The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1876-03-22
For rnE RECORD
THs rwr0RrAET QUESTION.

cannot see the use of mincing words on n
plain oommon-senso question. l believe there
ia not to day man in this city with an intel
leet equal to Documents monkey who does
not know that the selling Of rum, either
legally o. Illegally, is producing three fourths
of the crime and misery with which the coun-
try is cursed indeed believe it ia generally
acknowledged, but then they hedge il around
with such twadde as +" they viii sell it = "the
more you try to prevent it the more they
drink :" "yoa are taking away peoples
rights SC, Ne, and this is about the sum
total of all the argument thai is brought to
bolster up this work Of the devil. Are We to
be met and driven from the performance of a
duty by such nonsense as tlis9
The Bible from Genesis to Revelation is a
Book Of Laws, and upon il rests the whole
system of human cnaetments-all made for
the welfare Of handmade to elevate and
chIstianizo him--that he may be more like
his Creator, and yet this abominable traffic,
after creeping in through some Of the tech
nicalitics Of such laws-claims the legal right,
and sets tselfup as the legal executioner of the
human race, with the right to violate every
one of the ten commandments Can any
thing be more absurd, or moro wicked?
As business transaction the selling of
whisley is undoubtedly.a fraud. 1t has moth
ing of honest business about it. A. sells a
glass Of liquor to Band A. is greatly benefited
financially, but B. who buys it is absolutely
swindled out of his money ; there is no value
received about it. He is moro than swindled;
he has been poisoned and has paid for having
it DONE It is transaction that for the sake
of decency should never be done in the day
light, and seldom is done openly. The keep
ers Of even the licensed drinking places after
hanging out attractive signs, carefully screen
the doors and windows and wait within for
their customers like the "spider for the fy."
| confess that have not tho patience to
write about such matter there is but one
side to it, and every body knows it, They
know also that in this as in all other matters
the truth must finally conquer. 1t is only a
question Of time. AS sure rs the sun rises in
the cast, the day is not far distant when the
man who poisons his neighbor with whsISey
will be held as guilty as he who docs it with
strychnine But says one, rum is not II
poison. Il is true that there is this difference
--strychnine kills at once and always in the
same way-Rum kills in various ways. Bloat-
ed, ragged and starving, the drunkard may
drag out a miserable and perhaps prolonged
existence, any moment of which is living
death or in a fit of n,auia a potu, in which the
e ff.o
while the miserable victim yet lives the
lamp of life goes out and leaves no hope or
with his brain on fire with drink obtained from
respectable licensed house, he goes
home and perhaps murders his wife or chill
dren and dies an ignominious death on the gal
lows. Is there any one OF common intelli-
gence who does not know this to be SO?
Why should man with the reason that God
has given him. be found on the wrong side Of
such question? Every observing, unpreju-
diced ctizon knows that drunkenness has de-
creased fifty per cent. in this town during the
last years bat If this was not so, why
should we cover with the mantle Of the
law and thus elevate to a kind Of legal re-
spectablisy, traffic that fills our prisons and
aims houses, and keeps recruited up to war
footing lin numbers) the army of tramps,
eating the bread OF the honest poor, swelling
the criminal list tooverfowing, absorbing our
taxes, and finally filing drunkards' graves,
going to give testimony before that High
Court that shall decide whether men are de-
ing their dnty in this matter conscicntiously
or not. COMMON SENSE
e
nr.rr,,. snl1s Dnots and Shnaa Of