Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1869-04-23
BELLOWS FALLS, VT, FRIDAY,

gences?
1t has been settled that alcoholic
drinks contain no nourishment, or next
to none; that they do not promote, but
retard digestion 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 apothecary; This is true of
alcohol, pure and simple, what shall we
say of the beverages now dealt out as
spirituous liquors? The heavy tax i'm
posed has wonderfully stimulated the
arts by which the quantity has been in
creased at the expense of the quality
BY ample and reliable testimony it can
be shown that all the liquors exposed for
sale are base limitations, or poisonous
adulterations, of the articles whose
names they bear; that the best judges
cannot distinguish between the spurious
and the genuine; and that the effects of
inebriation are tenfold worse from this
cause, No man, who has any caution,
will dare put to his lips cup of so
doubtful ingredients. Delirium tremens
used to follow on long and free indul-
gence. Now it comes sometimes in the
first stages of intemperance, and before
any body supposes the victim is in dan
ger. Once this terrible disease yielded
to treatment, now the doctors say they
cannot cure it.
IF such be the extent of the evil, and
such the aggravation of its effects, have
we no ground of hope that there can be
and must be, a grand rally for the sup
preston of intemperance? Our trust is
in the element Of Reform, that sense of
right, and interest for humanity, which
God has implanted in the human soul,
and which always manifests itself when
popular evils, and giant sins, come to
their crises, and require to be put down.
This power was once divided between
temperance and anti-slavery efforts !;
when the war broke out it was absorbed
2 in the determination to put down rebel
lion and its melting cause. That work
done, it waits its next worthy cause, and
is ready for as determined and effective
action. " Reforms never go backward, y
and true ones never fail. The reforma-
tory energies of this nation are now to
turn themselves TO the overthrow of in
! temperance. ..
Every great moral evil, like disease,
has its eliminating point, its crisis, when
it must yield and perish, or kill its sub
ject. Slavery came to this crisis, and
when we were in doubt whether it was
to destroy the nation or perish itself, it
= committed suicide and we have an end
: = of it. War, among the nations, has
i about reached its crisis. 1t seems ready
!, to perish by its own arts, which make
u the instruments of death so terrible that
} nobody will think of standing before
= them. So intemperanee seems destined
to perish by its arts Of imitation and ad
mixture. Let them be fully exposed
and who will dare the dangers of theil
use?
e The question now arises: What shall
r be done? If we approach this inquiry
L with the determination TO meet the evil
1t as it practically exists, and to take coun
Is sci of our better judgment, rather thar
of our pride and our fears, we shall have
e harmony of opinion and Of action. Oul
5, measures will be stern enough for eff
S cheney, where decisive action is advisa
st BILE; and flexible enough to adapt them
Is selves to the condition of things in every
'r community. We have
st 1. The method Of Jaw. This is eaec
le tual, and acquiesced in, wherever public
e, sentiment bears out its enforcement. Il
50 some towns it is practical prohibition
SIS of the liquor traffic. In others, wher
a popular opinion is more moderate, it op
s. crates simply as restraint. And il
I'd others still, has no practical results what
OF ever, simply because drinkingis is commo
to and respectable, temperance principle
ny covered, and nobody will take the II
y, sponsibility of prosecutions. This la
ct pronounces the popular verdict again:
BY rum-selling. 1t places this business
d the attitude of moral nuisance, tbs
. the people may abate, by their conden
Is nation, remonstrances, and (when sue
nd measures fall by legal proceedings. n
ID statute gives it its sanctions, or virtuol
TX public sentiment its approval. 1t is ju
K what it is designed to be, an instrumeI
OF tality dependent on public sentiment f
'r- its efficiency, and to be used for the el
be forcement Of the popular verdict. ]
* attempt more than this is to irritate an
of madden our enemies, and stir up symp
thy for them, as persec,tted,) and effe
its no permanent reform. Let the law star
Use as it is, look for no modification