The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1879-12-27
TEMPERANCE COLUMN.
Published by reguest.l
fhs Relation Of the Liquor Traffic to the
General Welfare.
IBr GEN. NEAL DOW, PORTLAND, MI

Amendment. Neal Dow Is the NeSt0r OF prOhlDe
ition, and he speaks from knowledge upon the
subject. His words are weighty and worthy Of q
place in every paper in the State, and we hope
win be extensively copied
The liquor traffic has no proper place in social
life, In domestic or political economy. 1t is al
ways and everywhere inconsistent with the gen.
Qal welfare. 1t wages incessant and deadly war
upon every interest of the State and people.
There is and can be no public or private interest
that it does not reach and harm; there is and can
be no shelter or defense from its malign influ-
ance. 1t is great industry in the midst of and
surrounded BY other industries, every one of
which it harms and hinders, as it fourishes,
every legitimate industry languishes and dies. To
the full extent of its influence ii drives out from
among the people every good thing, replacing it
with everything bad. Education, intelligence
virtue, piety and happiness fade away and perish
in its presence; while poverty, pauperisIn, crime,
insanity and premature death follow along and
crowd its path. No good whatever comes or can
come from it to State or people, whrD more and
greater evils come from it than from all sources
Of evil combined.
lead large part of the community in every coun-
try where the English language is spoken to seek
protection from this tremendous mischief, by
forbidding and suppressing it by law. No man
has right to anything which is inconsistent with
the general good. Property, liberty and life we
hold subject to that qualification. Property is
taken away in part, in the shape Of taxes, as the
general good requires, and often conlscated in
fines and penalties; liberty is taken by the law
for term Of years or for lif-and life tselfis de-
elared forfeited, when the continued life of any
enc becomes inconsistent with the public good
All that We have. property, liberty and life, We
Swe to tie general welfare. No good citizen will
do or desire to do anything inconsistent with the
general good, and against bad men society has
the right to protect itself BY law.
So far, no intelligent mss caa take exception
to what has here been said, which may all be re-
sumed in few words: The liquor traffic is an
infinite public mischief and misery, while no
good whatever comes from il. Society has has
clear and undoubted right 10 protect itself from
any and every mischief by which it suffers The
whole question of prohibition to the liquor traffic
Is only one of a balance of good and evil. If more
good than evil comes from the liquor traffic then
we must bear the smaller evil for the sske Of the
largest good, as We bear the evils coming from
railways, steamboats,, and coal mines, and gun
powder, all Of which kill great many people
and destroy great deal Of property, but. for al
that, they are vast public benefit. We do not
forbid them, we bear the lesser evil for the sake
Of the greater good. The liquor traffic kills
great many more people and destroys and wastes
great deal more property ,:while not shilling's
worth of benefit comes to the State or people. 1t
Is all loss and waste, an infinite mischief and
misery, and curses every one, and blights every
interest that falls under its influence. No good
man who has any ordinary share of intelligence
win deny or doubt that all this, and u great deal
more, is true of the liquor traffic Very well,
then, let US forbid and suppress it. by law
Who objects? No good citizen can object unless
he believes that more good than evil comes from
it. .
There are, however, many persons who do OBJ
ject. Why9 Because the traffic is public good?
No! Then why do they object? Because, they
say, it cannot be suppressed, and, therefore, the
better policy is to license it, and in that way reg
ulate it. and at the same time the State can de
rive q revenue from it. The liquor traffic cannot
be SO regulated as to eliminate from it the misery
and mischief coming from it, For two hundred
and fifty years have had full experience of this
truth in this country. All the drunkenness Of the
country with the misery coming from it has
grown up under the law Of license. Mr. Senator
Morrill,, Of Maine, on the floor Of the United
States Senate, ssid 'The liquor traffic is the gil
gAntic crime Of crimes - and that is true If
this tremendous crime is to be perpetrated in the
community, let it be against the Law and in spite
ct 1t, and not under its sanction and protection.
In many parts of this country, there are robbery,
house-burning and murder, but they are in viola
ton of law. Who proposes to license and regu-
late them because they cannot lie entirely sup
pressed? But the liquor traffic can be suppressed
by law; it has been done in Maine and can be
done in Kansas. When prohibition was first agi-
tsted in Maine, it was said confidently that it
could not succeed, and when first enacted, in
1851, it was said il must fAl But it h.s not fail
ed and it has succeeded weRderfully. beyond the
expectations of its friends. There was NO part OF
the country where the people in proportion to
their numbers consumed more liquors than in
Maine, and the State was lean and poor. almost
beyond belief. With vigorous climate and ster-
lie soil, the people consumed in strong drink, the
entire valuation Of the State in every period of
thanStwenty years. Blu; now, under the operation
Of the law, hsif million of dollars viii cover the
cost Of all the LIQUORS smuggled into the State.
The result of this h2s been, that Maine has been
more prosperous and has fourishsd more within
the last twenty years, than any other State in the
Union, not excepting even the great States of the
West. Our savings are and have been at leas,
"a 900, 90 year, which but for the law would
have been spent and wasted in etrong drink