Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1871-08-25
U'T.VE .f.vD CRI.uR.

are marked as imported, are generally
made within sight of the warehouse where
they are sold. Every kind of spirit is
adultcrated and whilo some of the COM
pounds are of the most deadly sort, most of
them detororato the blood, and when TAX
en- in any considerable quantity deaden
the conscience and madden the brain. De-
lerium tremens, very rarely heard of twon-
ty years ago, il now disease of common
occurrences and the quantity of liquor
which generation ago could be taken
with comparative impunity, producing on
ly agreeable oxhilaration now causes in
tense excitement, frequently ending in vi
oloncc, crime, insanity and death. Our
grandlathors drank rum and wine freely,
and carried strong constitution and vigor-
eua Noalth Rearly if not quito to the centu-
~ limo ; men drink their portion now, and
find themselves in the gutter or the mad
house, if not arraignod for crime.
The facts connected with the adultoration
of liquors Of all sorts are curious, but taken
in connection with the effects of most of
our liquors upon those who use them free
ly, they present a subject for serious con-
nection between the universal adultcration
of Liquors and the statistics Of crime, to say
nothing of the increase of insanity, and the
shattered constitutions and shortened lives
of generous drinkers. It is not the wine
that bubbles over in vice and runs into
crime, but the poisonous compounds, the
doloterious chemical combinations, which
arc palmed off as wine. Pure wine, as DR..
Holmes says, is a food. 1t is an open quos-
tion whether any pure liquor, taken in
moderate quantities and under proper cir
cumstances, is injurious to the health, con-
sttution or conscience. Some of thcibest
medical authorities insist that the moderate
lte Of alcohol is a positive advantage.
Certainly it is not the pure spirit that
works the mischief, but the nauscatng,
naddening, and death-dealing stufls that
Ge sold in its stead. Our people ask for
stimulants andare given strychnine. They
seek exhilaration and are treated to insani-
ty. They crave refreshmcnt and inspira-
tim, and are Knocked with incbriety and
madness.
1t would certainly seem that the first
step in Il true temperance reform is to ban
ish all adultcration of liquor, making it n
criminal oilonse to sell any sort of fluid
chemists can concoct for wines. But some
Of our total absinants cannot tolerate the
idea of adopting such common-sensc and
rational policy as this. They insist that
the more poisonous the liquor people have
to drink the bctter for so much the soon
er will they be frightened from the use of
liquor altogether. They urge that the
more violence it oxcites, and the more
graves it fills with premature and unwept
victi ls, the quicker will people be scared
from the cup and bowl. Better for theo-
ry, perhaps; but is it better for morality,
bettor for mankind? Men have always
craved stimulants, and have always had
them. Under some form or other alcohol
ic stmulauts have been used by every
people. There seems to be a natural and
ineradicablc want in the human system
which nothing but wine can satisfy
want which some persons do not generally
experience, but which the majority do feel,
and even the rest are conscious Of at times.
The total abstinence theory certainly seems
to clash with science and fly in the face of
history. But whether it is sound or un-
sound, we contend that the health, the SAN
ity, the morality of men are of incidentally
more account than any theory of reforming
extremists, and that we have no right to
impcril these for the sake of accumulating
evidence in its support and terrifying peo-
pie to accept its conclusions. Besides, all
thinking men must see that the crimes
W hich all deplore are caused by the chemi-
cal substitute for wine, and not by wine it.
sell.
II is the first step that costs and counts.
In this temperance reform the first stop has
prohibition, and bully and bribc Legislators
into passing this and that and the other
measures to restrict the sale or intcrdict
the use of wine, until dooms-day and with
out avail because these things do not be-
gin at the beginning but imply state of
things, a condition of the public mind,
set of tastes and habits, n physical and
moral constitution which do not exist and
are not likely TO exist for century to
come. They pertain to the ideal, and not
to the actual condition of men and world.
And one reason why the temperance move
ment has been so unavailing heretofore, is
that it has dealt with the abstract and the
impossible as though they were the practi-
cable. We want now TO strike blow
where it will tell. We want to take the
first step towards the goal. And that step
is to prohibit all and every adultoraton of
the liquors that our people drink. We
should make it a criminal oflenso to sell
any mess of chemical compounds that
human ingenuity can concoct for wine.
We should strikesa blow at crime and in
sanity by cutting off the streams of poison
and casting out the deleterious drugs, that
make the drinks of our people deadly.
This can be done and this every motive
of interest, ser-protection and humanity
requires us to do. Give our people pure
wi mes to drink, and then we shall be in
condition to determine whether it is the
adulteration or the wine that causes crime
and Madness Golden Age.