The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1879-10-02
NUMBER 26.
IngersOn on Alcohol.

Colonel Robert Ingersoll, who has been
denounced as an infdel, was lately en-
ployed in case which involved the
manufacture of ardent spirits, and in
his speech to the jury he used the fol
lowing language:
81 am aware there is prejudice
against any man engaged in the manu-
facture of alcohol. 1 believe from the
time 1t issues from the coiled and pois-
onous worm in the distillery until it
empties into the hell of death, dishonor
and crime, that it is demoralizing to
everybody that touches it from the
source to where it ends. do not be-
lieve that anybody can contemplate the
subject without being prejudiced against
the crime. All we have to do Is to
think of the wrecks on either side of the
stream of death, of suicides, of the in
sanity, 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
imaginary serpents produced by this
devilish thing; and when you think OF
the iails. of the alms-houses, of the asy-
lums, of the prisons and of the scafolds
on either bank, I do not wonder that
every thoughtful man ia prejudiced
against this vile stuff called alcohol.
/ Intemperance cuts down youth in its
| vigor, manhood in it's strength, and age
| in its weakness. 1t breaks the father
heart, bereaves the doting mother, ex'
| tinguishes natural affection, erases con-
! jugal love, blots out filial attachment
and blights parently hope, and brings
! premature age in sorrow to the grave
) 1t produces weakness, not strength
sickness, not health; death, not life. II
makes wives widows, children orphans
fathers fiends, and all paupers. 1t feeds
rheumatism, nurses gout, welcomes epi
denies, invites cholera, imports pesti
| lence, and embraces consumption. L
covers the land with misery, idleness ant
crime. It engenders controversies, fos
ters quarrels and cherishes riots. L
crowds your penitentiaries and furnishe
victims to the scafold. 1t is the bloot
of the gambler, the element of tn
burglar, the prop of the highwayman
and the support of the midnight incen
diary. 1t cOuntenances the liar, respect
the thief, esteems the blasphemer.
violates obligations, reverences fraud
honors infamy 1t defames benevolence
hates love, scorns virtue and innocence
1T incites the father to butcher his help
less offspring, and the child to grind tn
parental axe. 1t burns up men, cor
sumes women, detests life, curses Go
and despises heaven 1t stuborns wit
nesses, nurses perfidy, denies the jur
box and stains the judicial ermine.
bribes voters, disqualiies votes, corrupt
elections, pollutes our institutions, an
endangers the government. 1t degrade
the citizen, debases the legislator, di'
honors the statesman and disarms tn
patriot. 1t brings shame, not honor
terror, not safety; despair, not hope
misery, not happiness; and with tn
malevolence of a fend, calmly survey
its frightful desolation, and uRstaine
with havoc, it poisons felicity, kill
peace, ruins morals, wipes out nations
honor, then curses the world and laugh
at its ruin. 1t does that and more
murders the soul. 1t is the sum of a
villainies, the father of crimes, tn
mother of all denominations, the devil
best friend, and God worst enemy"