Mexico weekly ledger., 1878-02-07
coMMUNIcATEn.
TEMPERANCE

appreciation, that nothing short OF
soul regeneration "a avail to sustain
those that have abandoned inebriating
habits has instituted unusual exercises
to facilitate conversions. Here it
seems as if zeal for temperance has
temporarily cyershadowed, if it has
not altogether swallowed up religious
enthusiasm. IL this be really SO, III
temperance movement needs to be re-
committed to the source from which
it eminated, fervent effectual prayer.
BY this, it is not meant that any
thing that has been accomplished
ought TO be undone. On the contra
ry, let no organization he weakened,
nor any labor Of love or charity
Abandoned. What We mean to init
mate is that the temperance move
ment in our midst needs a re-baptisln.
Its new recruits need to look out of
themselves and comprehend the
whole grandeur of the work in
which they have enlisted. This ought
to be done while the current Of popu-
lar sentiment flows III its present
channels.
The ultimate aim Of temperance
advocates is to reform the nation. Our
laws do not discourage the sale much
less arrest the manufacture and con
sumption of whisky. Their special
object is to utilize 4 wide spread evil
as n source of revenue. Manufacture
ers. vendors and SUI are UNI
nercifulIy taxed where they ought 10
be restrained. From our highest
national TO our lowest munlcipal
powers, our Legislators license this
most injurious traffic and most nu-
merous among law-breakers are those
that seek to escape the leyies imposed
upon them. Violations Of these rcve-
nues laws furnish more employment
for courts. Judges, sheritts, marshals,
constables and juries than any other
branch Of jurisprudence, and i'll doing
so cause vast diminutiOn of our rcve-
nue.. At the same tim connected more
or less remotely with these offences arc
some of the most in%slnuatIng and fear
full practices that undermine society.
1t is ut the places where or revenue
are violated that drnnkarlness in Its
most debasing features receives its
stimulent. Against allthis our laws
furnish no protection a Y what may
be found in those sections th;t ban
saloons from neighhorhoods of tn 'st
that Y i'll not tolerate them and those
that provide punishment for such as
saults as arise from the dcllrium 0.
MEDITATION. II is cheaper TO eyadt
revenue laws than to comply viii
them. An eight gallon keg Of whiSkcy
constartly ~replenished is a fair stoch
for n dramshop, and will DO as mnci
damage rs whole car loads stowet
away in the cellars Of their owners
The profits derived from the sale o
the whiskey, in that key will more than
COMPENSATE for the fines and costs o
several indictments. This is the enc
of the law. Fines are imposed, but
society is neither protected nor clerai
ed. Indeed it often happens tina
these fines and costs cannot be col,
lected. IN eight gallon key is Il poor
thing 10 levy on. What does it mat
ter to an insolvent: how many judge,
mepts stand against him. Is the
dramshop keeper that has nothing It
levy on any more disturbed by visits
from officers of the law.
If present laws afford ID the
slightest protection against the results
of intempcrance, every rlgh' mindet
citizens would delight to aid in their
enforc ement, but in their present con.
dition a liberal man shrinks from sucl
work. If he reflects at all, while thus
sngagcd he cannot but con
olude that instead of performing
duty lac is being degraded to the
task and office of tax gatherer. There
can he no dissatisfaction in pursuing
one man for doing that which is secur.
ed to another by monopoly.
So long as the dramshop is licensed
and allowed, temperance advocates
cannot elevate mankind. This condi'
ton of society is notpeculiar to Mexi'
co. ~Itprevades the nation and has
been wildly presented in Wendell
Philips recent speech at st. Louis.
from which we make the following eX'
tracts.
Mi. Philips began by remarkins
that he had no intention to look at the
Temperance question from its usua
stand point. What L want to conten.
tratc minds, upon to-nightis its re
~Iations to the ballot box. The ballo
box is a grand Inheritance. If Their
were marked characteristics in on
fathers from whom we received thi
) legacy, they consisted oftwo elements
/ One was the sagacity that pried int
| the dangers that heset their expert
i. nent, and the other the moral coitrag
with which they met them. Ilav'
: these qualities descended to us wit
the ballot box, We need them q
lmuch as the fathers did. There is
: sense in whicL we need them more. 1
a be as successful as our ancestors hav
@ been, we must not only exhibit th
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