Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1870-05-13
License or no Lioense.

We have been asked the question, whether
tho refusal to grant Licenses for retailing liq,
uors would prevent their excessive uso q
Certainly not, but no one oan doubt butit
would exert a training Influence. 1T would
fornove from our shoulders tho moral respon.
sibility Of encouraging their uso by legalizing
the traffic. It would suppress tho open temp
tation which meets the youth and old man in
every town and at every cross road, aud rob
the social glass of half its charms. Man is
by nature weak and prone to evil, and every
induccmcnt held out under color of the law,
to contract habits destructive alike of his
physical, mental and moral nature, becomes
public crimo. That the immediate use of
spirituous liquors impuirs these higher uttri-
butcs, is apparent to everyone, and equally
clear is tho fact that dramshops encourage
drunkenness. Most Of the political evils
under which VIC are now laboring have been
bcgottcn and born Of the wine that is red
When rum is in, reason, discretion, virtue are
gone. The power of discriminating between
right aud wrong grows less aud less distinct,
and sclf-will and purpose to DO right becomes
weaker, until the man becomes tho brute
Intelligence, public virtue and christian civil
izati9n have no more powerful enemy than
rum, and without these elementary ground
works, republican government must sink in
the slough Of RIGHTEOUSNESS. Is not lcgaliz-
ing this traffic then moral cnormity? Ma
~ tl,o& ~
an underground traffic will be carried on in
violation of the law. Admit this and driuk-
ing would be less common. Tho secrecy
would be a hlndrance, and tho fear Of detec
tion would deter any one from suffering per-
sons to drink to excess about their premises
In fact no man of character and responsible
ity would act in violation of the law, and with
the license sys GIN open, the low and dcgra.
dod will avoid it. When person tells you
people will sell liquor anyhow, over the law
or under the law, if not by the law, he means
he likes wee drop, and favors tho license
system. Everyone should respect and obey
the law, and it should protect them. Is the
use of liquors conducive to health ? Does it
promote prosperity? Does it advance cduca.
ton? Does it develop the wealth of the
country? Does it encourage industry? Does
it restrain public or private expenditure p
They are poisonous Chemical analysis Of
various kinds and grades of spirits have cx-
hibitcd the fact that very large proportion
of them contain ingredients destructive to
life and health. They are the natural parent
Of crimes Of every dye. They impair the
mind, undermine the physical constitution
and consume the very articles necessary to
human sustcnancc and national wealth. The
value of their annual consumption would in
short time leave us free from debt. Is it
- 80 :. ..JS p, puul,o uuty 10 restrain It These
arc questions for the people to answer by their
acts and votes. Let everyone remember he
has country; that the hopc of tho country
rests on tho rising gene .ation; that its moral
and intellectual culture is necessary to the
preservation Of liberty that liquor is an open
enemy to every virtue; that he who builds
up and lcgaizcs temptation to evil can hard.
ly ask God, '14cad us not into temptation !"
and let him answer the question by course
Of conduct suitable to his convictions on these
suggestions.