Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1871-01-13
Letter fro,, GAINESVILLE, Wisconsin.
GAINESVILLE, Jan. 9th, 1871.

GAINESVILLE, Jan. 9th, 1871.
EDIToR BULLETIN:-Since l left
Buchanan county there has been an
eventtul period in its history. The
holidays of 1870 and the new year
Of 1871, / doubt not, were looked
forward to by many a throbbing
heart with an interest such as they
have never felt before; with hope
that it would be the prelude of a
new era in their domestic life.
There are class of suffering ones
in every community, to.whom the
advent of a Savior's birth is usually
looked forward to with anything
but joyous emotions. TO them no
tabled fancy brings those gifts OF
the season, that are doubly valued
as expressions oflove and good will.
On the contrary, every breeze that
rustles is the imaginary football of
one whose coming is sure to bring
with him terror and grief.
Disguise it as you will, no right
thinking person can but believe that
great proportion of the poverty
and domestic suffering that arises
from the use of strong drink, is trace
able direct to its sale in saloons
Few, very few, even of those who
are addicted to its immoderate use,
are sunk SO low in the scale of be-
ing, as to make their homes, lowly
though they may be, the scene of
a drunken debauch. There are
doubtless exceptions; but even these
exceptions have lost their manhood,
through the influences of these de
moralizing places.
Remove these temptations. The
money that is now spent in so small
sums as to go almost mconsciously,
will make homes of comparative
comfort. 1t is not so much the fer
mented drink that is demoralizing
although that is worse than use
less habit as the associations and
crowds that arise from congregating
together. where dram after dram is
rel Gated, till the brain is maddened,
and passion uncontrolled rules its
victim.
With what trembling solicitudc
have those families that suffer from.
a drunken husband or father looked
forward to the LIST Of January, or to
the time when strong drink could
no longer be sold under the cover
of the milder, in the county Of Bu-
chanan. But with this advent that
brings SO much Of hope and joy to
many suffering families, comes a
new responsibility to all that portion
of the community that have brought
about this change by their express
sion at the ballot box.
1t is a very easy thing to throw a
little slip Of paper into chat box, on
which is written yea Or nay, but it
will be a very different thing 10
stand shoulder to shoulder in sus-
tanning the statute that has been
sustained by such an overwhelming
majority at the polls, when it is
brought before the civil courts.
have just had placed in ,ny bands
the annual report of'the State prison
Of this State, by enc who has recent
ly visited it. This shows that Of
the lo5 prisoners now in coniinc
ment there, three tourths Of them
c'ass M,mselreS as addicted 20 the
free use Of strong drink, and the other
fourth, almost exclusively, as mod,
crately so. What a lesson is this
to the young to adopt total absti-
ncnce from all that can intoSicate
as their motto. The Governor Of
the State (who alone has the power
Of parlon) was one of the visiting
committee, and friend who accom-
panied him said that it was painful
to hear the appeals that were made
to him to have their sentence com
muted, and in almost every instance
attributing their fall from rcctitudc
to the use OF strong drink; and their
determination to avoid it in the flu
ture.
NOW, III view OF Sucn facts as
these, can any right minded man
doubt the cxpedicnc= Of giving
his whole moral, and, if need be,
his rccnniary support, to the
liquor law OF Iowa rs it now stands
in our county. Who ever heard of
a brawl in the streets of lndepon-
dence but that was traceable direct
" to the saloons that line its streets?
And how much short, do you sup
pose, the criminal costs in the coun-
ty would come of supporting Nor
NAL School, where all the youth
could have free education in all
the higher branches OF learning.
Let us hope there will be no going
backward in this great moral re-
form.
DICK.