, 1872-11-02

THE QUESTION OF MORAL RESPONSIBILITY
The Rev. Dr.. Kittredge, in his well-meaning
war againBt iquo1-selling, has allowed his zeal
to outrun his discretion, and, as always happens
in such cases, has overBhot the mark he intended
to hit. At the temperance meeting on Thursday
evening, the Reverend Doctor made few re-
marks, in which he favored the hanging Of the
murderer and Of hanging beside him the man
who sold the liquor which made him drunk. In
his first proposition, the Doctor is eminently
sound and sensible, and nine-tenths Of the peo-
pie in this city will agree With him, and appland
the sentiment. II he had stopped there, his ar
gument would have had logic and force, as well
as sense, but he jumps to another con-
clusion, which is not only q very re-
markable proposition with regard to the
fixing Of moral responsibility, but also has the
effect to weaken his whole train Of argument,
DR.. Kittredge would hang not only the mur-
derer, but also the man who sold him the liquor.
Does he stop to think, il his proposition were
adopted, what the legitimate results would be,
and what an enormous and ghastly crop the
galloMH-tree would bear in this and every other
community? II the man who sold the liquor
is to be hanged, must not the man who made the
liquor be hanged a1so2 He is more guilty than
the man who sold it, for, it be hadn't made it,
the iquor-dealer would not have had it for
sale. Then, if the men who make and sell the
liquor are to be hanged, must not the man who
t.%,;14 H. l:.t:11 -
without which the manufacturer could not have
made it nor the ealoon-keeper sold it, be
hanged also? While DR.. Kittredge is erecting
his gallows-trees for the saloon-keeper, the dis
tiller, the machiniat, and the carpenter, he
should also remember to put up one
for the cooper VINO made the
vhiskey-barra1e, and another for the teamster
who carried them to the saloon. But these are
not the only victims who must figure in DR..
Kitt1edge's Black List. The United States Gov
ernment is an active partner in this whiskey
business, and, out OF the SO cents Of cost on each
gallon, puts 60 cents into its Treasury. It,
therefore, derives handsome profit on every
gallon manufactured, but it couldn't have done
this unless Congress had enabled it to, by
voting the tax. With regard to whiskey, there
fore, if DR.. Nttredges idea should ever be en-
bodied in law, it must involve the hanging in
each murder case Of the murderer, the saloon-
keepers, the manufacturers, the machinists, the
carpenters and contractors, the coopers and
teamsters, the National Government, OF at least
that part OF it concerned in the Whiskey Depart
ment, and majority Of Congressmen. After
few murders had taken place, it will be perceived
that a handsome share Of the population would
be disposed Of.
Those who remained would inevitably meet,
sooner or later, the same doom, from the unfor-
tunate fact that DR.. Kittredge's proposition is
not only applicable to the case Of whiskey, but
to everything else which is calculated to pro-
duce death. a pistol kills more quickly than
Whiskey, and is generally designed for that pur-
pose, while whiskey is not. Let US euppose
one man murders another by shooting him.
Then the murderer, the man who sold the pis-
tol, and the men who made it and the cartridge
are all equally guilty, and must swing. This
would rapidly decimate the gun and pistol
Dealers the turner's, brass-fniahers, steel. and
iVory-workers, and the lead and powder manu-
lecturers. There are other poisona
besides whiskey which kill-morphine,
arsenic, strychnine, 1audanum, DC. They
are all more Immediately fatal than
whiskey, and they not only may be the cause of
murder, but Of suicide also, and by their sale.
therefore, the life OF every person is aoubly i'm
perilea-frst, at the hands Of his enemy; Sec
ond, at the hands Of himself. DR.. Kittredga's
proposition, therefore, would fill his row of gib-
bets with druggists, chemists, and physicians.
In fine, the Legitimate result Of any such idea as
DR.. Kittredge desires to see put into practice
would be to hang the larger part OF our popula-
tion, in which event, in all probability, the re-
mainder would hang themselves out Of mere
!oaesQ@eaeas, With the exception Of the excel