Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1881-09-14
JUDGE AGNE w UPON THE
PROHTBITORI Id W.
! Some Reminiscences-Tt TtCo Hundred
Years of License ProUes
ats Failure
From Pittsburgh Dispatch, Sept. T..

From Pittsburgh Dispatch, Sept. IL
The convention which met at Joh MS
town few weeks ago with the int ent
of organizing party pledged to the
securement of law prohibiting the
sale of ardent spirits in this Common
wealth, in making their adjournment,
named Pittsburg and the Third Pres
byterian Church as the place of their
meeting.
JURIsT's IDEAS.
At the Pittsburgh meeting, Sept. 6,
1881. the Hon. j. K. Moorhead presid.
ed, and introduced Hon Daniel Agnew,
of Beaver, whose theme as announced
vas Constitutional Prohibition" He
commenced by saying: / am happy
to stand here before you tonight as the
advocate of a cause which concerns
every living man. 1t was here in AL
legheny county that received my early
training. Who that knew w. W. Bald
win, Elisha Swift, Bruce, Hopkins, can
ever forget them 2 You may. but l
cannot | may not be accented as a
temperance man, as such are classified,
but my interests and influence have
ever been upon the side of sobrlety and
good order, not only as citizen but as
a Judge. BY slow degrees the subject
of temperance has become subject of
public thought. At first it was thought
it would be topic of interest to the
churches only.
EARLY COMPANIONS.
All! 1 remember young men who
were my friends. Some of these came
to fill an important station in civil life;
where are they now? Alas, could L
stop to gather up their wrecks along
the shores of time, their lives would
tell tale whose every item would be
a perpetual remonstrance against the
glass. Oh could / gather into a sim
gle picture the scenes | have seen in
IL years of Quarter Sessions practice
it would revolt you. Bleared eyes,
wretched condition. can only say
that four-ffths of the cases coming into
o Criminal Court are from liquor. |
have seen the sad heart of the victim
brought into court to show the MUIR
derous blows of the drunken assassin.
| am not alone in my view of this traf-
fc. Within few weeks l have seen
an opinion by Judge Johnsohn, OF
Warren county, one of the Oldest men,
bers of the Bench in this Common
wealth. He says that eight-tenths of
the litigation coming before him is the
direct outcome and offspring Of drink.
Men of Pennsylvania, look upon this
scene of ruin; this crime which de-
spoils your labors, and tell me, is there
no opportunity forlegisla:ion? Is there
no opportunity for reform +? You have
made no complaint against the taxes
arising from the riots, but you will
stand this ten-foId burden without fur
ther effort or complaint? Surely you
have not looked this great public curse
in the face Certainly you do not un-
derstand that the greatest burden upon
your thrift and industry are the victims
and profters by the license system.
MODERATE DRINKERS.
Marked examples of human weak
ness are the moderate drinkers and tie
temporizing politicians. Lowest of all
Gods creatures are those who would
reap profit, personal or political,
from such a system.
License has always drawn to its
support the persons who rely upon
avarice or appetite. Who are they
who would continue the license sys-
tenn? For 200 years it has been tried
in this Commonwealth; or, from 1852.
When I came on the bench in 1852 as
the President Judge of four populous
counties, and when 1 granted but four
licenses out of Is applications, | heard
myself characterized that night as a
"G-d-temperance fanatic"
What are your daily papers now
but records of the results of debauchery,
infamy and disgrace, resulting from the
Intoxicating drink trade as legalized
by the State. All prohibitory laws in
this Commonwealth have been
strangled in their incipiency by the in
Auence of the liquor trade No op-
portunity has been ever afforded to try
the efficiency of restraining legislation.
THE QUIET DRINKER
We are asked to believe that the
man who keeps his jug in private, and
who avoids the public eye, is the equal,
if not the superior, of he who stands
erectly in the path of sobriety and in
dustry. Again it is said, even in re-
spectacle quarters, that prohibition has
proved failure.
You of Allegheny county have had
a warning against this kind of tEing.
Your riots were their consequent re-
suits, arising largely from drink.
Good men of Pittsburgh, you have
had warning against such an argu-
ment. You remember the riots of
July, 1877. You have paid dearly for
them. Did yo1 escape the declared
law in the end? | thought the new
constitution had put an end to that
law. With great respect to the high
tribunal which declared otherwise, |
think so STILL Is Government, then,
so weak it cannot enforce it's laws,
even when opposed by great city
| have yet to learn that peace, good
order and sobriety are things to be
avoided. l have been asked to discuss
the constitutionality of prohibitory
law. There is no such question. But,
ah! the cry comes up that it is a
sumptuary law. A sumptuary law is
a foolish attempt to regulate an inno-
cent matter by legal enactment. Did
you ever hear it said that the suppress
sion Of a pamhlinp hell was the enforce