Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1872-05-14
For the SPECTATOR.
THE BALLOT FOR TEMPERANCE.

FT1enQS OF IempefGnc OF augusta county
You are identified with a cause which is bein,
felt and is extending its influence Throughout
the length and breadth of our land Are yol
in earnest in this good work? Do you sincere
ly desire the removal of an evil which is th
curse of cur land, affecting every family, In
vading every domestic hearth, pervading ev
cry social circle, looming up in every commu
nifty; everywhere stalking abroad, peoplins
the graveyards with its victims, and recruiting
the army of eternity with lost souls. By nigh
and by day pursuing its cruel work of breaking
hearts of parents and blasting the hopes O.
children. Are you prepared to wage an inces
SAINT warfare? Ii so, buckle on your armor
your weapons being Moral and Legal ,Suasios
and be ready at all times to "qnit yourselve,
like men"
Much good has been done by moral suasion
many have been reclaimed and saved even from
the midst of the deepest ruin, and multitudes
have been prevented who might otherwise have
become drunkards But. brothers, mora
suasion has its limits. 1t will neither preserve
the child from danger nor the vicious from
crime. 1t is too feeble to combat the drunk.
ards appetite when excited by temptation
and the selfshness by which unprincipled met
are actuated. With temptation tracking the
steps of reformed inebriates on every hand
ing companions ready to lure them into the
numerous bar-rooms, it is not to be wondered
that so many have fallen and gone back to their
cups.
If these weak brethren are to be delivered,
the temptation must be removed, and this by
the interpostion of law. So long as men are
weak aua prone TO temptation, it is vain to
preach total abstinence unless we at the same
time practically enforce, by law, the precept of
the Lords prayer, Lead US not into tempta-
ton, but deliver US from evil" How can the
temptation be removed short of the law2
Does any one think for a moment that in
temperance and its comcomtant evils can be
banished from the land by moral suasve
efforts only, while men are permitted to
engage in the unholy traffic of liquor selling
the fruitful and only source of all drunkenness.
Never! To talk of pursuading such men as
selling, to abandon the traffic. is worse than
folly. AS long as money can be made by the
traffic, there are men who would build their
groggeries In the crater Of volcano They
would sell rum, did the law permit them, amid
the heaving of an earthquake; and as the
drunkard steps down the bank and hangs sus-
pended by single twig over the bottomless
pit, they would put between his chattering
teeth the draught that would unnerve his arm
and plunge him into an eternal abyss. And
shall we talk of moral suasion to such men
Only the pains and penalties Of law will make
them feel what rig ghteousness and truth cannot
make them see.
How then are righteous laws on this subject
to be secured, and, when secured, enforced I!
Simply by the election of men to the Legisla-
ture, who will see to the passage of such laws.
and Of officers who will see that, when passed,
these laws are enforced: and that such men
may be elected. the friends of temperance both
inside and outside of our Temperance Organ
izations by whatever name they may be called,
must use the Ballot. Too long have the friends
of Temperance, by their inconsistency in this
matter, given the world cause to doubt the
sincerity of their professions. Where is your
consistency, when, after all you say about the
evils of inemperance and your desire for their
removal, you yet vote men in the Legislature,
Congress and other offices, whom you know
are In the habit of using every day as bever-
age, drinks that intoxicate, aud who have no
sympathy with the Temperance Reform Be
consistent.
Those in theswhiskey ring do not hesitate to
ask the candidates seeking their suffrage -
"Are you in favor of legislation 10 our interests
and in opposition to all Temperance move
ments?" Why then should the friends Of
temperance neglect the use of the ballot
in seeking the removal of the greatest evil that
af1cts our country? Is it consistent for us tc
pledge with one hand our lives to labor for the
good of others, the suppression Contemporaries
while with the other, we deposit our ballot foI
a man who is in favor of It's continuance W.
wish to form no new party, But let every
friend of temperance take the ground, and le
nominating conventions understand that n,
candidate for any office can receive his vote
who is not in favor of Local Prohibition-tha
is the enactment of a law, giving the right to tn
qualified voters ofeach ward, voting place, schoo
district or Township, to say whether or no the.
shall be saddled with grog-shops, and wher
! they are not thus prohibited to pass stringen
laws against the sale of ardent spirits to mi
nors Why should it be otherwise? How Ca
YOU. as Friend of Temperance, consistent
vote for any man to office, who is not with yo
in seeking the removal of the great curse 2
How can man be your representative, if
does not agree with what you believe to b
yonr interest and your duty? IF you woul
consistently carry out your Temperance primo
nles. Won must use the ballot in its behalf.
| We are aware when Temperance men talk
! using the ballot. the cry is raised oh ths
will endanger our cause" IF our organizatio
is SO weak that it cannot stand up for the righ
for the interests of humanity and the prom,
ton of the greatest good ever rendered I
man. then let us 60 down. If such candidate
only can be elected, who are in sympathy wit
a traffic that has proved itself to be an unmi
igated evil, in favor of which not one hone
word can be said, then let them be elected
the votes of those of like mind-not Friends
| Tompprance.