The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-11-27
Bob. IngersOu on Alcohol.

Colonel Robert IDgersoll was lately en-
ployed in case which involved the
manufacture of ardent spirits, and in hi:
speech to the jury he used the following
language:
"Iam aware there is a prejudice against
any man engaged in the manufacture OF
alcohol. Ibelieve from the time it issues
from the coil and poisonous worm in the
distillery until it empties into the hell OF
death, dishonor and crime, that it is de-
moralizing to everybody that touches it,
from the source to where it ends. l do
not believe that anybody can contemplate
the sucject without being prejudiced
against the crime. ALI we have to do is
to think of the wrecks on either side the
stream of death, of suicides, of the insan.
ity, of the poverty, of the destruction, OF
the little children tugging at the breast,
of weeping and despairing wives asking
for bread. of the man Of genius it has
wrecked, the man struggling with imagi-
nary serpents, produced by this devilish
thing; and when you think of the jails,
of the almshouses, of the asylums, of the
prisons and of the scafolds on either
bank, / do not wonder that every thought
ful man is prejudiced against this vile
stuff called alcohol. Intemperance cuts
down youth in its vigor, manhood in its
strength, and age in its weakness. 1t
breaks the fathers heart, bereayes the
doting mother, extinguishes natural af-
fection, erases conjugal love, blots out
flial attachment and blights parental
hope, and brings premature age in sorrow
to the grave. 1t produces weakness, not
strength sickness, not health; death,
not life. I makes wives widows, chill
dren orphans, fathers fends, andpaupers.
It feeds rheumatism, nurses gout, well
comes epidemics, invites cholora, imports
pestilence, and embraces consumption. 1t
covers the land with misery, idleness and
crime. 1t engenders controversies, fos-
ters quarrels and cherishes riots. 1t
crowds your penitentiaries and furnishes
victims 10 the scaffold. 1t is the blood
of the gambler, the element of the bur.
plar. the prop of the highwayman, and
the support of the midnight inccndiary.
IL COuQLeUduCeo LuC Aoi, ASoPSSsS
the thief, esteems the blasphemer. 1t
violates obligations, reverences fraud,
honors infamy. 1t defames benevolence
hates love, scorns virtue and innocence.
It incites the father to butcher his help
less offspring, and the child to grind the
parental axe. It burns up men, con-
sumes women, detests life, curses God and
despises Heaven. 1t suborns witnesses,
nurses perfdy, denies the jury box and
stains the judicial ermine. 1t bribes
voters, disqualifes votes, corrupts cleo
tions, polutes our institutions, and en-
dangers the Government. 1t degrades
the citizen, debases the legislator, dishon-
ors the statesman and disarms the patri-
OF. It brings shame, not honor; terror,
not safety; despair, not hope; misery,
not happiness and with the manevolence
offs fend, calmly surveys its frightfal
desolation, and unsatisfed with havoc, it
poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins morals,
wipes out national honor, then curses the
world and laughs at its ruin. 1t does
that and more-it murders the soul. 1t
is the sum of all villanies, the father of
crimes, the mother of all denominations,
the devils best friend and Gods worst
ennmvO