Mexico weekly ledger., 1883-02-08
LAY THE AXE TO THE ROOT.

LAY THE AXE TO THE ROOT.
One of the errors in reasoning is in mis-
taking the sign for the cause. For exam
pie, the guack sees spots on the body OF
his patient; he attacks them and removes
them. thereby sending the malady, of
which the spots were only a sign, farth-
er into the frame instead of curing it in
its seat. The quack statesman Is guilty
of the same error when he discovers a GER
tain kind of crime in a country which is
content with furnishing instead of remoy-
inethe deep moral causes. Such is the error
of the pr~ohibitioniStS. They see the wide
spread devastation from the excessive use
OF intoxicating liquors and then propose
by law to punish the sale and manufacture
of them-a thing impracticabie and i'm
possible. They expand their energies i'll
trying t. punish Il thing wholly harmless
within itself, and never touch the disease
in its seat. The moral cause is left just
where they find it. The drunkard still
possesses his Unsuitable craving for drink;
the fast young man is still ready to enjoy
his drunken reyeis; the host still sets the
wine cup before his guest-al this with
out one ~compuncture of conscience. The
law is a dead letter and so far as it is con-
cerned, nobody has been convinced that
the drunkard, fast young man, or host
have been violating a duty that they owe
to God, themselves and society. Nothing
has been lone to change the opinion, the
conduct, or the heart of a single trans
gressor. An external application has been
made, but the precise locality of the dis
ease has not been touched. Let moral
suasion be as vehemently applied to the
causes of drunkenness as effort is now be-
ing put forth in favor of prohibition and
we need not fear, at the worst, a state of
facts that will Sho up more drunkenness
than now. On the other hand we think
drunkenness will never have met such him
dering obstacles as will oppose its rava-I
ges. England was, in the middle of the
18th century, sunk into its worst depths by
drunkenness and all mannerof crime grow
ing out of drunkenness. Ont writer SAID
VI i III ltOt, W. hSls ti1"n So w
were nothing but sponges, or had tunnels
in our mouths" For 80 years after this
it was common for retailers of gin to hang
out IL sign announcing that their CUSTOM
ers could be made drunk for a penny, and
dead drunk for two pence, and could have
straw to lie on for nothing. In l724 gin
drinking had so generally infected the
masses that it caused death and destruc-
ton like an epidemic. Iii 175l one writer
predicted that if drunkenness, and murder
ders and robbery should continue as then,
the very race of people would soon be des-
troyed. One writer predicted the des-
truction of the common people, drunken
ess was at such a heighth among them, in
twenty years, and it was just as common
among the higher classes. The clergy was
addicted to the use of wine and gin. The
conspicuous character that did not get
drunk was an exception. no uncom-
mon thing for the members of the court to
appear inthe presence of the king or queen
drunk-tO spend the night drinking and
work next day with a wet napkin aroun
their foreheads to drive away sleep and
headache. Murder, robbery and the most
atrocious outrages, were as common as
drunkenness. This continued up to the
beginning of the 10th century. England
now is as far from that condition of socie-
ty as night is from day-yet, the sale and
manufacture of wine, beer, gin, whisky
and any thing that will make a man drunk
has been encouraged by law instead of be-
iu- prohibited OF even discouraged. THIS
great revolution has been effected wholly
by moral means and measures. Public
coffee houses were introduced where a
man when he was cold could get some
thing to warm him up that would not daze
his brain-the clergy and the leading men
cried out against it; the common people
were educated against it, and now Eng
land as a nation, is the most temperate of
us all. Let the lawyers, the editors, at
jefferson City, and fast degenerating into
mere lobbyists, go home and each hunt up
some drunkard and stick to him till they
have reformed him, and still keep up the
Sopu "olhJ anu liz iC IiSah AIN hSNl 81
eye out for this young man or that young
man that is inclined too much toward his
cups. When the editor has nothing else
to write about, let him touch up the evil
effects of too much whiskey; let the law
yer whenever an opportunity presents,
make an example for his hearers out of
this case and that; let the preacher when
he sees a young man going into a saloon
invite him into church and Sunday school,
and when he gets him there, not preach him
intoa d%runkard's grave and hell but tell him
in the spirit of him who said, go and "sin no
more" about the prodigal and the neigh
borly act of the good Samaritan. Leave
the legislators at jefferson City to legis-
late on things that come within its sphere
and do these things and you will have ac-
complished more good in the short time
that you II w have on earth, than you and
generations to come will bowling for pro-
hibition laws.