The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-08-07
Stir up the Fire.
To the Editor Of The lStandard:

ofW. r Eans. headed..Hit II i'm Agin.
Mr.. Evans compares the intelligent eiti-
zens of this State of Ohio to the Cannibals
on the Fegee Island. Now were those
Cannibals taught better, they would not
indulge IN eating the flesh of their fellow
man, for where christian ministers have
proclaimed the Gospel, they are more
civilized, and have senacted laws that
have salutary effect in that respect; but
have not the citizens of Ohio not been
taught that the liquor traffic is curse
on the State and Nation that it sends
Its thousands annually to drunkard's
grave, to meet drunkards doom They
Know it, they are ready for the question,
they will vote for the separator Mr.
Evans says that reform cannot be effected
by enacting a code Of laws. ACCORDING
to that theory We may set our laws aside
because the minds of majority of onr
people are unpurified For instance. take
the moral law. Is it of no account he.
cause there exists an opposite in human
nature. Is not man represented as ba;no
a rebel to that law2 Does not the Apostle
say when the law came, sin revived and
dledY Is there not rebellion existing
mere to that law, and yet the Apostle
says the law is holy, just and good. 1t is
our educator, our schoolmaster, to lead
US to Christ; hence, it has a salutarv
enect on the human family. Suppose we
apply that law to the liquor traffic; does
IL regulate it, or license it2z No sir. il.
prohiolts it; it says, Cursed be he that
glveth his neighbor drink, or maketh
INN drunken also. This is prohibition.
But you good Republicans say we must
nave license law, it's not time yet for
prohibition, you say we must have moral
force, and you lay great stress on that,
but why does not your moral force save
the drunkard y Why do 100000 annually
NIL drunkard's graves? Why are there
10000 wrecks that stagger and fall down
ward Why are 100000 convicts annually
bequeathed to public charity? WHY are
there S2,6O7, ,49l 500 annually taken from
the public comfort, and expended in
wretchedness and crime? Whv has not
your moral force, put stop to all this
expense and crime? The facts are too
plain, that moral force apart from politi
cai agencies can never abolish this crime
We have tried the experiment long
enough by proposing to talk down the
crimes and miseries of the LIQUOR traffic.
1t IS not words, but works that is wanted:
1t is not moral suasion merely, but moral
action; it is faith with the works; it is
the only moral 1oaans tl,o4 LII .....l ~
class OF men engaged in this destroying
trafhc. No power can stop them but the
iron arm of the law, for the conclusion
has been forced upon us that moral and
social endeavors alone will not suffice
for we are fighting against crime, and
you cannot sing down crime; you cannot
pray down crime; you cannot preach
down crime; it must only be crush
ed by the arm of power But friend
Evans is a great moral suasionist, for he
has spent ten years in the State of Ohio.
and he has never known there was any
liquor sold there, unless somebody told
him so, for he says he has never seen a
glass sold in all that time IS he not the
right man to preach moral force? Ithinl<
he is pretty good at helping lame dog
over the style. But why does Mr.. Evans
playing around this daestion p He yery
plainly gives us the reason The restora-
ton OF the Democratic party to power
again He asks Mr.. Scott, "why did you
vote for the Democfatic party, it
tolerated the sin of slavery. ask Mr..
Evans why do you vote for the Republi-
can party, it tolerates the sin of intem-
perance.& If the Denocratic party fell
because it upheld the sin of slavery, will
not and should not the Republican party
fall because it upholds the great sin of
intemperance. View it to-day, as it
stands eager to grasp, clutching at the
spoils Of office afraid to step. back for
fear it will fall to pieces; made up as it
is of men of opposite ideas on all ques-
tions which before divided political par
ties. and afraid to step forward for fear it
will drop the spoils. There it stands on
the very pinnacle of power, without an
idea of the present, or purpose Afor~the 4
future. political party is nothing but
tool for the people to work with, and
w ~J "o "OAA vain vi SIdtiluu0 Qu6 10
an ak or spades as to a political party,
for when the people have accomplished 1
one work with one tool, they willlay. ii
aside, and take another Rbetter adopted
to the purpose. Now where do the twenty
thousand dram shops, the fifty thousand
liquor dealers, the hundred thousand
drunkards in our State belong to but to
these old parties, and they call upon us
to remain in their ranks, and vote to
support this organized and legalized sys-
tenn of assassination Now shall we as
temperance men support it by our votes?
No, never. We will cleanse ourselves
from all their uncleanliness, and separate
ourselves from both, for one has the most
lager beer, and the other has the most
whisky, and that is the main difference be-
tween them. Now can we expect these po-
litical parties to commit political suicide,
and to prob hibit@and abolish SO large
part of themselves, as that comprised,
in the liquor system? Now we cannot
expect anything from either of these
tive old parties, for their interests
and instincts are all against us, for
each party had the power to crush
the liquor traffic, and each in turn has
protected and, enlarged this destroying
curse. Now the christian men of the