The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-09-30
I1OofOy DoniOof"t'I
WhlSkeV and Democracy.

Why is it that so many Democratic politi-
clans are afraid to endorse temperance? Why
is it that Democracy and drunkenness are SO
generally associated? Go where you will, and
three out of five Democrats are afraid to be
known as temperance men as if it were dis
grace to be a man and crime to diScounte-
nance the cause of nine-tenths of the misery
and three-fourths of local taxation now ours
ing this country. The Democratic politician
who is up for office flies from rum-hole to grog-
shop, from saloon to sample-room, to rally the
Democracy. Public meetings are held in whis-
key shops, and the very man who urges reform
from Republican corruption, spends for whis-
key the last dollar he can borrow, and goes
home drunk or sees his audience in that con-
dition. Hundreds OF times have we been Sc
" rely denounced for defending the cause of
temperance, on the ground that without the
whisky vote Democracy is dead duck.
So it is that Democrats wallow in the mire
when they might walk on the trottair. They
seek the support of the depraved, and Of those
whose diseased appetites war upon the body
and demoralize the intellect, thinking more
of whisky bottle than OF a book or of brains.
Instance the city Of New York. Not Demo-
cratic politician in the city dare put himself on
record as a temperance man. To do so is to
lose the support of the eight thousand ana six
hundred grog shops in this city. Not Demo-
cratic politician in this city dare circulate a
Democratic paper icolumnIpleadlfo tenn
perance, sobriety, and morality, lest the vote
Ol tuc lHiSl, tIc Duily tito repeater, Tie ufuDh-
en- loafer and disgraced humanity be lost to
the party before the poor drunkard is lost TO
life.
Democrats are to blame for the abuse they
have called upon themselves. There is a duty
to society, to humanity. to the widow, the or
phan and the tax payer, the mere Democratic
politician loses sight Of There is broader
platform than the space between the door OF a
saloon and the bar, or between the home of a
drunkard and the States Prison or pauper's
grave. Because there is an element of human-
ity whose intelligence is rotting in the slums
OF large cities to Le easily operated on by the
money Of the politician expended in liquor,
the interests of tn, party must not be placed
in jeopardy, no matter what reputation comes
TO a good principle. The drunkard thinks
only Of whisky. He votes for the officeseeker
who feeds his fiery appetite. The large ma
jority of Democratic editors, orators and lead
ers who have for the past twenty years at
tempted to control the public have relied upon
whiskey more than principle. Mark theSr
suit. Democrats have dirtied their own nest.
1t is not the business of Democracy to cater to
an appetite, foster creed or embrace a degra-
dation, and until men who make Democratic
platforms rise to a higher plane, take higher
grounds and appeal to better natures rather
than looser passions, the better element OF So
ciety-that which has the most life and lou
gevity, will, in obedience to an instinct favor
ing that which is the better, be found at pray
er and at the polls array ed against Democracy,
not because it is Democracy, but because Of
the low degrading evils it does not cut loose
from lest a heavy vote be lost