The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-04-21

of his vocation. In Offering these liquors
for sale, he does 8 direct injury to no
one he simply;efersithem,,. for sale; if
no one chooses to.buy them, he alone
will be the loser; he can force no man
to buy them against his will; fany one
chooses to buy them, it is by his own free
will and accord that he does 80. The
buyer may purchase these liquors and
use them in moderate quantities, and no
harm result to any one. If the buyer
does drink excessively, he is injured, but
he brings the injury upon himself by his
own volition. It is undoubtedly true
that some liquor.dealers abuse their
rights, but this is:by no means proper
ground for the State to prohibit the sale
of liquors altogether. It should correct
the abuses, but allow the right to sell to
continue. We have known bar-keepers
who would not sell liquor to an intoxi-
Gated man, or to young boys who were
drinking contrary to the wishes of their
parents. Such man is prudent and
cautiouz; he is simply pursuing this vo-
cation as livelihood, and does not wish
to injure any one. BE only sells to those
men who are in their sound senses, to
those who are habitual drinkers, and are
determined to have their drink any way.
He does not sell to an intoxicated man,
because such man is out of his proper
mind, and he feels that he would be
doing him an injury. He does not sell
to wayward youth to go home intoxi-
Gated and send pang of sorrow through
the breasts..of his parents; for he feels
that he would be doing these parents an
injury in enticing their children off from
the paths of rectitude before they have
arrived at years of maturity. Such q
man has some sense Of honor about him.
He is not willing for the sake of lucre to
ruin his fellow-men; he wishes to do an
injury to no one; on the contrary, he
tries to avoid ipjuring any one; he is
simply exercising his right to employ his
capital as he pleases so long as he Injuries
no one; and what governnent-what
State-can prohibit him from exercising
this -rights New, we believe q govern.
ment has the right to regulate the sale of
intoxicating liquors, so as to prevent any
abuse on the part of those who sell it;
State may, and often does, prohibit the
sale to minors and intoxicated persons,
without infringing upon the rights of any
one; but we can not see how State can,
agreeably to the principle we have set
forth, prohibit its sale altogether.
We do not, now, wish to be misunder-
stood. We have been upholding the
liquor.dealer in his right to sell ardent
spirits, simply because he has the right-a
right founded upon the fact that every
man is entitled to the free use of his own
property, 80 long as he does not thereby
'injure any other person against the will
Of that person; and right derived also
from the fact that to prohibit such sale is
entirely beyond the province of civil
government. Civil government is insti-
tuted for specific purposes, and has its
limits Of authority, beyond which it can
not go with safety and propriety. 1t is
instituted to protect men in their rights of
life, liberty and property; and yet when
it prohibits men from selling liquor, it
itself violates their rights of property
and infringes upon their liberty; does
the very thing which it was designed to
prevent! The authority of State ex-
tends to the punishment of all injuries
inflicted by one person upon another in
direct manner and against the will Of
the party injured; but it has no authori-
ty to punish acts which are simply i'm
moral, and which do no direct injury to
any one without his own knowledge and
consent.
So, then, we do not uphold the moral
ity of the vocation. No, no! God for
bid that we should be found upholding
such nefarious traffic! that we should
be found pronouucing the men engaged
in the business as earning an honorable
livelihood No.! We do not see how
any man, with brains in his head and a
heart in his bosom, can pursue calling
which is yearly filling hell with thou
sands of victims. Indirect though it is,
yet if he has any perception at all, he
must see that be Is the cause of immune
rable miseries. No, fellow.mortal, you
who are engaged in the liquor traffic, you
have right, so far as human laws ex-
tend, to prosecute your business unmo-
Tested; but by all the pleas of religion,
of humanity and of self:respect, forsake
this detestable calling and pursue q
nobler one! Think of the God who
made you and has preserved you with a
fatherly care; think of your fellow
mortals, whose destruction and ruin you
are daily advancing; think of yourself,
made in the image of God and placed on
earth for nobler purpose Think, man,
think and change your mode of life
How, then, is iutemperauce to be
checked? We answer, By moral and re-
Hgious influences. If all those men
those pious Christians and reverend min
listers of the gospel-who are 30 loudly
clamoring for statutory prohibition,
would only turn their attention nearer
home and exert their influence upon