The weekly Louisianian., 1874-03-21

EW0MAN AND THE
'S gsrrgR4NcE QUESTION:
. ;mnossib1e not to feel a great
II, # IS IS sympathy in reading tn: .. sc,
deal eaat " Of the liquor crusade o, the
counts sa.ss,n =, women, not perhaps with the
Hsssmeut itself, but with the despair II
mo- ''9Is DISGUST which have led to it. .a IL
:'a now quite half a century since Tn; ;ns
r i nem fer the suppression OF IN IN,
sosieation began in this s ssen' IN the the
hiring that time it has oee n.,a sex:
a no;u' in the hands Of the mae Se A.
man, IT, e III with what results. AL
let US .e ea1 aoeans used was moral suasion;
frs ' 'hs ms' which sprung up all over
W. oo,ntry were purely voluntary
tho eGau formed for the purpose OF
s oen'~aringamong those who believed
e. total abstinence the zeal for the
III naod co,,se. Men werepersuade1 into
s s9 the pledge in the belief that
s'sn. n.erv resistance of temptation
' "as the best resistance. This was the
first stage of the movement: AS soon
90 ni' tho,o who had banded themselves
.ooether for the suppression of drunk
enpess found themselves strong
enough, they resortedt to that means OF
affecting their object which to most
PERSONS seems to be the natural and
obvious means of accomplishing any
.oc;ul and moral object-legislation.
They passed laws in a number OF
States absolutely prohibiting the sale
nj intoxicating drinks, and brought in
n oction new machinery and novel ex-
,aa;onts for its enforcement; finding,
however, after many experiments, that
this did not put an end to drinking,
thew fell back, O rrather were compelled
bv their natural enemies, the liquor
DEALERS, to seem to fall back, on statutes
Substituting regulation for prohibition;
and in some States it has been no I'M
common thing to see sort of alterna'
tive machinery set in motion, which
for one year, or a number Of years
turned out prohibitory statutes, ant
in the alternating periods license Laws
Still the sale of liquor seems to go OF
very much as before, and finally II
Ohio, if not in other States, laws wer'
passed creating not merely new
machinery, but a new theory OF Law
for tho suppression of the vice and tn
traffic in it; hitherto, the theory OF Law
had been that the sale of liquor wa
like the sale of anything else-an or
binary occupation in which any ont
might engage, subject to proper res
tsictions. The new theory land thi'
theory naturally enough grew out o
the previous legislation on the subject
was that the salo of liquor was some
thing different from the sale of othe1
things, and in fact was more like thu
sale of nitro-glycerine or arsenic, ono
that any one who engaged in it ough'
to do 50 ct his own portland not onl,
60, but that there were certain CLASSES
in the community affected by the salt
ina very peculiar way: Therefore i
was provided by law that any one re
lated to the purchaser of alcholi'
~stimulants by marriage, or by bloot
within certain degrees, might bring a1
action agrinst the dealer and recove:
in damages for the injury resulting
from the i%ntoxication of the vendee
But this law did not succeed mucl
better than its predecessors; action
were brought under it, but there wa
considerable difficulty in executing it
provisions. The whiskey traffic still
went on, and the triumph of temper
ance seemed as far off as ever.
1t cannot be denied that tho super
vision Of the liquor business has no
thus far been a success. The reason i
very simple. There has never beef
any serious attempt on the part of thos
classes in the country who ought t.
govern it to grapple with the question
Whenever a State Legislature has passe'
aprohibitory law, the great majority Q
the intelligent and educated people i
the country have sneered at it, an
said that every one knew it could no
be inforced. No sooner, on the othe
hand, does the usual license law sue
coed it than everybody says at once
Now for free rum" Notwithstand
ing the patent fact that the danger is
great if not m increasing one, peopl
content themselves with framin
statutes without the slightest desire q
expectation that they shall be enforce