Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1874-10-08

Legislation. Not so, unless the re
straint of poisons, the prohibition o
unwholesome food, the inhibition o
opiates, or the thousand laws agains
other agencies of human destruction
or decay be classified as sumptuary
But suppose it is; then is not a Ii
cense law sumptuary? Its professeC
purpose as declared by its advocates
is to restrain the quantity and regu
late the quality of intoxicants; t
designate those who shall engage il
the traffic; the classes of persons tt
whom they shall be sold; in word
to limit such traffic and diminish in
temperance by sheer force of strin-
gency.
A license law, therefore, is, in the
highest sense, sumptuary, if laws ope-
rating upon traffic can be so regard
ed. But they can not.
Sumptuary laws are limited in
their operation to the person whose
individual indulgence or enjoyment
is intended to be restrained; not be-
cause the indulgence or enjoyment
may be injurious to him, but because
of whatever purpose or whim may in
fluence the author of the sumptuary
edict.
Legislation in restraint of intem-
perance is, therefore, in no sense
sumptuary. 1t is directed against
what rs regarded as an injury, and
therefore an evil, not only to the in
diyidual, but to society and the
State.
The existing laws against intem-
perance are designed for the protec-
tion of society, in precisely the same
sense as laws against personal as
saults, libel, or other offense. The
question is, Shall they be maintain
ed and made more efficient, as time
and experience may suggest? or
shall they'be substituted by license
law, of which the Democratic party
now constitutes itself the champion
and standard bearer? The Repub-
lican party favors the first PROPOSE
ton. and in this is the difference.
The defense of alcohol is not the
first unholy cause which the Demo
cratic party has championed: possi-
bly, its effort may meet kindred
fate.
Countless millions of capital, it is
urged, are invested in the traffic,
which must be lost to its proprietOrs
if the markets of the State be closed
to it, if the liberty of desolating
homes and destroying manhood be
denied, if the bulwark of the Consti-
tuition do not make its operation and
tenure secure.
1t is the old argument of the slave
power. Two thousand millions in
slaves must be made secure, and
Democracy rushed to its champion
ship, gave it the Fugitive-slave Law,
tore down the Missouri Compromise,
and opened the bred Scott Decision.
The champions Of the liquor traffic
would do we'll to remember the les
son. Ohio is not prepared to accede
to it's demands, tear down existing
legislation, and frame for it fugitive
slave laws.
Our prohibition friends may not
aid us in this struggle. They prefer
to fight alone. Poundtext and
Mucklewrath refused to unite with
the sons of Belial against a common
foe. Haranguing their followers at
Boutwell, bridge to 60 into the battle
apart, the Duke of Monmouth swept
down and extinguished their forces
in detail. Ours, to the extent of
Constitutional power, is common
cause with them. Because there are
individual Republicans not concur
ring with either, they prefer the tri-
umph of the enemy to dividing the
honor of joint victory. The bulls in
the fable, though having differences
between them, by uniting their
strength, kept the lion at bay. Sepa-
rating they fell an easy prey to the
king of the forest. Do Prohibition
lists, by separating, expect other fate
at the hands of King Alcohol? They
may, by indirection, aid in sweeping
away existing laws; they may secure
the enactment of opposing and vi
cious laws instead; they may surren-
der the legislative, judicial, and po-
lice powers of the State to- adverse
hands; they may postpone the tri-
umph of virtue and sobriety, with the
expectation that the reaction of fu-
ture generations will carry their
cause to- higher pitch. We prefer
it's realization, in some degree, by the
children of the present. Will they,
then, accept the highest good which
is possible? Or, will they continue to
stand aloof, thanking God that they
are not as publicans and sinners, un-
til all is lost? To them, for this
course, none will be so grateful as
those who oppose their cause; none
so jubilant, when we shall have
been defeated, as those who exc
crate that cause.