The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1879-06-12

| 1tkC OEGES QUO [4V %4NtS" t"epCs "stIt
1fon frees his Mintl-He thinks IVor'
thiuqton Goingto Ruin to's the ,ron'
! of Liquor. 81. u
ST. PAUL, May %, 1870.
EDITOR ADVANCE: Please excuse me
for taking the liberty to write you.-
But I have a few words would
like to say to the citizens of your town.
l am not newspaper man, us will
plainly he seen, but what few things
do know am as sure of as any other
man. AS l had often heard Of yo,I
town as being pleasantly situated by
the side of two beautiful lakes, and as
being u temperance town, and having
Il little business there, l improved tile
opportunity not long since and stopped
there. found Worthington possessing
more natural advantages than any 9th.
er town on the road. Also found some
of your store rooms vacant, and a gen.
eral appearance of dizziness and stupid.
ity on every side. 1t did not take long
| to find out the cause Of this depression
! in business. You have too much moral
! reform and temperance. was inform
ed that a small faction of the people,
| say about forty, had organized them.
selves into clique OF ring for the sole
purpose of keeping liquor from being
sold in the place. Their object learn
ed was not SO much for the good of 9TH
ers, as 4 determination to keep the Oh
noxious stuff out Of their own sight for
fear they might ''get drunk again. y
They have even gone so far as to arrest
and line people for selling apple cider
and their village charter makes it fin
able offense for 4 man to keep i pitcher
and tumbler Oh his table, or side-board,
because it represented Il bar where liQ-
uor cider is sold. Men have have been
denied Il little brandy in extreme cases
of sickness. Physicians cannot get it
for their patients. For shame! There
is not u word in the English language
mean enough to apply to your case.
Rather than give up your fanaticism
you would see every man woman and
child in the state perish.
doubt whether an equal number of
men could he found in any town or city
in the United States who know as little
about the grand principles OF temper
ancc us the men who are today croak-
ing about the subject III Warrington.
The first hundred years OF IL thlckly pop
ulateu county in New England they
had no jail and but one criminal. Such
il thing us il man being drunk was never
heard Of, notwithstanding the fact that
every business man sold liquor. The
price of New England rum was three
cents Il glass, or rather. for what a man
could drink, out of a quart mug. The
little brown jug OF rum was everywhere,
ut every raising, logging, husking, and,
in fact, ut every place where there was
a gathering OF the people, either for
business or pleasure. You would find
liquor used with freedom and mOdera-
ton. Children and young people were
told that rum, tobacco, tea, ETC., were
not good for them and they thought no
more about them. Fathers rum and
tobacco in the little side cupboard was
never disturbed.
III those good old days there was no
liquor laws, no license, no whisky tax,
no state prisons, asylums, no jalls, no
criminal courts (outside of the cities,
no murders, no fighting, no quarreling,
and, as il matter Of course, no temper
ance societies. The people were honest,
frugal, industrious, temperate and i'll
telligent. Everything remained quiet
throughout the country, so far as the
selling and drinking of liquors was con-
cerneu until about forty years ago when
the cause Of temperance began to beag-
itated
1t is not necessary to follow the
course of temperance and intcMperance
down to the present day. Any one can
see tile change There is 100 times
more drunkenness III the u. 5. to-day
than forty years ago. 1 have not writ
ten pen-picture, but facts that can he
sustained by history. Temperance
men, does it not make you trcmble for
your own souls to look back and sec
what you have done? Does it not bring
a tear to your eye to know, land you
must know it if you know anything,
that to you is laid the direct cause oil
four.ffths Of the murder, crime and mis-
cry of to day. You are the cause OF
filing the land with penitcntialies and
jails, and the building of asylums tt
hold those who have been crazcd by
your interference with the rights ant
| privileges of men.
Your answer is very apparent. You
will sneak out of it by saying you arr
not responsible for what whisky does
So you might throw stone through :
window and say the stone broke thu
window, but if you had not thrown thu
rock the window would not have beer
broken. And if you will let whisky !.
lone men will not he hurt by drinking
Remove the laws, remove taxes ant
prohibitions bearing upon liquors, ant
silence your temperance crOakers, ant
drunkenness will very soon leave TIN
land. AS proof of the above do no
your physical and druggists have fire.
access to liquors and are they not i,
mong your most sober, and best men
Keep food or water from Il man for
few days and lie will kill himself on eli
tler OF them. 1t is Il we'll establishe,
fact that has not and cannot he denied
only by fanatics, that temperance is I'll
direct cause of intemperance. An,
temperance men should be made an,
held responsible for the effects of thei
wrong doing, for every temperance OF
ganization in this country, hundreds q
human beings have been added to tn
druLkard list. The so-callel temper
ance men of Worthington are preparin
men for the drunkard's grave ever
day. Every time you leave your FAM
lies and gather at the hall to talk OF il
temperance your own sons are reelin
through the streets under the intluenc
of liquor, laughing ut you for bein
such fools as to suppose they canno
get whisky, and another drunkard
made. Your town is a by-word and
laughing stock throughout the lengt
and breadth Of the State. Bushes
men sl,un you. They have lost conf
} dence in your people. They have II
faith in the success of q temperate
town. There are some good men anon
you, who have to suffer with the res
. Temperance men Of Worthingtol
there is Il vast difference between wha