West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1883-03-21
SECOND PAPER.

Pittsburgh Christian Advocate.
In my last article I tried to show
that it was a we'll settled question
in law that each state in the Union
had the right, under our National
Constitution, to enact laws to pre-
vent crimes, and to punish wrongs
of all kinds. l undertook to show
very briefly that the sale of ardent
spirits was undoubtedly productive
Of crime, and that it was a great
drawback to our personal, material,
moral and religious interests as a
nation and people.
| had at my command, and could
therefore have shown, that at least
four-ffths of all the crimes COM
mitted in the United States are d.
rectly, or Indirectly, chargeable to
liquor. l could also have shown
that nearly all the pauperism of
the land is also chargeable to it. |
could have shown that it destroys
more lives annually than any sln-
gle disease, however deadly,known
to the medical profession in this
country. l could have quoted, for
had the references before me, from
the most distinguished statesmen
that America has produced, from
Jefferson down to the present, to
show that they had long regarded
whisky as the greatest evil that
has ever come upon our country.
|, however, did not present these
dry statistics, as solid facts about
intemperance are usually called. l
assumed, and do now assume, that
the liquor seller does not and will
not undertake in the future to deny
the statements above set forth. So
far as my observation and acquain-
lance extend, not one of them pre-,
tends to deny what I have stated.
All that they claim is that the sale
Of liqnor is business, and the law
allows them to engage in it, and
consequently temperance people
have no right to interfere with
them.
This is their entire defense. They
admit that, as business, the sale
of liquor is ruinous to the health
and morals Of the people; but that
is not their lookout. So long as
there isl profit of three to four
cents on every glass Of beer passed
over the counter, whether ruinous
or not to the lives and morals of the
people, they will continue to sell
it, unless they are estopped by a
proh5bltory law. For generations
the humane people of this govern
ment have been working by moral
su aston, to prevent men from sell
ing and drinking intoxicating
liquors of all kinds, and their efforts
have been almost entirely fruitless !;
consequently they have turned
their attention to square-out, per-
pendicular, copper-bottomed, I'M
adulterated prohibition. The states
of Kansas and Iowa have recently
enacted prohibitory laws, and the
same kind of a law is under way in
almost dozen other states of the
Union. The war has actually be-
gun. The sound OF cannon and
musketry can be heard to-day from
Massachusetts, to Georgia. The
question has gone III to politics, and
on that forum it will be settled.
Old, willy politicians, when out for
office, are astonuded when they
get outside of the cities and towns,
by being confronted with the one
question which seems to over-shad-
ow all the rest, How do you stand
on Temperament" I declare, 80 far
as my OWL experience extends,
this is the only real issue in the
minds of the honest yeomanry of
the country. For once the people
are really in advance of the poll
ticians.
The liquor men seem to be shock
ed over the audacity, as they term
1T, OF temperance people dragging
this question into politics. Pre-
clsely! They now see that some
thing is going to be done. The
handwriting can now be easily
read, as the eye of the liquor ven
dor falls upon the waN. The ques-
ton of African slavery in the
United States was settled by being
| "drapeed into nnlitics =. and In LIZ