The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1881-07-27
TEMPERANCE ITEMS.
Drunkenness.

tect itself, self preservation being the
first law Of nature. ~ ie't
second-Drunkenness is the great
est enemy know to society because it
is the father Of nearly all the enc.
mics society has, and therefore socie,
ty tbro' its different legislatures
should frame laws to prohibit drunk
enness, under severe penalties. Put
it into the catalogue of criminal Of
lenses.
This would be in accordance with
the laws Of nature, because it would
punish the guilty party. This plan
would have a tendency to check ex-
cessiye drinking in the present gen.
Grafton, to prohibit excessive drink.
ing in the next, and finally to stop
the manufacture and sale of intoxi.
cants as beverage. This plan would
bring strong force to bear on the
strongest lever known to man-self
interest" 1t would check excessive
drinking because men would soon
find lit sxpedient to abstain. Hwould
be very inconvenient and expensive
for the lawyer to leave his Office, the
physician, his patient, the mechanic,
his job, and the clerk his position, to
go to prison for thirty days; and after
paying such price, once or twice
for aspree, they would conclude that
"going on drunk' was too costly a
luxury. Moreover, this plan would
make drunkenness a crime: The
drunkard will have become q crimi.
nal in the eyes of society, and re.
spectacle people will have a legal
right to point the finger of scorn at
him, and put as many social screws
on him as they may choose"
This is striking in the right direcY
ton. We have law-good law, if il
was enforced, against the seller. We
have no respect for the man who sells
liquor He is engaged in contempt
IDLY mean and wicked business. He
has no respect for himself, and no re
spect for anything that is good and
right. He is utterly devoid of the
most ordinary humanitarianinstin
He is low, groveling and BRITISH
He is a disturbing element in society
and what little influence he possesses
is all on the wrong side. But where
in is the man who buys and guzzles
his liquor any better? Does the liq.
uor seller force his commodities on
the drinker? Does he "entice" him
to drink? "Entice" is the favorite
word with the one sided temperance
men. If he "entices" him now does
he do it2 Simply by exposing his
truck for sale. With equal sense
and justice we might say that the
merchant, the grocer, the banker and
the farmer all entice men to steal
There is a silly and pernicious sort Of
morbid sentiment attached to the
drunkard. He, one of the worst Of
criminals, of all the class who violate
moral laws, is by this milk and waite,
temperance set SMILED over as an in.
nocent victim. A victim to what
Why he is a victim to his own cuss,
edness. That's just all there is of it
The drinker can go to the saloon, so.
Der, clothed in his right mind and
deliberately fill himself with whisky
until he is crazed and brutalized and
put in fit condition for the commits.
sion of any crime, yet he goes scott
free. No State law ever imprisons
him, and a morbid temperance senti
ment excuses his wickedness and
places all the blame for his condi,
ton at the door of the saloon keeper
Such a sentiment is all wrong. 1t is
against reason and common sense
When society starts right and classes
the drinker with the seller, it will
accomplish something Give a plain
drunk 80 days on stone pile, a
boisterous aggravated case twice that
long-and put the man who sold the
liquor right with him in the same
boat and you will do Something
Take the drunkard and cry and sniff.
Tic over MIN, and pour out anathemas
on the head of the man who sold liz.
uor to him, and you will never nc.
complish anything except the defeat
Of effective temperance work.
0 Heaven! for one generation Of
clean and unpoluted men-men