The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1883-09-13
IngersOII On Alcohol,

Col. Robert G.. Ingersoll, who has
been denounced as an infdel, was late
ly employed in a case which involved
the manufacture of ardent spirits, and
in his speech to the jury he used the
following language:
II am aware there is a predjudice
against any man engaged in the man
ufacture Of alcohol. | believe from
the time it issues from the coil and
poisonous worm in the distillery un-
til it empties into the hell of death,
dishonor and crime that it is deinor-
alizing to verybody that touches it
from the source to where it ends. |
do not believe that any body can con-
template the subject without being
predjudiced against the crime. All
we have to do is to think of the
wrecks on either side Of the stream of
death, Of suicides, of the insanity, of
the poverty, of the destruction. Of the
little children tugging at the breasts
Of weeping and despairing wives ask
ing for bread, of'the men struggling
with imaginary serpents produced by
it, When we think of the jails, of
the alms-house, Of the prisons and of
the scaffolds ON either bank, do not
wonder that every thoughtful man is
predjudiced against this vile stuff
called alcohol. Intemperance cuts
youth in its strength, and age in its
weakness. 1t breaks the fathers
heart, bereaves the doting mother, ex-
tinguishes natural affection, erases
conjugal love, blots out filial attach
ment and blights parental hope, and
brings premature age in sorrow to the
grave. 1t. produces weakness, not
strength; sickness, not health; death,
not life. It makes wives widows,
children orphans, fathers fiends, and
all paupers. 1t seeds rheumatism,
nurses gout, welcomes epidemic, in
vites cholera, imports pestilence and
embraces consumption. 1t covers the
land with misery, idleness and crime.
1t engender controversies; it fosters
quarrels and cherishes riots. 1t
crowds your penitentiaries and fur
nishes victims to the scaffold. 1t is
the blood of the gambler, the element
Of the burglar, the prop of the high
wayman, and the support Of the mid
night incendiary. It -countenances
the liar, respects the thief, esteems
the blasphemer 1t violates obliga-
tions, reverances fraud, honors infamy.
1t defames benevolence, hates love,
scorns virtue and innocence. 1t in
cites the father to butcher his he p
less offspring, and the child to grind
the parental ak. 1t burns up men,
consumes women, detests life, curses
God and despises heaven. 1t suborns
witnesses, nurses perfdy, defes the
jury box, and stains the Judicial err
mine. 1t bribes voters, disqualifies
voters, corrupts elections, pollutes our
government. It degrades the citizen,
debases the legislator, dishonors the
statesman, and disarms the patriot.
1t brings shame, not honor; terror,
not safety; despair, not hope; misery,
not happiness; and with the malevo-
lence of a fiend, calmly surveys its
frightful desolation, and unstained
with havoc, it poisons felicity, kills
peace, ruins morals, whips out nation
al honor, then curses the world and
laughs at its ruin. It does that and
more-it murders the soul. 1t is the
sum of all villanies, the father of
crimes, the mother Of denominations,
the devils best friend and Gods
worst enemy.