Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-05-26
10 the Honorable Members of tie Senate
and House Of Representations of the
United States in Congress Assembled:

g. Cnate1 States IN Congress Assembled:
Whereas, tho best government, the high
est national prosperity and tho bopniest
people result whore Legal Right is ono with
Moral right; and
Whereas tho traffic in Intoxicating drinks
is a sin in itself, and its legislation is ma
tional crime; and
Whereas, The conservation of Home is
essential to tho highest welfare and happi-
ness Of our people, and to the permanence
OF oil that is good in our civilization, and
is worthy object of the most watohful so :
liotude Of our law makers and
Whereas, The liquor traffic is the intol-
cradle curse of thousands Of homes through4
out our land, the fatal destroyer of thou.
sands moro, and is Homes most mighty and
cruel enemy; and
Whereas, Congress has power to protcct
from this curae the present and future homes
OF millions of mon and women in tho ter
ritories, and to purify from this chief cor
ruption the Capital, which is the center of
all our social life, tho fountain of our ma
tional legislation and tho home and seat
OF our pation's government; aud
Whereas, Tho men who are layipp tho
foundation of future States emphatically
need that their stalwart arms be not un-
nerved, nor their clear brains olouded, and
the wives and mothers who 80 faithfully
share in tho labors, the pcrils and the pri-
vations Of frontier lifc. need to bo pro-
tected from the desolatiou and ruin of tho
homes upon which alono oan noble oiyili-
cation can be built;
Therefore, We the undersigned, citizens
of Maine, who know the priceless blessing
OF our owl, Prohibitory Law, and can point
with grateful pride to tho facts and figures
which shine like stars 10 our State record,
respectfully petition, for tho protection Of
home, that the manufacture and sole of in
toxicating drinks in tho District of Colum :.
bia and the Territories be forever prohibited
by law.
3. Another very strong ground Of
argument in favor of prohibition is found
in the political economy of the question.
1t is urged that every intelligent govern.
ment has, and must have, watchful care
over the sources of wealth and poverty. 1t
must cherish commerce and tho arts. and
must open all possible avenues to useful in
dustrles-it must prevent tho waste of ma
tIopal resources. 1t must prevent the silt
ing up of rivers and their ravages by over.
flowing; it must prevent tho destruction of
harbors, tho waste and tho destruction, of
forests. It must foolitate railroad and
steamboat communication and the regular
service of the mail; because all these con
tribute to national wealth and growth.
But here 10 one single obstacle to tho in
crease of national wealth, which obstructs
more than any four natiopalindustrics ever can
increase. This is matter of reliable sta
tistcs and admits of no answer The cen
sus Of 1870 proved an annual expenditure
Of SGO0,0O0,000 por annum for alcoholic
drinks. Alcohol is poison Of little real
use, except in the arts aud in medicine,
and we may safely say that five hundred and
fifty millions of dollars arc thus wasted
every year and abstracted from our possible
growth in wealth.
This, however, is but avery small item,
great as it may seem, in tho vast account.
1t used to be said forty years ago that Co.
600 drunkards die, every year, drunkard'a
death, in the United States. This is an
old estimate. No one will now estimate tho
number as less than 100000 Every
drunkerd, on the average shortens his life
from twenty to thirty years, as the statistics
of life insurance abundanty provo. You
will lind careful statistics putting it higher
than this, mono lower. Then here il the
loss Of two millions of years of
human life to our country every year. A
mans productive power in tho various arts
and employments, while he is 10 the prime
of life, ought not to be less than Si00 per
annum. In many States the common la
borer gets that, tho skilled artisan twico
that. Here We have another grand item Of
loss of sS00,0O0, 900, making grand total
of one billion four hundred and fifty mil
lions. We have not added the crime, the
idiocy, the insanity which result from alco-
hol for our result is already beyond our full
When men shall begin to
discuss this fearful drain, upon the possible
wealth of the land, aud tho sad prevalence
Of paupcry and crime tho indifference of
government will not bo tolerated 1t is even
now, to sonio extent, q bribcd Indifference,
for the liquor interest forosoes tho coming
storm and knows whose friendship it must
seek
4. Crime and poverty make strong
and direct appeal for prohibition, outside of
tho view of tho political economist. His
account is made up in dollars and cents.
But here wo contemplate tho ruin of souls
and tho sufferings of our humanity. "Thrco
fourths of tho crimes of the lnnd aro from
intoxicating drinks" This sentiment has
been uttered by the Judges Of England and
America for two hundred years. Its aocu-
raoy cannot be questioned. The same pro
portion will hold true of poverty. A largo
share of this is ontniled upon the innocent,
upon women and children. When We cav
it is the most solemn duty of tho governs
mont to punish the crimo md protect tho
and dafnncal from, oil tb;o