Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-06-02
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THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1881.
The Whiskoy Question.

The Whiskey Question.
No politicalo or social revolution has ever made
such rapid progress or extended so widely as
the spirit OF opposition TO tho manufacture and
sale OF ardent spirits. II is confined to no race
or color, to n6 class or condition. TO no State or
nation but finds support and flourishes wher-
ever liquor is known and sold. II Is not new
idea or movement, but 1t certainly has acquired
q new yitalitysand form, being confined no
longer 10 churches and temperance societies, to
religious journals and tracts; The secular press,
the pulpit and the courts Of Justice unite in
promoting tho cause Of temperance and in advo-
eating the suppression of tho liquor traffic. It's
evils are admittedto be legion and they are
portrayed by legions of pens and tongues.
The murders, suicides and crimes of oil kinds
traceable TO It's baneful influence, the domestic
misery II engenders, the paupers ana lunatics
1t creates, the social and moral degradation it
leads 10 and the irreligion It fosters are all daily
placed before the'publio in multiform colora
It's evils have grown SO great as TO enlist against
1t not only tho moral and religious GLASS Of the
country, but q large retinue Of it's users and
abuscrs. Petitions asking legislation to pro-
hibit it's sale and manufacture are circulated.and
signed largely by drinking men, and the female
portion Of The country is not only unit against
it, but is active workers in the cause Of prohibi-
tion.
The Legislature Of Arkansas has recently
passed by large majority q bill to submit the
question Of prohibition to o vote of the people,
A similar Act has passed.tho Legislature of North
Carolina and the question Is now before tho peo-
pie Of that State. In Kansas tho Maine law is in
force, and in all the other States strong contest
is going on and there is growing unity Of OPT
nion in favor Of prohibition, manifesting itself
in public meetings. in the election of dry tickets
in towns, in moro strutIy enforcing the low
against its sale on Sunday in cities and in tho
advocacy Of local option laws for counties.
Tho 'ment is apparently unaccounable,
not only in the progress it has made and the
wide extent Of territory it covers, but also in
the fact that liquor drinkers are In many cnses
among it's strongest advocates and supporters,
while in some instances temperance and
oven preaohero oppose 1t. This is reversing the
natural course of things, and it is unaccounta-
bio to see on infdel like Ingersol denouncing
liquor in the strongest terms language can usc,
while not few doctors Of divinity advocate
self-oontrol as tho only ruo and legitimate
remedy, admitting they like wee drop oqoa-
sionally.
The temperance boom now going on Is tho
strongest evidence Of the evils of intcmpcrance,
and the marshalpg Of Incorporate men In the
army Of prohibitionists is the strongest evidence
that they feel they, need legal protection from
temptation. IF It's evils were confined to indi-
vidual cases Of personal want and wrctchedness
however common and widespread, or to crimes
engendercd, or to the Social degradation of in
dividuals, It might we'll be said the government
has nothing to do with the creation or prevention
of these evils, or If il affected the general
wealth and prosperity Of tho country only by its
injury to indviduals, who squandcr their time,
money and muscle by its use, still should gov
crnmcnt intcrfere2 These, however, are but the
visible signs Of disease or poison, affecting
tho social, moral and political life Of the coun-
try. They arc the knots on the tree, indicating
decay and rottenncss of the body. They are
the pimpes and sores by which We diagnose
system affected with filthy and fatal disease
Admitted to bo hereditary, passing from
father to son, and increaeing with each genera
tion in power and extent, its continuance be-
tokens religious and political destruction.
1t is folly then TO hold up the ghost Of Radi-
calism and Radical government against this
anti.liquor movement, for thero is more danger
ip tho continued increasing use of liquor to good
government than in any party. Intemperance
strikes at tho foundation of society and good
government, uprooting morality and tending
constantly from bad to worse. In its increase
there is no hope Of improvement in material,
moral or intellectual growth. The future, with
drunkenness constantly increasing, is altogether
dark and hopeless. With tho prevalence of
temperance hope will brighten tho darkest pros
peot and dependency will yield to certain sue
cess.
The question is not whether King Alcohol or
King Kadicalsm shall rule, but whether virtue
and intelligence, the pillars Of republican gov.
ernment, shall rule or bc destroyed? In such
war political parties sink into insgnfcance and
large proportion Of. men who sell and drink
liquor now, because it is legalizod, will not only
vote for whatever they think most likely to pro-
motc the public good, but will abide by what
ever decision is rendered at tho polls. We
bolievo that if prohibition prevailed throughout
tho United States it would not only prove moro
remunerativo 10 those selling liquor now, but
that tho whole country in twenty years would be
better governed and more prosperous than any
ono can conceive. Tho millions now consumed
annually in liquor, in injury alike to the purse,
the health and mind of tho people would bo put
into all kinds of improvements in agriculture,
mechanics and machinery and in Tho better
education and social elevation Of tho people.
Such Is our opinion and such We believe
would bo verified if tried. Wc arc however FREQ
to admit that no Legislation should be pressed on