
intensified in all its evil effects by the ;
active and deadly substanceso of which :
it is compounded.
10. 1.-THE prohibitory law enacted ]
by our Legislature is wise statute, ]
which, in its previous form, received
the indorsement of the Supreme ]
Courts of Massachusetts,. and Of the ]
United States, and proved itself very {
successful in the suppression of the ]
sale and use of intoxicating liquors as
q bavprapa in q largo unoi0ritU Of fha 4