The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1876-02-04
M j S g g Ilane O us.
For The 4Agis d Mtelligsnrcr.
The Liquor Question.

Mr.. EDITOR: When the individual be-
comes the member of society, association
or bodypolitic, he must do so understand
ing that if he has habits destructive or
detrimental to the commonwealth he must
abandon them. Civil freedom in its true
sense is not the liberty to do whatever
ones Will may dictate, but in all things to
SO conduct ones self as not to interfere
with the best interests of the community.
The individual owes To the laws the pre-
servation of his life and property, the pos
sibility Of quiet home, the education of
his children. A government or association
Gas l will call it, like that which we en-
JOY, should, as fur as our intelligence can
make it, insure the greatest good.to the
greatest number; hence all good citizens
will restrain such inclinations as interfere
with the highest well being of the associ-
alton of which they are members. No
man can abuse his horse, burn his house,
or harm his family, because by so doing
he breaks those laws which are made to
secure these interests, and insure the great
est amount Of happiness to the commune
ty. If the citizen will not restrain his de-
structive inclinations, he forfeits his rights,
and is forcibly confined. An individual
utterly alone, and forever separated from
his kind, if such might be, would be &c.
EQUITABLE to God alone, but in this ac-
countability he would find his freedom
abridged very much in the same way as
under good government, where his only
restraint is the law of the land.
have written thus far, because | was
impressed while reading the communica-
ton signed Temperance" that the writer
had overlooked a very important principle,
and one lying at the foundation of all dis
cussions of personal liberty questions
Leaving now the abstract for the actual,
| wish to make a few illustrations, bearing
OH the liquor question.
Suppose party ufrihe-marksm should
set their target up in such a place that the
bullets swept through my fields, and prac-
ticing daily, they should thus make my
work unsafe or impossible without great
danger; if in no other way, could not
abate such nuisance by law2 suppose man
in quarrying stone for the foundation OF
his house, should overreach upon the high
way, and leave deep pit so near the road
as to make it dangerous even for careful
drivers. The county or town would be
liable for any accident that might occur
there, and the proper authorities would
doubtless see, and that speedily, that the
injury was repaired, and at the cost of the
offender.
Grog shops are an unmitigated nuisance
in any neighborhood, a fact that is now
happily admitted by nine-tenths of every
respectable community. AS is well known
not one in twenty of the licensed LIQUOR
sellers in the county were prepared to sup
ply the accommodations of Il comfortable
tavern. They had no such purpose, theil
only end was to sell liquor, and in thi.
way they demoralized the surrounding
community.
There is an excellent mechanic in thi.
neighborhood, skillinl and industriou.
when sober, but addicted to occasional
"sprees." lie signed the temperance petit
ton to the grand jury last spring that his
temptation might be removed. Within
the writer's knowledge farm hand steady
and efficient, an excellent hand in all re-
spects, till groggery was opened on al
| adjoining corner, became utterly worth
less, and was discharged, to the grea
distress and suffering of his young family
Was not the establishment of THU
GROCERY greater damage TO thu
neighboIhood than dangerous sinh
there in the road, which one by care
full driving could have avoided, or if hi
had fallen in and broken leg or arm anC
killed his horse and destroyed his wagon
still his character would not have suffered
nor his family been left neglected ant
starving. Time would have set him on hi.
feet again, and the county would have been