The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1874-07-03

nf sbiriruous liquors can no more be pro-
hibited. The prohibition nonsense will
have an end.
We do not I'll. who expect to vote mo
license think it will prohibit the trade.
Ynu may Ip right in the claim that to
authoril. license will at present better
restrict the evils resulting from the sale.
Rut If a majority vote for license it
will he held TO mean that the geoDIe Of
(bfo are in farOr IF the trCfir Ii will
"a the WdchteT claims, give ''consti. IL
tional legal recognition
You have said that il No license
prevail it will be by the union of tenn
Derance men with the friends of free
trade in liquor. | say that if license
prevail. it will be chiefly by the votes of
the friends of the liquor traffic You
temperance advocates of license are in a
larger crowd of liquor dealers and drink
ers than we who oppose 1t.
You Justly characterize the proposition
as a clumsy. circuitOus misrepresenta-
ton and fraud. | dislike TO indorSe
such a proposition; nor, if We vote it
down. are we excluded for the next
twenty years from adopting a better one.
If popular sentiment require the paying
of special tax according TO the form
You propose. it can b. done by three
tifths of both branches of the Legislature
and majority of the popular vote. Let
us strive TO secure what we think is right
in an open, manly way, not by evasive
constitutional trickery. i.
As intemperance is the great cause of
the pauperism, crime and misery i'll So
ciety, is it an ''illusive theory to at
tempt the suppression of the great cause,
when the crimes which are the effect of
this cause are attempted to be wholly
suppressed by penalties and punishment.
As understand it. it is termed misery"
because, though laws may be passed
looking to suppression, yet they will not
prevent the traffic altogether. That Is
no reason why we should not attempt
the reformation of the great crime
against society.
We have laws against murder, yet
murders do not cease, but are on the III
crease. So it may be said of every grade
of crime Laws have been passed Tor
the purpose of suppressing and punish
ing them and they continue, and will
always continue to be committed, yet
repeating the laws against them, or al
lowing them to a limited extent would
be striking at the very foundation of so
ciety. and be regarded with horror. So
with the saloon and retail intoxicating
liquor traffic as a beverage and the
promoting of it in any way, regarding 1t
as il Is in fact, n "crime against society
endangering its welfare in almost untold
ways. We should discountenance and
destroy it in every possible way. An
opportunity is now given us TO discoun-
tenance ii. and of taking n great step
looking to its destruction, by making u
public expression in voting on the adop-
ton of the Constitution that no Ii
cense" shall henceforth be granted III
the State of Ohio.
1t may be said that it is an ELUSIVE
theory" because the prospect of success
is very remote or the object can never be
attained. Some may think this true,
but the facts at the present time show It
otherwise We know, as n matter of
history, the subject of suppression of
this traffic is now agitating nearly every
state in the Union. 1t has also extended
TO foreign lands, and it has become the
subject of investigation in connection
with the question of the suppression of
pauperism, crime and idleIess. And
now there are those, tie great heart of
this nation, Is engaged with earnestness
on the subject, and the hearts of the
women of the nation, young and old,
are engaged in il, as no subject never
engaged them; therefore, the opportune
time has come to strike the first great
blow against the liquor traffic by max
ing it now and forever impossible To
make the traffic legal, honorable, or even
reputable, and this blow is to be struck
by voting that mo license or traffic i'll
intoxicating liquors shall be granted" in
this State. The first great foundation
stone bring, and the rest will come i'll
due time If We faint not And now
MesSrs. Editors, cannot well close this
communication without referring to IL
matter ofhistOry, fresh in our memory,
as some of us were personal participa-
tors i'll it, and which illustrates the sub
ject before me, that is the Wing party
and slavery and the Abolition party of
the time The Wing party declared
itself to be the great party of equal
rights and freedom, and declared that
the abolition party ''were carried away
by an Elusive theory" Whereas the
Whig party proved afterwards To be u
bulwark of slavery, and was totally ami
hilated, and it is my firm conviction that
the real interest of the temperance cause
is not more safe with those,who vote for
license, than the interests of the slaves
were in the hands of the Wing party,
which the sequel showed, though claim
ing to b0 the only true friends of free
dom, yet were found anything but such
friends. 1t is also my very firm convic-
ton, and it is, | believe, the almost unani-
nous conviction of the true friends OF
temperance i'll Ohio that the great inter
est of the cause, and to Il great degree
its speedy success, requires that we
should vote against license, and not
''for license. p Bishop IN CtecetaHd
HeFdId