News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-12-06
Rum and License; or, the Reign
OF Terror.
BY A. SCRIBNEE

W men 4 ueaUiN DlOW WAS allllPu at JIlC
heart of our country by the lombard
ment of Fort Sumpter; when the burst
ing shell was hurled scrceching through
the air at the dome of the capital. the ma
ton was alarmed. From center to cir
conference thrill of horror swept along
her why nerves and her very life blood
rushed ut once to the CHASTITY wound, to
prevent, if possible. the nation falling III
sudden aad fearful death. At the call OF
our noble chieftain, hundreds of thou
sands of her noble sons and heroes babe
farewell t., home and loved ones and flew
to her relief. Four hundred thousand of
these noble heroes fought and fell in the
deadly conflict; thousands on thousands
more were disabled for life; while many,
many thousands of widows and orphans
rent the air with their wall of sorrow Tor
those who fell on the field of battle. And
strange it is that the calm so soon sue
cceded the storm.
Now, the battle over, the conflict ended
and the victory won, we honor the dead
and applaud the living for their noble
deeds of nObler daring, in reScuing the
nation from the hands of traitors. Mid
tears and grOanS, and dying strife. the
nation was released: purchased with |
blood. Treason was suppressed; slavery |
dead: but the nation was not saved. An |
4 mightier prince. a more cruel monarch. |
and one who has been the means of more |
human suffering, OF making more wild
Ows and orphans, and OF dragging more !
souls down to death than Jefferson Da- |
Wis aud all his eAissarieS. and yet, like
him, he goes unhumG. lie IS guilty OF
Waff Jg6 T2f }ha9m tie var of tie rebel
lion. 70 fill his ranks he is constantly |
drafting from the pulpit, from the bar
and the bench, and from the halls of
Congress, as well as from the ranks of
our nOblest young men, at the rate OF
G00.0O0 every year. He annually impris-
ons more than 100000 souls; reduces |
more than POO 900 children to Il state of
misery worse than orphanaGc, aud sends |
from 80. 900 to 100000 persons to pre-
mature grave. He reduces 500 900 per-
sons to pauperism yearly, at a cost to the |
government of more than S35 100000. !
The expenses resulting from insanity |
caused by him is about Sl2.OO0,O0O. The
expenses resulting from crime is about |
$40. 900 900 more. Add to these amounts |
the value of the grain and sugar used |
with the amount Of property invested in
diStiilCriCs. the amount of liquors drank,
the loss of labor, and sickness in hoSpi- |
tails and You have the enormous sum of
81 $50, 900. 900 annually expended in this
country for the support of this body and !
soul destroying curse, This is leVying Il
tax Of $3.50 for each individual citizen in
this country, native and foreign, for the
support of rum.
The city of New York, alone. pays
tax of so, 900. 900 a year for rum, while
she pays only onc-twentieth, or three
and One-half millions for educational pur-
poses. Our own State tax is usually |
about Is or IS per cent, while we pay
over 200 per cent. for rum. 1t has been
estimated by some that we pay tax for
rum sufficient to pay all the expenses of
the State; build all our churches and
school houses, and pay the salaries of
ministers and tGachcrs.-aud partly be-
lievc it.
And vet. for all this evil and expense.
like the devil himself, this cruel monarch
''waIketh to and fro in the earth, seeking
whom he may devOur.' He lurketh in
secret by cay and struttcth abroad by
night. lie Cmtcreth the family circle and
makcth the wife a widow and the chill
drcn orphans. He leadcth the son to the
gallows and the daughter to the house of
i'll fame. He infameth the passions Of
men unto madness and draggcth their
souls down to hell.
I'm little town where | once resided.
and in less than two years time. three
HGdIlS VI ldlililltS Nlltu NUN iIlc ClltCl> vi
rum, and another cut his throat. A few
years before this | knew man there
who was found dead i'll the street for
having drank halfsa pint of alcohol be-
fore breakfast. Not many years since
the same and adjoining towns were
thrown into fearful state of excitement |
from the appalling fact that wife and
her mother had been literally heWm to
pieces with an axe by 4 drunken huS-
band, who, when he had rallied little
from his stUpOr, went to the barn and
hung himself with a log chain. In one
of the adjoining towns two neighbors got
into strife over jug of rum, in which
atlIay one of them was killed. The other
was taken by the authorities and bound
over in the sum of one hundred dollars
for his appearance at court, but was ai-
tprWard acquitted. BY SO much they ,
valued the life of man in that vicinity
Now these are not isolated cases. few
and far between, but are Il few of which
have come under my own observation.
They are facts, the like Of which are or-
curing every day. and in this beloved
land of ours, and hundreds, if not thou
sands of them, every year.
And the evils of this cruel rcirn do
not stop with the present generation. but
are transmitted from father to son to the
third and fourth generation. And hell
itself will only be able to uubosom the
fearful results from this reign of terror.
What shall we do to stop it? Is the COY
ernmcnt alarmed? DO our rulers call
for men to 20 forth in arms against him?
Nay, verify; far from it, but rather tos-
ter and encourage him, actually calling
upon the people to pay tax OF 50 per I
capita to support him, and then sends
him forth throughout the length and
breadth of our land, with ''lcttcrs of au-
thority." or a license in his basket, to
hale men and women and bring them
bound to- the city of destruction, spread
ing death and devastation through all
our borders.
Why does not the government awake?
Why does she not declare war upon and
eXtermimate him; or, if he must still 90
unhung, drive him oyer into the Queens
domnions. or drown him in the sea as
Satan u d his swine? Or. is not the gov
erEment intvrCsLed; Or does she think 1t
pays to have a king like this to spread