The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-05-18
THE WHIsKY ExPLOsIoM.

| The late arrest of large portion OF
the entire whisky fraternity Is ludi-
crous commentary on the statesmanship
that INDUCES in high moral legislation.
The ostensible motive for the whisky
tax is the discouragement OF the use OF
that intoxicant. Our statesmen assumed
a proud pharasaical position and called
all the wsrld to witness that the great
cause of temperance was to be promoted
by the perfect wisdom with which they
placed whisky under contribution to the
public treasury. How conclusive the
logic by which they worked out the
Ipurest moral results! They took TO con-
Ijugating the verb drink, to-wit: drink,
thou drinkest, he drinks-we drink, you
drink, they drink.
Now If l., thou, he,we, you and they can
barely afford to drink whisky at 80 cents
per gallon, or 3 cents per dram, it fol-
lows that by increasing its cost five fold,
l, thou, we and you may still indulge,
while he and they will be compelled to
bid sad farewell to whisky. A genteel
dram will not hurt us, you know; but
they who have not the culture of gentle
men ARE constantly wallowing in the
mire, committing deeds of violence and
keeping up social gpandemonium. A
dollar, dollar and a half, or two dollars
on the gallon, you perceive, places the
furious element beyond their reach, and
consequently a foretaste of the millen-
mum may be multiplication our finan.
cial wisdom. They called upon all the
temperance reformers to shout, and the
welkin rang with applause. They in
voked the pious to give special thanks to
the great giver of all wisdom, and for its
reception, at last, in the hearts of states
men.
We have now had thirteen years OF
experience under this policy. What has
been the net moral result? There is not
a whisky guzzler, topper, not drunkard
less in proportion to the population,
than there was fifteen years ago. 1t is,
on the contrary, evident to every one
that all forms OF Incorporate indulgence
have immensely increased. The moral
legislation of Congress has not contrib
uted particle to sobriety or good
order. Whether, in connection with
other causes, it has had an opposite ten
dency may not, perhaps, be very easily
determined. 1t is the testimony Of ex-
perience in England, as asserted by the
best financial and moral writer's of that
country, that temperance has, in no re-
speot, been promoted by the high taxa
ton Of intoxicants.
But there are other moral results
which should be taken into the account.
The whisky business has contributed
half of the rascality that has made the
past half generation notorious for all
time. 1t has bribed officials by the score.
1t has kept up a powerful ring that has
done much toward the debauchery of |
Congress. 1t has, itself, been so de-
moralized by the temptation to fraud
offered by the exorbitant tax, that it is
almost impossible for an honest man TO
prosper as distiller or dealer. Such
are the net results of the moral wisdom
Of our statesmen.
Last winter the prospective deficit
threw these statesmen into panic, and
the tax was raised from 10 cents to 81
,er gallon. They did not say much about
the moral potency of the difference be-
tween 70 and 100, but it was thought that
the powerful element could bear q great.
ly increased burden. 1t would be quick
and certain asa source of revenue. They
had discovered that men drink just as
much whether whisky be two dollars or
twenty cents per gallon.
Well, two months passed and Secre-
tary Bristow found the whisky fund
alarmingly short. He did not blow a
trumpet of alarm, but he whispered low
to his detectives.
The late arrests are the result Of his
crafty policy, and the probability is that
not half the rogues are yet caught. 1t
is evident that the frauds have not been
perpetrated without official connivance.
Here is another opening for the twentieth
investigation of official knavery during
the past.three years.
Well. how does the policy of taxing
articles of CONSUMPTION look? Its real
motive is to make the poor pay largely
into the Treasury. This is villainous
motive. Those who have clear, net in
come to spare should furnish the reve-
nue.. Let there be graduated income
tax.
Considerable strategy was manifested
in the detection and arrest OF the man
who tried to murder Miss Fry, near
Bloomfield, Iowa, because she would not
marry him. After many months man