The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-01-28
The Temperance Cause.


cause, and with a view to obtain signatures |
to a pledge of total abstinence from
the use Of intoxicating drink. Nightly
assem5!ages of this kind, and for this pur-
pose, are not without interest even to
those who do not specially approve of
such methods Of procedure. The evil
effects Of habltual tipping are SO manifold
and so apparent to every observer, that
whatever may be said relative to sump-
tuary laws or punitive measures OF retor-
nation, it will certainly not be objectiona-
bic to any to see people voluntarily engage
to refrain from further use of ardent
spirits as a beverage. In fact no other
mode except voluntary total abstention
has as yet been brought before the public
which presents any adequate safeguard
against the use and sale of Intoxicating
liquors; and so long as the sale is permits
sible, and so long, especially, as it is not
disreputable to either vend or use alco-
holic drinks, so long the disuse
is not likely to become general
or the evils Of intemperance to be dimin-
ished Any business which is remunera-
tive, or promises to be, and which has the
sanction of law, will have plenty Of men
engaged in its pursuit. The distillation
and manufacture of whisky has the
sanction iof the national government, it is
at present one of the largest. sources of
national income, and the army of revenue
officials appointed to guard the interests
of government and to collect the accruing
revenue shows the importance which is at
tached to its manufacture, and the legality
of the business. For that matter, when
we see professed temperance men, ortho-
dox christians, and even deacons and
elders in the churches, accepting Office and
busying themselves as officers 10 the
management of the governmental part of
the business, it is difficult to believe there
is any considerable portion Of the people
who would not consider it both legitimate
and moral. If the government permits
be manufacture, and exacts a revenue
therefrom, it is equally right land proper
to put the manufactured article upon the
market for sale, and it is no less right to
be a purchaser and to re-sell-that is to
say, if the initial point Of manufacture is
legal and proper, the ultimate con
sumption is equally so, and the interven'
ing parties who purchase and sell, either
at wholesale or retail, are pursuing as
legal and as moral a business as lthe
manufacturer; all parties having sicom.
piled with the conditions under which the
law permits its being placed within the
reach OF the consumer. Alcohol, as lis
well known, enters so largely into
mechanical and manufacturing purposes
thatit has become absolutely indispensable
to the age in which we live, but the manu-.
facturer does not limit himself to demands
merely tor this purpose, the law of supply
and demand regulate the production as il
all other cases of manufacture, and wit
out reference to the morality of the use
The national government sanctions tn
production, the state permits the traffic
and the city grants licenses and receives
revenue from the retail Of spirits over tn
counter-where will an enlightened publ
make any distinction between the acts
government and the acts of individual
who engage in the traffic; where is IL
morality in the one case and the IMMORAL
IN the other? As to the responsibility
any calling which the law makes legtima
that is a matter of mere circumstances,
Individual preference and taste. If ii
government of free and intelligent pc
pie legalizes and sanctions the manufa
turo Of ardent spirits and traffic in Il
same to whoever chooses to engage
either, then it is not justiiable or co
slstent to enjoy advantages to be deriv,
FROM such manufacture and traffic in a
tional or aggregated capacity and inyeil
against the.individuals who carry it on.
The manufacture of any ar
Gle known 10 be poisonous orideeterio
IN its use must either be prohibited,
permitted under certain restrictions al
limitations. The moderate use of ale
hohc drinks is claimed by many not to
deleterious, be that as it may, the exec
sive use is universally conceded to be, al
all the. safeguards and restrictions viii
the law has ever yet thrown around t
sale OF it has never eliminated the fat
danger Of excessive use. The pecunia
interest of the vendor induces him to g
the utmost he can within the limits of il
posed legal restrictions, while unfortunat
~ neither the judgment or the appetite
the person on the verge of excessive i
diligence qualities or permits him to be
proper judge of his condition. Unli
some other evils incident to physical |
ture which lessen with increasing veal
the habit Of artificial stiululants increa:
by that it feeds upon. The habit
strong drink once set up and established
comes disease, to be treated as such. a
is very seldom indeed overcome by m,
self-control Public sentiment, bowey
adverse to drunkenness, never reclaimed
drunkard; but public sentiment NAV I
come preventive 10 regard to those "
have rot already reached the stage of
tablished appetite, as a strong and Wig
Gus public sentiment is effective in restr;
ing the open indulgence of many vic
and although its repressive influence d
not wholly extinguish the vice, the restrt
is wholesome and beneficial to society:
in like manner public sentiment does b