Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1872-07-16
Fer the Spectator.
Who Keeps up the Supply?

1t is estimated that our country contains half
million of drunkards. and that of this num-
Der fully (100000) enc hundred thousand die
every year. At this rate, unless the supply is
kept up from some source, in five years the class
called drunkards would be extinguished, would
have passed to the drunkarGs' grave and the
| drunkaras' hell. We know that the class is not
extinguished, but is fesrfally on the increase,
The supply is kept up. From what source p
| Who furnishes the cause Of this unhappy ef-
feet? We unhesitatingly answer, those who
begin end continue the practice of drinking al
coholic beverages In any Of the forms and
| names by which they are known. Every one
who drinks them at all, unLeSS for urgent med
acdt reasons, is member of the great alcoholic
party, through whose aggregate agency this
great iniduity is continued Men will try to
| fabricate fg-leaf refuge to shrink behind
when this subject is considered. Many who
drink are loud in their condemnation of drunk
enness, and try to persuade themselves that
they are really in earnest when they declare
that something ought to be done TO prevent the
evils and miseries of drunkenness. But these
same philanthropistS are not willing to practice
the least sefdenial to help prevent these evils
are not willing to deny themselves the innocent
qualification of harmless TASTE Mol not
even to save father, son, brother, or friend.
| Drunkenness can never be stopped while
UIluhlllS COHLluueS. uG OclI0T Is
the indirect cause of vast mischief, and as SUCH
should be rebuked aud hindered in his traffic
The drinker is the direct producer of the mis-
chief. The Seller causes the sin and the drink
er commits the sin-both are sinners The
Seller has this paliation (if the crime admits of
( pallatloD) that he gains pecuniary preft by
the traffic. The drinker is not only the direct
sinner, but pays his money for the privilege of
SHINING. If there be any degrees 10 this guilt,
| the drinker is the worse OF the two--and if
there is any difference in the degrees of guilt,
between the moderate drinkers and the drunk
ards, the moderate drinker is worse than the
drunkard. In estimating the moral turpitude
of an evil deed, we must consider the situation
and circumstances Of the evil-doers How
stands the case between the respectable and So
called sober drinker aud the drunkard. The
first has brain as yet unclouded by strong
drink. His capacity to estimate the relation
between cause and effect is undminished-hi his
appetite does not urge him to drink-he feels
none of the craving for stinulants which con-
tinually presses upon the drunkard. And yet,
with all these potent discussions to hold him
back, and no appetite to urge him on, he
drinks, well knowing that his example is
fraught with mischief to all who follow it. The
drunkard, standing exactly In reverse posi-
ton, is comparatively uudeserving of censure,
and infinitely less mischievous as far as the ef-
feet of his example is concerned Drunken
ness is produced by those who continue to use
ardent spirits as beverage and the continuance
to drink is produced by beginning to drink
Those who begin or continue to drink have no
valid reasons for doing So and have always be-
fore them many and strong reasons why they
should not begin or continue. Drunkenness
with its attendant evils is admitted by all to be
the worst thing on earth. If so, then those
who produce this worst thing on earth are, 10
fact, the most mischievous workers of iniquity
on earth, and those whose eyes are open to the
consequences are the most wicked of all. Each
one who drinks intoxicating beverages at all
contributes in proportion to that drinking te
the great aggregate by which drunkenness is
brought upon society. The respectable mod
crate drinker, who never INDUCES to excess
presents more misehievous example than the
drunkard.
InGdelity and gross religious errors grow ur
spontaneously and luxuriantly on soil mols-
tened by the wine that is "a mocker," de
rision. Thomas Paine, the decent, respectable
drinker, was the dreaded foe of Christianity
But Tom Paine, the drunken sot, soon fell In
to disrepute. The moderate drlnker boasts
that he can break off whenever he pleases, 6u
aoiU not. The drunkard often protests that ht