The Lincoln County herald., 1872-05-16

vocation public benefit? No1ld you
desire to be introduced into a large pub
lie gathering, or to any respectful c as
sembly, as Mr.. Saloon keeper, so and SO
Why no, yoNssy-"lf man shou d IN
suit the by doing so should knock him
down for the indgnity' Why is it that
you are so sensitive upon this subject ii
you think your calling public beneiac-
tionY Why, you will even take offeh.e at
this article because | use the word sa.
loon keeper so prominently. Why Is
this? Men engaged in vocations that
are q public benefit by common consent
are not so. III tell you why it is SO with
you. There 10 a sling about this that
hurts you. You have a conscience, and
what l say now appeals to ii you feel
its pungent remoustraDce, which tells
you that you do not benefit the public
You never boast of your business. You
are often yourself filled with moritica-
ton at the thought that your business is
not only not benefit to the public, but
that it is positively disreputable In the
public esteem.
Well, then, we conclude that if neither
the public or the saloon keepers them
selves think their business public ben
eft, no one does No one will boast of
it as such The saloon keepers will
never point to reeling, staggering, raw
ing inebria,e, made 90 BY the liquor
~Leb 10 10 bic duty to sell, and which he
continually does to this stage of intoxica
ton, as an evidence of his benefit to the
public. Saloons if they are benefit at
all, are only so pecaotor,y 10 the Keepers
but we have already seen that it sabsurd
fer the public, by vote, to create places
Of emcument for individuals. But
if nothing can be sail in favor OF their
being q public benefit, how much may be
said against it? We will only point to a
few Of the objections to them:
|. They are convenient places for id(e
loofay, and "iIlenoss is the mother OF
vice and crime
2. They are the fruitful sources OF
drunkenness, which statistics prove to be
connected with the most OF the crime anu
pauperism Of the land
3. They are the foster fathers Of gam
bling, which has involved so many il
irretrev,ble ruin
4. They, when kept as ours hare Jeea
are terror to women and children, wh(
are frequently driven to tie other side 0
the street from them.
8. They are fastened upon US as publ
institutions, and yet are such places a
. the majority of our citizens, all ou
women and our most respectable men, d
, not feel at liberty to enter, or have their
children visit, tecau.o Of their immOr
, atty.
r G. They are the hot beds of politica
| corruption, saloon keepers openly boast
I ing they can make more votes by bribia
with whisky than others can wit!
e speeches.
= Z. They are wha, % Cn,istion can pos
+ sibly support or endorse, for his Bib
. declares: (Heb. 3; l5) "Woe unto hir
J that gives his ne ghbor drink, that pu,
J test thy bottle to him, and maketh hir
G i unken also" and saloons are in;en.e
4 to make the way easy for getting tn
i. bottle there, and hence their support in
). wolves participation in their guilt,
!. S. heir establishment is mos
vre.chel, runOus and disastrous polite;
O economy.
Y One word in explanation or this Ia.
= section. 1t is argued ,ha, saloons pay
!. revenue into the public treasury, and ar
y therefore, a public benefit. But, tricnc
IS look at your authors on Political Ecor
: omy. and they wi unanimously tell so
that labor only is productive. Now. yo-
e own observation will convince ycu hat
!. drunken man does not work eithC
). physically or mentally, and therefore doe
8 not produce. His time aud labor is los
% Drunkenness is 50 far forth, an approac
to beggarry ana bankruptcy on the pa
"a of the drinker. The state loses tt
d revenue it would otherwise would ha,
"a secured from his productive labo
IT Hence it is immcasureab'y the loser /
!, granting license to secure a revenue, f
y it thus lessons and cuts off the reveu,
n from the labor Of numbers OF men in
:. community, because dram shops on
of make them idle loaiers and drunkgrd
"a There is no escape from this conclusion
D. / defy any one TO controver, 1t. Not
"a single writer on political economy vi
in even hint at endorsing this mode of raj,
IN ing public revenue. And no man of al
~ mind at all, will pretend to advocate |
/: And yet grant, that this is the stron
IF est argument in favor OF saloons.
Q. There is another argument, sometim
r. used, which l will only notice, and ha
W done. 1t is said thar dram shops NAL
business, and that if you abolish the
e. you will injure the business of the tow
re affirm that they make business for the
e, LarLeepeys and oirners but injure 4
fy other business Of the place, always and
ID every respect. They make idlers,a and m
" who do not work will not have any mon
/ to spend, as they would have cthcrwi:
he aud then Of the money they do spend,
ry goes largely into the saloons For e
MS ample, man starts down town with
n, dollar in his pocket to buy dollar