The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1870-07-06

t0r June has a paper upon Prohibltory
Liquor Laws, which may s read by
partisans on both sides wftltssome pro
fit. We give some extrakts
1t Is scarcely possible to exaggerate
the horrors of habitual drunkenness,
or to use too glaring colors in paint
ing the degradation of the drunkard,
or the misery of his hapless family.
We can readily understand how well
meaning men, in. contemplating the
want and woe resulting from the abuse
of stimulants, are wrought to some
thing akin TO frenzy, and are ready to
resort to themoste xtravagant measures
in order to force sobriety on the SGT,
and secure safety to the community.
The vehement desire of Burns to muir
der the man who had wantonly shot
the helpless hare Ito punish lepicide
by homicide-was perfectly natural.
But the extravagant propositions of
some of the temperance philanthrop
lists, and the wild intents of the poet,
though they may be explained. are
non the less absurd. The disease of
drunkenness Is one to be managed by
doctors, not emf i es, and The heroic
blClAILAlC1S VIII OIIiJ liLIClSC III DOhCl
90 ravage. OF all absurd remedies
proposed, hat which would forcibIy
abolish the sale Of stimulating drinks.
torbiding the reasonable qualification
of an instinct in order to prevent it,
nbuse, and making men abstinent by
act of the legislature, is the most
absurd of all. 1t is possible to prevent
a river from flowing in its accustomed
course by making the dam high enough
and strong enough; but the stream
thus checked will either submerge the
ACKNOWLEDGING country, or scoop out
n new channel, to the devastation of
The experience of other countries iii
This matter should be needed. Given
like causes under like circumstances,
and we may expect like effects. And
80 it has proved. The prohiditory
laws of Maine and Massachusetts, and
the excise laws applied to New York
city, have been farcial failures. No
>tippler need go thirsty to bed in any
part of New England ; and no lover of
fiery potations in New York need be
dcbarred of his drink in New York
city upon Sunday more than on any
other day. As for the amount con-
sumed, thai does not sensibly diminish.
There is comparatively less distilled
liquors used of late, but there is more
drinking done. That is because peo-
pie are taking to fermented instead of
DISTILLED drinks-are substituting beer
and wine for whisky and brandy. But
this is not the result of ~prohibitory
laws which forbid everything in which
alcohol appears, and only permit man
to drink water, though it ~toierates for
the present a little tea and coffee, and
allows us to swill .'root-beer," notwith-
standing that last liquor contains more
alchol than large beer or the lighter
German wines.
After speaking of the passage of a
prohibitory law in England, over a
century and a quarter since, and lis
~f;tilnre, the author considers the case
of Turkey, where total abstinence is a
matter of religious, as well as statute
law, enters concisely into the opium
drunkenness, both abr. al and at
and finally closes as follows:
There is only one way to prevent
intemperance, and that is to educate
people properly, and to let them know
thoroughly the difference between
temperance and excess. a centu. Y
since, drunkenness was a common vice+-
among the wealthier and more cultur-
al now it is confined to the most de-
in position. The man ofsociety
knows that excess will not be toll
+, ated, and that he must teach him
elf discretion. He not only knows
hat .teyery inordinate cup is unblest,'
mt that it will result IN the loss of
ocial position The four-bottIe squire
ives only in romances. Hhiskey
md brandy, along with TIE spirituous
wines of Spain and Portugal, have
way to malt liquors, and the
light and wholesome wines of France :,
md Germany. Malt liquors, which, |
when pure. are not only gently stimuli
ant but nutritious, are replacing the |
irier products of the still. And the t
result is a good one for health and
I,
Not, however, that the Incorporate
use of vincus and malt liquors is not
to not to be deprecated. The wine-I
'rankard finds govt and such, TO
his excess; the beer-sot is
with apoplexy or palsy. ]
[ntemperance Is always an evil, ini
thinking, eating, or speech. The glut-Ec
does notdive out his life; and the 5
man of Incorporate language becomes
q nuisance to the community. But
prohibitory laws will not cur either
Of these things. A thorough knowl-
edge of the laws of nature, of the wants
and capacity OF the human system, of
the ruinous effects of over indulgence
these are safeguards more potent
than restrictive enactments /; and these
only cas make us a temperate people
The history of fanatical laws is one of
disaster to- the. cause In whose aid they
were enacted. Nor con1d they have
succeeded except among a people one
half of whom were sneaks and inform
ers, pests of any community, and the
other half abject slaves.
A. AH.oEna Ra |