The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-03-15
MONEY VS.. LOCAL OPTION.

The liquor dealers party can spend
thousands to keep whisky in the coun-
ty." They can "buy votes" These
and such declarations meet US every
where. And more suggestive declara-
tions cauRo. be made. What do they
meant 1t means campaign abound
ing in corruptioz--a canvass in which
men will be bought and sold ike cat
tle and in which the honest will OF the
people is likely TO be overborne and
defeated by the worst agencies known
to vice in government. These declara-
lions, if they are at all truthful, mean
that liquor sellers are the great vote
brokers OF the country; that they buy
the purchasable voters of the country,
and deliver the goods at the polls,
whisky being the great Diana upon
whose worship this, our Ephesus, de-
ponds for prosperity, whose fanes must
continue to he erected and maintained
by the costlIest sacrifices. 1t is charged
that thousands of dollars have been
raised to carry on this canvass, and
hhse es th0u1RSfS WY t Re5e ' tRonsandsS 4
few dollars with which to pay hall rent
is all that is needed. Our local tenn
perance speakers arc volunteers. They
give their time and talents to temper
ance without the hope of fee or reward,
except that which flows from the con-
seriousness of doing good-of helping
the unfortunate, and closing up the
springs whence flow extravaganza, bad
trade, pauperism, crime, immortality,
disease and deaths. What use
has the other side for money!
Arc its defenders hireda Are
followers in its train for the loayes
and fishes! Or, are its thousands
needed TO buy the colored voters, as
some have said. Colored men, you
used to command in the market $500
to $4,000 apiece; how is it that you
now are bought for q dollar or two
Others, we are told, can be bought be
sides the colOred man. 1t may be so
we do not believe that men of the high
character which many have who diffel
from us stoop to bribery and corruption
and yet it is currently reported thai
$4,000 have been raised at home, an6
that foreign association has opened
saloon here at its own cost, and viii
pay thousand more in cash to defea
the temperance party. The law-and
order party must SEQ to it that there i
fair play. Momentous results will flow
from this election. On the one hand
il we succeed, such men as the elo
quent speakers of Monday night, who's
social, genial natures may have LEI
them into convivial excuses, will b.
strengthened on every hand. Familie
now in want and shame will be mad
glad, and desolate hearts rejoice, ant
our whole community redeemed, regen
Grated, disenthralled, will DC as beauti
full as the garden Of Gul IN its bloom an,
become the JOY OF the commonwealth
On the other hand, If whisky triumph
then will the Old Despot fasten hi
Cuniuo uPVs. 49, $1,000 --5----JI ----- -------
prisoner attempting to escape is NOR
heavily ironed than before, so the evil
of the trade, having popular endorse
ment, will flaunt themselves more open
ly in the light of heaven; our youn
men, feeling the impulse given whisk
drinking by the advocacy and vote
OF reputable gentlemen, will plung
more madly into the vortex of dissipG
ton. Broken-hearted wives and wors
than orphaned children will feel tha
there is no hope, and our community
SCARED and blighted, will wither unit
it becomes q waste US wretched as Pei
sepolis or Postum, the once city G
roses. That we may see the one i
all its beauty and blessedness, an
avoid the other, with its poverty
shame and Indebtedness, let ever
true Texan, until the election, do a
that man can or ought to do to brin
to naught the whisky traffic.