Smyrna times., 1872-07-17
.MiSceLIU ~ e o S.
For the Smyrna Times.
For the "Smyrna Times.7
Rum-Sellers Are They Thieves and
Murderers2

A most Infamous charge, if untrue, but true,
then the liberation of them or their business
in any community is a sure sign of great
looseness in the execution Of law, and a blazing
insignia of low morals.
The man that makes such glaring charge
as the above ought to be compelled to prove it.
Are there any principles or laws by which the
rum seller may be defended and his character
and business put in the ri ght relation to men |
and morals? Let US see.
The rum-seller is doing a legal business |
His license t. sell rum is granted to him by the
citizens Of the community in which he lives. |
The votes of the citizens make legislators the
legislators give the civil courts the right to
issue his license his license is secured only
| by the earnest request OF ttcenty-tOur OF his
! feloW-citizens. No mans legal right TO do
business is more clear than the rum-seer's 3.
What right has any one, then, to berate his
business, and charge him with stealing and
murder2 Upon what grounds is this serious
charge made? Let US look at some other facts
and principles. The right of druggist to sell
poison, which destroys life, is just as clear as
the rum sellers right to sell rum; but
let any druggist, by the sale of poison, do one
tenth the damage to character, morals and
property, as is done by the sale of rum, and
public sentiment would breathe such life into
our dead laws as would close up his store and
put the druggist in jail. Let druggist, with
; out proper care, sell poison to minors, or take
advantage of the weakness of any one in its
, sale, and the whole community would be ablaze
) with Indignation, and by that fundamental
principle of all life-by that law which is pri-
mary to all statute laws, viz:-thc law of self
preservation, the first law of nature-such a
man would be tolerated in no community
twenty four hours after the facts in any given
t case came to light. Only a few months ago
: poison was sold to boy in this town, on the
u plea of killing rats 1t came into the hands oil
!. a negro boy, and he came nearly to death by
g the use of it. We all seemed to have wonder
/ ful skill at that time in tracing the law OF cause
!; and effect in this case, and everybody asked
e " Who soH the poiS0l ?" Then came the feel
" ing of Indignation, until the facts proved tina
y the poison had been sold under proper precau
;: ton But let a man get drunk, kill himself il
~ twenty minutes or twenty years, or kill hi
"a children or wife, or deprive his family of thC
SO common necessities of life or make himself
o. moral pest and social nuisance, or in genera
II terms put life, property and liberty in leopard
m everywhere he goes, and where IS public sent
y. ment? Where is our indignation? Where is a
's our skill at tracing the law Of sequence? Wher
lie is that law Of laws-self preservation the fr'
he he law of nature? A man comes into your hous
en- at night, gives you chloroform with the puI
Il pose Of getting your property he succeeds
n. you die from the effects of the drug, thong
Il. Il. he did not intend your death. Is he not
en- en- thief and murderer, even though your deaf
Of does not occur within the legal time? He is
nt thief and murderer by higher law tina
oosa oa that found on tho statute book of the State
Tor the Law of God The Divine Laws are e.
raj ceeding broad, without conditions, positive at
=. explicit" Thou shalt not steal, directly
md indirectly; "Thou shalt not kill, !" mediate
la Ii1I or immediately-in moment, or through u
for long process of ploddingyears of misery. III
zen rumseller just surely steals and kills as ii
:, assassin mentioned above. He sells you Ru
ALI (the chloroform of Hell) it may be, legal
,2S 2Se and without intention to KILL his purpose b
up ing to get your property in exchange for tn
the which steals your senses, drags you to &
. OF level of the brute, and starts hellish fire
your nature which burns up all that is good
YOU and makes it possible for you to CONN
ION the blackest crime of earth. Therefore,
. Of the Law of God; by the FIRST law of natul
@s ss self preservation, and by the spirit of the CT
TThh0 law-the prime object of which is the presC
unit. vation of liberty, property and life-the Ru
hsI hal seller is a thief and a murderer.
W But there is another principle Of civil i
: NOT OF which is still more explicit than the 9
u 70 mentioned, namely: He who aids or abets a
Pro- one in the committal Of a crime is partic
90 crimiais--a party to the crime. The conn
, de- ton between fire and the explosion of q
: per powder is no more direct than the rum selle
n by cOhnSctiVhS WIN al, '"E ~ e D.
him, the land, done under the influence OF Ilu
b1ds bis Rum furnishes ninety nine one hundredths
not of our paupers and criminals. It prepa
shall nine tenthS OF the candluateS LOT Inc Balio
v be Il brings disgrace and ruin on millions of he
nees less women aud children annually. The inc
ssi ssi table law of cause and effects is not m
8 for clearly seen throughout the whole unive
! the than in rum and its connections. Let any n
furnish one-tenth the aid to any one, IN
4 - G0il4rQ fnTnIqn
our- criminals, ana the ci'h iam "ou'J n',.;aL |