The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1883-08-30
THE MILL AND THE STILL.
Bf ii. ii. KANE, NJ. u.

SO staple and universal AN article of
uiet Is Dread, SO important aud abundant
an "fliGie ot commerce is grain and so
na'uraiiy Is the one associated with the
o.nef mat we scarcely ever give the sub.
Ject OF cereals as source Of liquor the
consideration that it deserves. To the
average individual corn and grain u,s.c
1000, and chiefly bread and to assert to
such one that grain is as great curse
as II 's blessing is almost invariably TO
c"'i iorth both surprise and Indignation.
ana yet 1t Is true. Corn, typical of
All grain, according to its subsequent
treatment, according to the process to
which 1t is subjected, comes forth, from
mill or still, a blessing or cursc-hras,;
or liquor. Both children of common
mother, the Cain and Abel of post. cereal
lie, they differ as essentially in every
characteristic as do two human beings
,he one bringing health, strength. and
happiness to even the humblest homes,
the staple food Of all nations, the basis
OF all nourishment; the other, save in
very rare instances and under peculiar
circumstances, an unmitigated curse,
bearing disease, dishonor, and even death
into thousands of homes, blasting fair
young lives; bunting every gooi attri.
butte Of mind and soul, prostitutinp
honor, honesty, and integrity, deadenine
conscience, melting to crime, leading to
rags, sgualor, and starvation, naming
the gailows, peopling the poor.house'
crowdlng the courts, and filling the
! prisons
ID it may be justly ascribed nine.
tentls OF all crime, suicide, poverty. and
prostitution from its deadly seed spring
iudlocy and insanity. Through its agency
family ties are sundered, promising lives
engulfed in debt and dishonor, friends
and secrets ruthiessly BETRAYED, hopes
and ambitions blasted, and Gods master
piece OF creation-man himS Self-made n
bl0ated wreck.
In no sense food, alcohol will neither
impart nourishment nor sustain life; but.
on The contrary, its use invites, causes.
and complicates disease, both organic
and functional, poisons the blood and
tissues, Weakens the muscles, disorders
the nervous system, and DESTROYS the
mind and faculties.
How marked the contrast between the
Two the one in every sense life giving.
happiness bestowing, ody-nourishne
the other essentially Il destroyer OF ali
these, whose footsteps are Invariably
accompanied by misery, despair, and
dlshonor. Iet the difference is but a
step-simply one of degree. The flour.
ed grain, mois,ened and kneaded, lcav.
ened with touch of yeast, commences
TO fermcnt. The starch of the flour.
through the agency of the yeast, breaks
down into alcohol and carbonic acid cas-.
the latter penetrating every part of the
Loaf, and making it light and sponpv.
Then comes the heat of the oven lust at
the proper moment, killing the Yeast
germs, putting q sudden stop TO all fer.
mentation, and giving us the brown and
fragrant l0aves of bread.
Huge tanks aud vats in which thou.
sands of bushels of grain are soaking.
The same leaving of the mass, the same
fermentation and breaking down of the
starch into carbouic acid and alcohol.
but so treated and favored that the latter
is yielded in the largest possible amount
No restraining hand of heat to limit the
Process at the point where food ends and
liquor begins, but every endeavor made
TO obtain the latter. Then the gaping
NAV of the still, and the serpen,ine coil
pouring forth its steady stream of liquor.
o'eH "oicb Is SlIDDlp
one step beyond bread in the same chem
ical process, yet how widely, terribly
different in their effects upon man
~ was made to be eaten. and not to be drank
To be husked In O barn, not soaked in u tank
come us blessing when put in n mill,
As ,, blight and a acurse when run through a
Make me up into loaves and your children ar.
But into drink, will starve them Instead.
IN bread I'm q servant the eater shall rule;
In drink I'm a master, the drinktr a fool.
ihen remember my warning-my strength I'll
If eaten to strengthen, if drank to destroy"
The subject under discussion is q
very wide one. Not only must we con.
slider the evil that liquor does, but the
waste Of all the millions of bushels of
good grain that would otherwise be made
into food that it takes tn feeG tile stills
and produce the alcohol, or the thousands
of acres of fertile land devoted to its
cultivation that might be far better
used in raising other foods II the demand
for alcohol lliquor) did not exist. To
how many destitute men and women and
chcerless homes would their products
yield plenty and happiness
Economically, we must consider the
millions of wasted lives, the impoverish-
ed, beggared, and starving families, the
resulting crime, and the army of pau
pers, lunntics, and criminals, the heavy
taxation that is required 10 support the
prisons, hospitals, lunatic asylums, aud
ulmshUuses, as we'll as the fact that the
wages and tue results Of the industry of
ali these inebriates are lost to US, and
that, were they steady, sober. industrious
men, would be adding to general trade
and prosperity. The sum thus lost and
thus expended in restraining and provi
ding for these Individuals is enormous,
aggrcgating billions yearly.
Who TINT has looked over the acres of
ripeoing grain, the stacks ofgoldep curn,
the sheeted white of the barley field.
who that has watched the sturdy harves-
ters, the lusty, healthy reapers shearing
Mother Earth of her bounteous crops
who that has joined in the festivities Of
"hnsking bee"-can for moment hes.
itate As to which is the proper dcs!ina
tion of the grain, the mill or the still?
How like sacrilege it seems to throw such
rich and golden products, capable of
yielding SO much strength aud health
and nourishment, into the yawning
mouth of the still, to come forth poison
and destroyer!
From the quaint old mill, with its
whirring stones, its messy wheel, and it's
swiftly flowing stream, it passes to the
ends of the earth, carrying health,
strength, growth, and nourishment TO
old and young, rich and poor-to all
blessing, to none a curse. The hungry
laborer, the poor beggar, the chubby