The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-10-30
PROHIBITION.


i
Without at all condemning the course pur
sued BY the friends Of the passage Of Law
prohibiting the sale of ardent spirits, (fcr in
the present article it is not specially my bust.
ness to approve or condemn that course),
| would call the attention of the good people OF
the State of New, Jersey to the present posi-
ton of things among us We have laws now
among us regulating the sale of Intoxicating
liquors. Let US in the first place look at the
means through which an inn keeper obtains
his license. The applicant for license must
first be recommended by at least twelve repu-
table freehoders OF the city or township
These twelve reputable (?) freeholders must
certify that the said applicant is of good re-
pute for honesty and temperance. Honesty |
Why, an honest landlord will injure no one. -
He will not sell rum to his neighbor aud take
his money for 1t, when he knows the wife of
that neighbor lacks bread, clothing, and the
necessary comforts of life. and that his chill
dren are growing up in filth, ignorance and
rags. He will not keep his bar open for the
purpose of manufacturing beggars, criminals
and paupers. Temperance A landlord then
must be of good repute for temperance
Hence whenever freeholder recommends an
innkeeper, we have only to look at the char
acter of the landlord, to see what the person
recommending him calls man of good re-
pute for honesty and temperance That is,
the landlord is a reflection of the moral iasage
of the freeholder. This is fair reasoning, aud
| defy you to dodge it. Ye who are in the
habit of recommending landlords to the court
are you in all cases willing to put yourself on
level with them in this particular II you
are not, you are impostors, and your state
ments are unworthy of cerdit. But you fur
Their certify that such an inn or tavern is
necessary, and will conduce to the public
good +" Here, you see, If you knowingly
sign for an unworthy house, you are guilty Of
deliberately certifying falsehood to deceive
the court, and let loose hel-houuds upon, and
open the very gates of Pandemonium to the
community. NECESSARY ! As some of the
rum-holes in New Jersey are conducted, who
but fiend could consider them necessary p
But you may be ready to say, they are
necessary evil" But stop you have certii-
ed that they will conduce to the PUBLIC GOOD.
Writhe, twist and turn as you may, ye who
recommend such establishments stand guilty
in the sight of Heaven aud before the COM
munity, as tho authors of all the poverty,
crime and pauperism which THEY arc instru-
mental in bringing about. / wish could be
so favorable with you as to say you are mere
ly PARTICLES cRIMINIs, /. g. partners in
crime but n0-you are the authors, the land
lords your instruments in the internal traffic I;
for without your preliminary act, such men
could not be boosted up into position where
they can deal out liquid damnation to bring
fathers, sons and brothers down to a drunk
ards grave Yes, member of Christian
church, professor of religion, as Nathan said
to David, 4" Thou art the man +" That there
are many generous minded men in the COM
munity who are engaged in the business of
keeping inns, have no doubt. But are not
men OF tho most iDEdol sontimenfs Annually.
licensed to keep low country rum holes, and
thus have a position indirectly at least to
cause dissension and division in our churches,
to degrade and destroy our schools, to cause
the tears Of mothers and children to flow like
water, to fill our poor lists with paapers, and
our criminal courts with prosecutions for vio-
lations of the peace Let the question be
asked, who recommended such men to the
courts ? But there is another class of people
who must give an account Of their steward.
ship. l mean the respectable portion of the
community, in the vicinity of these sinks of
moral pollution. What have you done to sup
press the evil and abate the nuisance Have
you lifted your finger to bring these offenders
to justice? Or are you connivng at their
wickedness, afraid of your popularity or some
worldly loss ? "He that knoweth his Masters
will and doeth it not, shall be beaten with
many stripes