The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1869-11-18
THE JOURNAL.
CAMDEN, NOVEMBER IS, 1859.
WhiSkey Licenses.

B ,ard Of Commissioners, for Licenses
to sell this bane Of good order and mo-
r.ls. Some, We presume, have been
granted already, and others may be in
The future, but VIC regard them as
opening the door to every species OF
vice and Immortality still wider than
they now are, and as piling fuel upon
fame already laPpiBg up the safeguards
ofpeacc, and threatening to cngulph our
entire social fabric in mass Of dcmorali-
cation and loathsome degradation.
We view this evil from two prctical
stand points, first the evil which will
result to our people from granting these
licenses, morally, and as a consequence,
pecuuiar:ly; aud it secondly tho loss of
labor from the same cause: =.
Wherever these dramshops, for the
sale of "benzine" and buckeye whiskey
abound, there always results assaults
batteries, sometimes murders, arsons,
barslarics, rapcs and all other crimes
which term after term disraace the
docket ofo criminal court. Under the
influence of the above named drugs, the
worst and bascst passions of men gain the
ascendancy and urge their victim to
commit the crimes mentioned without
thought Of the sure rctribution which
is TO follow, pointing out this as the
golden opportunity to wrcak their ven-
gcanee as til ~ fancy themselves injured,
or to GRITTY brutal lust upon the vic
tim of unholy love. These crimes, when
committed, require judicial investiga.
tion !; they are brought before the jurics
of the country, and whether the defend
ant is acquitted or convicted, the tax
payers of the County are compelled to
foot the bill. The costs of the bcsottcd
witnesses who testify as to drunken
row are to come from the pockets of the
taxpayer. From forty to sixty dollars
costs are taxed up in every little as
sault and battery case, while in MUIR
der or other grave offences, they amount
to several hundreds. These facts are
susceptible of ample proof, for the re-
cords Of the Court sustain them. 4.
The County License for selling Whis-
ky is sixty dollars, but for every License
tax paid in, the County will have to pay
twice that amount for the ample return
Of crime which they induce. Then, it
follows that in proportion as VIC are ir-
jured morally by this evil, SO arc We pc.
cuuairily. Any one therefore, interested
in our we'll being, will surely not help
to foist this prolific source of evil upon
US, nor seek to step in deeper crinc, the
putrij remnant of our moral status. -.
Economy is necessary in order that
We may live, and it cannot be secured
by having an expensive County Govern
ment, such as these whiskcy Licenses
arc sure to bring.
Our tax payers should therefore see
that this additional incubus be not i'm.
posed upon them.
Second: 1t is we'll known By practi-
cal men that there has been and is now
an insuffcieney of labor in our country.
In making up the estimate Of the cot
ton crop for the present year, ono cause
Of its shortncss.. is ascribed to the "insuf-
fci ney of labor" What better or surcr
weapon for the destruction Of labor,
than the institution of grog shops all
over the country? What surcr means
of drawing the laborer from his duty in
the field or elsewhere, than the tcmpta-
ton to drunkenness being thus paced
within their reach, and almost at their
doorsteps?
If there is insuficiepcy of of labor
now, what will it be in a few years,
when drunkenness and it its accompa-
rviny evils have done their work If
tbc lust for the almighty dollar is so
powerful as to cause such an idol as this
to be erected at every crossroad, then
the same greed should teach that the
very essence Of it, :he labor which makes
it is being destroyed also, and that soon
or or later poverty and bankruptcy will
sweep away the filthy lucre, and the
country be devoid of labor and money.
Every one knows what temptation
/. &c f,r the luborinr man to drown his