Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-11-27
INGERsOLL ON ALCOHOL.

Colonel Robert Ingersoll was lately en-
ployed in a case which involved the manufac'
ture of ardent spirits, and in his speech to the
jury he used the following language:
II am aware there is prejudice against
any man engaged in the manufacture Of al.
! cohol. believe 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 demoralizing to every
body that touches it, from the source to where
it ends. l do not believe that any body can
contemplate the subject without being preju
diced against the crime. All we have to do
is to think of the wrecks on either side the
stream of death, ofsuicides, of the insanity, of
the poverty, of the destruction, CT 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 imaginary 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 scaffolds on either bank,
do not wonder that every thoughtful man
is prejudiced against the vile stuff called al
cohol. Intemperance cuts down youth in it's
vigor, manhood in its strength, and age in its
weakness. It breaks the fathers heart, be-
reaves the doting mother, and extingulshes
natural affection, 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. 1t
makes wives widows, children orphans, fathers
6ends, and all paupers. It feeds rheumatism,
nurses gout, welcomes epidemics, invites chol-
era, imports pestilence, and embraces con-
sumption. It covers the land with misery,
idleness and crime 1t engenders controver-
sizes, fosters quarrels and cherishes riots. 1t
crowds your penitentiaries and furnishes vic.
tins to the scafold. 1t is the blood of the
gambler, the element of the burglar, the prop
of the highway-man, and the support of the
midnight incendiary. 1t countenances the
liar, respects the thief, esteems the blasphemer.
1t violates obligations, reverences fraud, hon
ors infamy. It defames benevolence, hates
love, scorns virtue and innocence. 1t incites
the father to butcher his helpless offspring,
and the child to grind the parricidal axe. 1t
burns up men, consumes women, detests life,
curses God and despises Heaven. It suborns
witnesses, nurses per6dy, de6les the jury box
and stains the judicial ermine. 1t brides voters,
disqualifes voters, corrdpts elections, pollutes
our institutions, and endangers the Govern
ment. It degrades the citizen, debases the
legislator, dishonors the stateman and disarms
the patriot. 1t brings shame, not honor ter
ror, not safety despair, not hope misery, not
happiness and with the malevolence of a
6end, calmly surveys its frightful desolation,
and unsatiated with havoc, it poisons felicity,
kills peace, ruins morals, wipes out national
honor, then curses the world and laughs at
it's ruin. It does that and more-it murders
the soul. 1t is the sum of all villainies, the
father of crimes, the mother of all abomina-
tions, the devils best friend and Gods worst
enemy"