The Morehouse clarion., 1881-03-04
,E'he "ClariOn" Man Lee.
tllrcd.
Editor of Clarion:

Editor of Clarion:
DEAR S1R.-In your last issue
YOU came out in quite breezy, !
readable article upon ''Legislation
vs.. Whisky Traffic. There was
one error in your enthusiasm, it Sc
riously weakened when you came
to the taking hold part. You were
not on the side of legislation.
You showed a woman's weakness
in thinking the matter must be
trusted to prayer and moral sua-
SIGN. You ought to have plunged
into statistics and enlightened your
readers of the enormous magnitude
of this great evil you talked SO
prettily against. You ought to
have said, "Gentlemen Of the Jul
rv,' no, you ought to have said
NV white and colored brother
inc. In the United States there
are 49, 66 places where alcoholic
beverages are sold, 1862 dlstiller-
les, and $3.50 breweries. The dl-
rect cost of this business is esti-
) mated to be 500, 100000, and the
indirect cost of it to he three times
as much more. To make this Ii
quor it took -, 905,745 bushels of
corn, 1888, 933 bushels of rye, and
; 2,SO1,3 800 gallons. of molasses, all
t of which is diverted from its pro-
per use, and worse than lost to the
nation. The revenue paid to the
government for the year ending
i June, 1879, for distilled and fer
, mented liquors was s62, 299, ~.
1t is also estimated that from co.
900 to 100000 persons become vic
TINS to drunkenness and death ev-
ery wear, and three times that num-
Der Of widows and orphans left to
fill the land with their wall Of woe.
q Out of this misery, tears and sutf-
ering, the government realizes an
annual revenue of $50, 900, 600 at a
j price of about $500 per head for
q loss Of citizens" You ought to have
! said "Now read, study, ponder
these statistics, these startling
facts; imprint them indelibly in
j.. your memory, ana form out to your
selves a firm course of action for
remedy. We have had one revolu-
IT ton. Peace is established. Poll
d tics has settled into quietness, and
as this is an age Of reform, now is
our time for active work. For the
q next four years we will have little
Z else upon which to consolidate our
. thoughts and actions, but the expo
o sure and uprooting of this greatest
u and most gigantic evil of our day
If Let us do ourselves the honor te
help ripen public opinion of the
big ht of this oyergrown monster
q In our hands let type be as free as
=. air to show in blazing light the
= facts CT its appalling terrors. Tho
e our efforts may be feeble, we can
;, feel an honest pride in having
II helped to give the government
strength to strike down at the roo'
in spite of money interest the one
< legalized crime of the world. We
.. will have helped raise the strong
E; arm of the law in our own de-
Tense -
IL If YOU had come out as above Il
would have been unspeakably re'
. freshing to thirsty souls. 1t wa:
d very wrong in you to become so eS'
$ ercised over the personal rights
4 of men to drink whisky and pro
duce cankerous. poisonous SORE
that will torment generations IN
u born And then it was a thing
of sorrow for YOU to brag abou
the dead letter. business OF on.
~ Sunday law. SO many States arr
e. legislating against whisky. the feel
fl ing is growing SO widespread an'
~ strong, We temperance people cal
. not but hope Congress will in tn
IL near future give to this country
q. prohibition law as a crown for FL
ture greatness.
le But for the present, for the SAX
er of the generations already born, TO
ii the sake of those ''powerless to re
70 sist the enchanting hallucinatlon
of Bacchanalian revelries. s. for tn
or sake of those already i'll til
u clutches of the ''relentless enemy,
just whet your pencil and stir u
our Police Jury to give us prom
We bition parish law. l have hear
to they were ten in number, and
,o know from the way you sometime
. write. you can ''solder close IN
d possibilities and make them kiss.
It's You will accomplish this, will nav
ne created a general, a mighty goot
Thousands will rise up and ca
YOU blessed" AS for the unr'
th generated, well, as for the unr'
). roporoto1 an5 fcr hp sake of IT