The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-11-20
VIII Prohibition prohib,, ?

| Mh. EDIToR:-We arc soon 10 have n,
eiectlon In our city to determine wbatbs,
i Tr not the city shall license liuuor "A
n,w ,~ns, anu ask space for few words /,
ject. ' =" 'ni' i'ii pof'aht sub
All obseryant aud right-thinking peo.
PIE see and feel the evil that is being don.
py the sale OF liquor in these licensei
oer-rooms, and certainly large maiority
ui our pest citizens would be glad TO set
u stopped entirely. But some who car
nesuy desire to SEQ this result brought
iioor, iioous nrs aeterred from voting for ''nc
license by the fact that they do not be-
| teVe that the sale Of liquor can be stopoed
! oy prohibition vote. Arguing from
past experience they say that it is useless
| 10 pass prohibition act which will fail
10 secure prohibition. They maintain
| tnat IN spite of ali the efforts of CYty
Council and friends of temperance, more
?r iess hquor Will be sold, clandestinely
u not openly, and that therefore 1t is
useless and worse than useless to pass a
prohibitory act. AS to this let, me saw
two things: o '''
1. Loss liquor will he sold. Some per.
sons VIII continue TO procure It. and some
WIN still get drunk. But some who now
procure 1t whenever they want it, will be
fewer will drink and fewer ret drnnk
rhls will be great gain. If only one.
fourth less liquor is sold and one.fourth
ieWer men get drunk, we shall have less- !
ened by onefourth the crime, the misery
ana the degradation which follow from
drinking. and are consequent upon
arunkenness. Such result would be
lhcaicuiable gain-gain to the drinkers,
gain 70 their families, gain to our com.
m,unity, gain to everybody except the bar
keepers, the wholesale dealers and the
manufacturers. 1t would be loss only to
those who are fattenipg on the crime, the
distress, the ruin, of men women and
children. AS we learn the tricks OF those
who sell, We can, by more stringent laws
ana closer watchfulness lessen still more
the amount of liquor sold, and decrease
the amount OF evil resulting therefrori.
In time, believe we can make prohibi.
tion prohibit.
2. Another point will be gained by the
passage OF prohibition Act which I
consider Of far greater importance. We
Shall make liquor-selling unlatgfui; we
shai! put it under the ban Of the law, and
we shall make the man who sells LIQUOR,
be he saloon-keeper or druggist, a Ia,u.
6reaker. That will be agreat point gained.
Whenever you can get thing condemned
by law. you bring the doer Of II, under
the condemnation of all law-loving and
law-abiding citizens. And this will be
true even of those citizens who may not
at first disapprove Of the act, and who
may to certain extent be in sympathy
with the actor. Fc: little while preiu.
dice may blind good citizen, and SYM
pathy may lead him to condone an offence
against the law, and even to defend Il.
but sooner or later his better judgment
VIII come into play, and he will uphold
law and condemn law-breaking. He will
condemn an unlawful act, not because he
considers 1t wrong In itself. but simply
and solely because it is aniawfitI-becapse
it violates the law of tho land. For ex-
ample-'moonshining," as the unlicensed
making Of wbiskey is called, is, per SC, no
more morally wrong than the licensed
making of 1t is. Yet you and I, my read
or, notwithstanding any sympathy we
may have felt for special individuals, you
aud do look on moonshiners as out flaws.
Why7 Simply because they are doing
untaigfutiy just what others may do--law-
fully. C., distill liquor. That which
makes them criminals is that they are
doing 1t In violation Of the laws. So will
we all come. gradually, to look upon the
saloon-keeper or druggist, who sells liquor
contrary to katp. He will become in our
view an outlaw, as much SO as the moon
sinner. and for us to buy liquor from him
will soon seem to us participation in
!awlessness. Decent. respectable, iaw.lov-
ing people will, as soon as prejudice wears
away little, come to look on the pur-
chase OF liquor from ssloon.keeper or
druggist who is selling in violation of
law, in the same light as they now do on
its purchase from "lnoonshlne" wagon.
My fellow citizens, though we may not
be able, all ut once to stop the sale of
liquor in our city, let rs at least make its
sale nnlnwful and those who sell it law
breakers. Let us put the condemnation
of the law upon the sale and sellers, anu
the condemnation cfthe whole community
will follow in time. r this accursed
traffic does still I've in our midst, let us
at least make 1t hide itself and let us
brand it as LAwLEss.