The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1881-04-29
THE SOCIAL CURSE

Col. r. G.. Ingersoll, in speaking to q
jury in case which involved the man
ufacture Of alcohol, used the following
eloquent language:
az am aware that there is preju-
dice against any man engaged in the
manufacture of alcohol. I believe from
the time it issues from the coiled and
poisonous worm in the dlstillery until
it empties into the hell of death, dis
honor and crime, that it demoralizes
everybody that touches it from its
source to where it ends. ! do not be-
lieve anybody can contemplate the sub
iect without becoming prejudiced
against the liquor crime. All we have
to do, gentlemen, Is to think of the
wrecks on either bank Of the stream
of death; of the insanity, of the power
ty, of the ignorance, Of the restitution !;
of the little children Juggling at the
faded and weary breasts of weeping
and despairing wives, asking for bread;
Of the talented men of genius 1t has
wrecked, the men struggling with
imaginary serpents, produced ty this
devilish thing, and when you think of
the jails, of the almshouses, of the asy-
lums, of the prisons, of the scaffolds
upon either bank, l do not wonder that
every thoughtful man is prejudiced
against this damned stuff that Is called
alcohol. Intemperance cuts down youth
in its weakness. 1t breaks the fathers
heart, bereaves the doting mother, and
extinguishes natural affection, grasses
coniugal love, blots out filial attach
ments, blights parental hopes and
brings down mourning age in sorrow
to the grave. 1t produces weakness,
not strength; sickness, not health;
death, not life. It makes wives widows;
children orphans; fathers fiends, and
all of them paupers and beggars. 1t
feeds rheumatism, nurses govt, well
comes epidemicS, invites cholera, i'm
ports pestilence and embraces con-
sumption. 1t covers the land with idle
ness, misery and crime. 1t fills your
jails, supplies your almshouses and de-
mands your asylums. 1t engenders
controversies, fosters quarrels and
cherishes riots. It crowds your peni
tentiaries and furnishes victims to
your scaffolds. It is the life-blood of
the gambler, the element of the bur-
glar, the prop of the midnight incen-
diary. 1t countenances the liar, re-
spects the thief, esteems the blasphem-
er. 1t violates obligations, reverences
fraud and honors infamy. 1t defames
hates love, scorns virtue
and ISLANDERS innocence. It incites the
father to butcher his helpless offspring,
helps the husband to massacre his wife
and the child to grind the paracidal Ak.
1t burns up men, consumes women,
detests life, curses God, and despises
Heaven. It suborns witnesses, nurses
perjury. defiles the jury box, and stains
the judicial ermine, degrades the citi-
zen, debases the legislator, dishonors
statesmen, and disarms the patriot. 1t
brings shame, not honor; terror, not
safety; despair, not hope; misery, not
and, with the malevolence
of fiend, 1T calmly surveys its fright
full desolation, and unsatished with it's
havoc. it poisons felicity, kills peace,
ruins morals, bllghts confidence, Stays
and wipes out national
honor, then curses the world and
laughs at its ruins. 1t does all that
and nnore--it murders the soul. 1t is
the son Of villaInies, the father Of all
crimes, the mother Of denominations
the dsvfi's best friend and Gods worst
enemy"