Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1874-04-04

remedy for this mighty evil that like {
besom of destruction is sweeping
broadcast over our country, bearing il
its wake-to mark its course-death
and desolation and the charred re-
mains Of those who, but for this mon
ster evil, might have been ornaments
to society? VIII the time never come
when public men will have the moral
courage to rise superior to the craven
spirit that makes them truckle to the
influence Of the immortal dollar, and
no Longer bend the pregnant hinges
of the knee, that thrift may follow
fawning, and say in language that can
not be mistaken that the accursed
traffic in human gore and human souls
shall cease, or at least that the State
shall no longer be a pdrticeps crimiinis
in the business; that she shall no
longer enter into partnership with one
class of her citizens to make paupers
and criminals that the other portion
shall feed, care for, prosecute and
punish? Remove all taxes and let
every one sell that wishes but hold
him responsible, under proper bonds,
for all the damage that may result
from his acts. Let him no longer have
the privilege when appealed to by
weeping wives and mothers and worse
than starving orphans not to make
their condition worse by further bru-
talizing their husband and father and
robbing them of his labor-of faunt-
ing his license in their faces, saying,
Il have paid for the privilege, the State
has authorized me to do this, and even
more. BY paying to the State the con-
sideration required, l am authorized
and empowered, and it is my business,
to deal in spirits which will excite men
to deeds of riot, robbery and blood,
and thus lessen the comforts and in
crease the misery and augment the
expenses and endanger the welfare of
the community. 1t is also part of
my business, and for small sum |
propose to prepare victims for the
asylums, the poor houses, the prisons
and the gallows. 1t is also a part of
my business to increase the number of
fatal accidents, multiply the number
of distressing diseases, and render
those which are harmless incurable. l
shall deal in drugs that will deprive
some of life, many of reason, most of
property, and all of peace; which will
cause fathers to become 6ends; wives
widows; children, orphans; and all
mendicants. / have authority to cause
many of the rising generation to grow
UP in ignorance and prove nuisance
and burden to the nation. 1t is part
of my business, and | sometimes do
corrupt the ministers of religion, OBJ
struct the progress of the Gospel, de-
file the purity of the Church, and cause
spiritual and eternal death.
1t is my right bought it from the
StIte-to demolish the character, des-
troy the health, shorten the lives and
ruin the souls of those who are foolish
enough to honor me with theircustom.
And if you wish to know why / pro-
pose to do all these things, and more,
my reply is: to put money in my pocket
no difference if every dime is red
with human gore or wet with the tears
of widows and orphans, still I'll take
it, and as long as your husband or
father has money, L Will sell him
and when he has none, will
kick him into the gutter, as that is
good enough for him or any other
drunkard without money"
With population of aboutseventy-
FIVE adult males, Ashland City boasts
FIVE drinking saloons and not single
school. Comment is unnecessary.
During my short stay, 1 learned, from
two reliable business men, of the town
that there is annually sold in Cheatham
county about fifteen thousand dollars
worth of whisky. And since l return
ed home [ learn that on the first Sat
urday in this month, the people of the
county refused to vote tax on them
selves of about four thousand dollars
for common school purposes. And
yet, unmurmuringly, they pay a tax
nearly four times as great annually to
King Alcohol for the privilege of max
ing paupers and criminals for the in
dustrious to care for and support.
But is Cheatham the only county
that refuses to be taxed for educational
purposes end yet pays heavier tax for
that which benefits no one but that
tax gatherer, the whisky seller, and
ruins men, soul and body? Would to
God that it were the only county in
the State thus circumstanced. Then
might we hope to see soon the dawning
of the political millennium. In fact,
the day star would already have risen,
and the night of gloom passed. Let
us hope that the time is not far in the
future when drunken men will no
longer be seen staggering to their seats
in our halls of Legislation, either Fed
eral or State-when drunken officials
will be numbered with the things of
the past-when the scales of justice
will never again be held by drunken
judge-when never again will the smell
of liquid fire be observed upon the
breath of one of Gods ministers.
Yours to command
FRANKLIN.
GAINESVILLE, March ii.
The Ten Per Cent. Penalty.
For the information of those who