The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-04-28

one may violate any Of them, Ii. e., the
commandments,) so long as he does not
do it TO the prejudice Of his fellow .men-
80 long as he does no direct and immedi.
ate injury, except TO himself, and no .Stute
can interfere" and chat it (the State'
has no authority to punish ects which are
simply immoral, and which do no direct
injury to any one without his own knowl
edge end consent" and when he init
mates that morals are beyond the reach
of legislation. To protect public morals
is one of the prime objects of govern
ment. Bigamy and Polygamy are Ger.
tainly very immoral acts, and effect no
one directly, save the parties who com
nit them, yet they are prohibited by law
for the reason that the general practice
Of either would greatly imperil society
| BY contaminating its morals. II is not
the fact that the act is simply immoral
per &c, but it is the evil that is likely to
| How from the frequent commission of
| such acts that the law means TO reach.
The right TO enact Frrhibitory Laws
| may be based on another ground. Mr..
Brown says himself that government
has the right H. regulate the sale Of in
toxIcatlng liquors, 30 as to prevent any
| abuse on the part Of those who sell it.
II, then, it has the right to rcpress by
imposing limitations and restrictions,
then claim il has the right to 20 step
farther and suppress it, if the public
good requires it. This must follow us a
matter Of necessity. If have the right
10 strike five blows to accomplish an OBJ
jcct, certainly have the right, if can
accomplish the same end and necessity
demands it, to use only one blow.
IrOIiIifOrU /ftcR iufr;une uDou mn ,;,,If,
of tie rum-seiicr. If the right to use
property is one thinks oest was inherent
and unqualified, then the rum. seller
| might successfully protest against paying
license. There can be no such thing as
licensing man to do thing that he has
| an unqualified right to do. Rum sellers
have no right thus to employ their capi-
.al. 1t is pririicye or franchise granted
by the State from time to time, and if
the State refuses this privilege, no right
is violated. IL seems 10 nc that the righks
Of property are viOiated 6y not passing PRO
| hiJitory Laws The State grants the
privilege Of selling liquor. Crime and
poverty follow az u consequence. TO
| punish crime and to provide place fer
criminals and paupers requires money.
| Before the war about two-thirds of ordi-
| nary County taxes went for pauperism
| and crime, AMI six scycnths of this crime
and poverty was produced by liquor.
This money is raised, not by taxing the
| rum-seller alone, or the incbriate, but by
| taking the hard earned dollar from the
| sober and industrious man, without Civ
ing him anything in return. For por-
| ton of his money (taxcs) the government
gives him protection to life, liberty and
| property, but for that exacted to meet
expenses incurred by the liquor traffic he
| gets nothing in return. 1t i, taking the
| money of class in the community WHO
have in no way contributed to tho neces-
sity of the tax, which properly should
| be paid alone by the rum seller. Is not
government, then, interfering directly aciA
thesrights Of property by licensing liquor?
MIR. Brown finds remedy-"by moral
| and religious influences"- says "if
all those pious Christians and reverend
ministers of the Gospel" who are crying
for Prohibition so loudly would turn
their attention nearer home, they would
do more good than all the prohibitions
on the statute books of State. Put
the responsibility where it properly be-
longs-first upon our legislators and
statesmen. If they had shown half as
much zenl in the cause in the past as our
ministers haze shown, the iEter, sts of
our State to day would not be pnralyzed
by this evil. The Church cannot reach
the class that need such influences. If
it could, what would it accomplish 2
Where the appeals of n loving mother or
wife. and devoted children fail, is there
much hope in appeals from others? Mol
1t will be done only when tho law in its
majesty rises, and with its iron arm
0rt hn to;t Al.
The forces are too evenly balanced for
anything save the interference of the
government to stop it. In every town
and city in our State you will find as
maryland in some instances more-bar-
rooms than churches and schools. The
friends Of Prohibition will bo satisfied if
the clergy Of our State will give i as
much of their influence, time and talent
ns they have exerted in endeayoring to
stop intemperance by moral influences.
Those influences have been exerted for
ages, and experience, the best of teach
ers, point to the use of more effective
means.
The people are sorcreign. They have
supreme right to stop crime. Prohibition
is an old right. China forbade the use
of wine eleven hundred years before
Christ, and il is o stranger there yet as n
beverage. Carthage 6anished it from
the camp. Plato approved this law.
Mohammed prohibited it twelve hundred
and fifty years ago. Then, in the blazing
light of the nineteenth century, is it not
reflection upon the chivalry, the prowess
and christian civilization of South Caro-.
lima for such @ nefarious traffic to be
upheld by the sanctity OF law?
The great question before us rises in.
finitely above tho measurement of dol
lars and cents in our tax bills. So far as
the State is concerned, even if there
were no taxes connected with this vice;
II it was source Of prince'y revenue:
if every drunkard's corpse could be trans.
m ried into solid gold, and every dram
shop was public mint; if the whole
cost of liquor in the United States (six
hundred millions Of dollars a year) could
be poured directly into the National
Treasury to pay the public debt, even
then the State could not afford to encour.
Gge habits of intcxication. No amount
of gold and silver can be weighed against
the loss of public virtue. The question
of morals, of happiness, of present and
eternal welfare cannot be ciphered out
in tables of currency or coin. No State
can possibly become so rich but that, if
iintemperance generally prevails among
its citizens and rulers, every true patriot
may well repeat, with anxious heart, the
dying words of the great William of
Orange: "God have mercy on my poor
country"
II. G. ScUDDAY.