The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-02-04

| sudden death, but by long torture, lnvOlv-
| ing all connected with him in the same
ruin. Is it possible that men can talk about
increasing the revenue at such IL price. Is
| it not gathering in cents with one hand,
while you throw ont double eagles with
the other
Into these traps go also the hammers,
| shoyels, hoes, crowbars, spades and pieces
of harness, which the farmers lose, till the
older groggeries become regular junk
| houses, and repositories for stolen goods.
A good mattock or bride is cheaply paid
for by drink of whisky, actually worth
about cents, if it were worth anything
which it is not.
The drinking teamster takes bag of
oats from his wagon, Tugs it into grog-
gerry, and in two drinks, one going and the
other returning, consumes the dinner of
the six horses of his employer.
| In this rural district, within the radius
of two miles from where sit, there were
six groggeries, not one of which was pre-
| pared to entertain travellers. Their only
purpose was to sell liquor; miserable grog
gerics, and junk houses for stolen goods.
Who signed their petitions, which hear the
law requires before license can be issued
Certainly no respectable land-holder in
their neighborhood, no one but some old
whisky bruisers who looked to them for
supplies. 1t is utterly absurd to suppose
that they could obtain the names of re-
spectacle property holders in their vicinity.
The proper officers know this and yet give
them a license. | speak now Of the Ii
censed groggeries that existed in this i'm
mediate section, and l have good reason
to believe that the same may be asserted
of every section throughout the county;
and why were licenses issued to these men
who in no wise really met the requirements
of the law Ask of the politicians then
in Bel Air, who leave their money at these
groggeries, to call in those whom they
would entice to vote for them, and give
free treats for whole month before cleo
ton.
This subject is now well understood,
and | ask will good citizens any longer
endure these intolerable nuisances trust
not. The present prohibition is good
enough if it were enforced, but there is
not stamina enough in the courts to enforce
it. Fines are imposed but never collected,
till the laws of the land have become
scott, till in these secondary influences evil
is aggravated. How long may man break
the laws with impunity, securing by the
very infiaction of the law the means to
meet his fine, (evcn if he We're obliged to
pay itD ten times over2 How long shall
he be suffered to. break the laws, and not
meet the proper penalty segregation from
that community which he is injuring, con-
finement within the walls of county
Jail
will not go back to Bible times to en-
quire what were the precepts then enjoin-
ed regarding the comparatively harmless
wine drinking, drink as mild as sweet
cider, but call upon tie community to
look the existing facts in the face. am
glad that "Temperance," who is probably
some debater in newly inaugurated rural
lyceum, has started the discussion. | hope
the sleepest man in the community will
be awakened, till he shall not only think,
but act. There is a want of thought and
want of courage too, among those who
suffer from this nuisance. Real courage
is indeed required In the class who cell,
and among those who patronize these sell
ers there are many dangerous men. In
many parts of the Union bold men who
have come out openly to enforce prohibit
tory laws, have suffered in having their
dwellings burned and their property de-
stroyed.
| do not know how it may be in other
sections of the country, but in this imme-
diate section, seriously as it has suffered,
ilom thickly scattered groggeries, can
say from the most intimate knowledge,
that in all the better homes liquor is un-
known as drink. There are no "temperute'
drinkers among the better citizens; as |
l,,l; t,,,a 10, t,t A,
men. Happily it is too late in the age of
the world to try to bring total abstinence"
in the matter of spirituous liquors, into
disrepute. This step has at least been gain
ed. What minister of the gospel dare
walk up to n bar and ask for glass of
liquor, or even drink it privately in his
own house? The minister is the highest
model among men, fact which, no doubt,
"Temperauce" will sneer at, while he con-
tinues to quote Scripture for his purposes.
Let him draw no injurious inference from
the above, while, as somebody says, he is
at perfect liberty to drink all the wine
made out of'water that he may come by.
The same may not be said of that which
he buys-a compound of logwood and
vinegar, or of the whisky made from burn
ed sugar, strychnine and sulphurc acid
The instinct of seli.preservation ought to
save him to his probably soonto-b be be-
reavod friends, but if he has not this in
stinct in sufficient force, the law ought to
put forth its hand and snatch him from
that fire, not for himself alone, but for the
common veal of the community.
What an argument Temperance adj
vances Some man who had purchased
liquor shop, with the expectation of gath
ering in all the earnings of tie poor labor
ing men in his vicinity while he looked
from his window at their barefoot, hungry,
half clothed children day by day, was in
terrupted in his plans by the interposition
of law What injustice! The county
must make his losses good forsooth. If
his house had been in good faith hotel,
for the accommodation of man and beast,
and really needed in the community-no
loss would have resulted.
Can any grog seller look me in the face
to-day, and say that for his own private
ends, he is not injuring the community in
which he deals 2 That is the question J.
His trade is not legitimate one, morally
speaking, and as it ought to be, is in con.
tlict with good law.
1t would not seem that any argument
should be necessary to show that the liquor
traffic ought to be discouraged 10y all pos
sible means. Because men have propensi-
ty for destructive stimulants is this fact
n reason why the propensity should not
be discouraged. A great many men have
propensity to steal, but this propensity is
discouraged in well ordered communities.
Nitrous oxide is very pleasant stmulant
and itsmoderate effect is enhancing, but the
habitual use of it is said to induce insani-
| ty. Now suppose boxes of this artificial
atmosphere were set up uleng the high
ways, doubtless they would soon become
extensively patronized, but would it be