Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-12-01

j
the intemperate use of Intoxicating
liquors is destroying the old and the
young and carrying poverty and ruin
to thousands of families. An evil so
great, so demoralizing, so debasing, so
begetful of crime, invokes the aid and
cooperation of all good men and
women in its suppression. The pro-
fame shout of the drunkard, the wall
of the widow, the cry of the orphan,
which are constantly ringing in our
ears in all parts of the land and re-
echoed by the press, are terrible re-
minders OF the positive and growing
evils of the Incorporate use of ardent
spirits. Our jails, our penitentiaries,
our alms-houses, our insane asylums,
unite in constituting an unbroken
chain of evidence of the evils result
ng from the traffic in intoxicating
drinks. They tell tale of sadness
and woe which melts the hardest
hearts and causes eyes to weep that
never wept before for suffering and
mourning humanity. The broken
hearted mother and deserted wife,
with her daughters standing upon the
threshold of womanhood, relying
mainly upon u fathers good name to
introduce them into good society and
make them proper alliances with
worthy families, to be cast down be-
cause of his intemperance, are the
bitter pangs and poignant griefs which
q drunken father entails upon his
family. And where, to-day, is there
n man to be found-no difference how
great his talents, how finished his edu-
cation or how learned in his profess
sion-if he drinks to excess, can be
trusted to the performance of any inn
portant undertaking? The agent can
in no sense do well the work of his
principal, if his reason is dethroned
and his manhood wrecked by the in
toxicating glass.
The preventative of the people who
pays tribute to the wine-seller and
who is to be seen at all hours of the
day indulgIng in his beverage, is not
only unworthy of the trust contided to
him, but deserves the condemnation
of all good citizens for the mockery of
the position he attempts to fill and the
bad example he sets before the rising
youth of his country. The statesman
charged with the administration Of
the government and the enforcement
of the laws, would fail to perform well
his duty, reeling with intoxicatiOn.
The leader of armies, the commander
of navies, the pilot of vessels and the
adjuster of that wonderful motive
power-the steam--which has gone so
far in annihilating time and distance
in travel--tO whose skill and judg-
ment the lives of thousands are en-
trusted, would fare sadly, indeed, if at
the moment of danger they should be
found in state of intoXication. Aud
how often Of late is it that persons so
entrusted become intoXicated and for
that cause the most fearful accidents
and loss of life are of daily occurrence.
The lawyer when drunk can attend to
no business. He does not and cannot
understand the nature of his case, and
is only an injury to his client. The
physician is still less to be trusted
where life is suspended by a thread or
disease has seized upon some vital
part, which requires the clearest head,
the steadiest nerve and the incest and
closest analysis of the human system
to lay hold of the affected part and
save the patient. And so, too, with
all the trades and employments. The
man full of whiskey can do nothing
right. He is a burden to himself and
an injury to everybody with whom
he comes in contact. He is no longer
an image of his Creator. He looks
upon the beauties of nature without u
thrill and the magniticence Of the
heavens without contemplation. The
whisky which is now being sold and
drank by millions of gallons, is first
diluted, then poisoned by the seller to
make his thousand per cent, and
when drank to excess it requires but n
short time to make sure work of its
victims. 1t destroys the nervous sys-
tenn, blunts the sensibilities, sears the
conscience, softens the brain and saps
the very body and soul of life; and to
close the scene, we are told by the
highest medical authority that the
death of the drunkard is the most pain
full of all; and when he dies, as we all
see, he dies unpitied, unhonored,
unwept, unsung." The time has now
come in Ouradvancing civilization and
in the improved moral and social state
of society, as well as in the business
affairs and transactions of life, when
sobriety in o young man is looked
upon as his best passport, his strongest
recommendation, his richest and most
will to-day associate himself in busi-
IcoS Will VI give cHlplOJ IlcilU w ~
drunkard, and no parent who cares
daughter married to an Incorporate
man. Not even the vender of ardent
spirits would be willing to see his
daughter marrya drunkard. He only
sells him dram for his money, not
that the cares for him, for the very
fact that he is drunkard causes him
To cl II h hn 1xy oIl In i'm
to come to his bar when he has money
to pay for his drinks; for when his
purse is empty and his property all
wasted and spent, he condemns him
for his profligacy and drives him from
his roof as unworthy of his further
notice or respect. In all that long list
of criminals whose trials and convic-
tiOns fill our criminal law libraries,
there are none whose cases present u
state of circumstances and facts so
telling upon our feelings and which so
invoke our deepest sympathy as those
young men who in an unguarded mo-
ment We're led astray by the
wine glass, and while under
its influence committed crime
Trace the lives of all the
inmates now confined in the PEN
States, and it will be seen that the
first false step, which led to their ruin,
was caused by strong drink. 1t is a
true saying, and should be written in
letters of living light and justed at
every cross-road, so that every passer-
by should see and rea6 that ''dissipa-
gets crime, and crime never ceases its
n,I poh In tG win