The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-07-19
Facts VS.. Logic.

We publish an able article written
by Judge Longbon. We are always
glad to have him write for the Stand
ard, on any subject, as there is never
any thing weak or foolish in his
writings. We do not agree with
much of his argument. 1t is just
such an article as is always written
by scholar and logician, it looks ex-
cellently we'll on paper; but how
does it agree with the solemn facts? !?
That is the point.
Some years ago there was tax-or
tariff, on tea and coffee, amounting to
about twenty million dollars per year.
A very large portion of the tea and
coffee used in this country was used by
the laboring class-the poorer people.
Congress was agitating the ques-
ton of taking off this tax. We were
earnestly in favor of this measure.
Would it not save to the common
people s2O,OOO,OOO? Why not?
Logically it would.
Congress repealed the law, and tea
and coffee came in free. What was
result in practice? Tea and coffee at
once increased in price, and the con-
sumer was the loser.
Before the war whisky could be
bought for II cents per gallon, and
good tobacco could be bought at retail
for 25 cents per pound. At one
time the tan alone, on whisky, was
$500 per gallon, thus raising the
price to an enormous amount. The
same was true Of the tax on tobacco.
According to Judge Longbon's logic,
this should have been a check upon
the business, and should have tended
towards the suppression, or prohibit
ton of the use Of whisky and tobacco.
Was it so? Judge Longbon knows
that the use Of both whisky and tobac-
co has increased five fold under the
high prices. So that logic and solid
facts do not agree.
We will close with the following
extract from a speech delivered in
Cincinnati last Thursday night, by
Hon. John 7. Finch, of Nebraska.
We ask Judge Longbon carefully to
read and consider it. We quote from
the report in the Cincinnati CONNER
'cial:
The defiance and usurpation Of the
liquor interest were denounced in
startling terms, and it was fearlessly
asserted that the life of the Nation
was threatened, and men who, in the
interest of the defenseless wives
and babies Of the land, would venture
to plead against the accursed monster,
were branded and bounded and fought
to the death and men who fill the
jails and prison-houses govern in high
places. 1t is impossible to bring fair
tests to the principle of prohibition,
with the press arrayed against it and
the high behest Of Government in
opposition. The great question, how
ever, must now be decided" continued
the speaker" "by the people, the guilt
or innocence of the whole business.
lie innocent, vote for the first amend
ment and prohibit prohibition; but if
there returns verdict of guilty, don't
hold the monster down and try to
pull out its teeth, and cut off its claws,
but destroy it. The same power that
regulates can destroy: license is only
new name for an old curse. Don't
be deceived; let it CO." The speaker,
in closing, said it is pitiful to see the
whole State Of Ohio down on its knees
blubbering and saying: "This is a
terrible evil, a bitter thing, but it is
too much for US; we can't stop it; it
can't be done; give us two hundred
dollars tax and call it even." The
starving child and crushed wife must
listen to the monstrous logic; "We
know that you starve and suffer and
are wretched, but the man that sells
liquor to your father and husband
pays us 5000 tax. Two hundred dol
lars for fathers son, and for broken
hearts and homes, and all the details
Of woe. Good God! What a specta-
Gle for God and the angelsr'