The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-09-24
. .ARI0H.
Prohibition.

LEXINGTON, MISS, Sept. ., 1904.
EDITOR CLARION: In the issue 0
your paper dated August q, there is al
article on prohibition which excels any
thing | have ever read on that subject
/ have read many articles for and agains
prohibition, but this seems to have in i
the very essence of spite and hatred
toward everybody who fayors prohibi
ton.
The writer who calls himself Fabius
says he was never drunk and never ex
poets to be- | would ask, do you drink
do you love your dram, either at home
or at the saloon.
Fabius says he is opposed to prohibi
ton because it is an ally of Radicalism.
II Is no such thing. Neither is it Radi-
calism in disguise Why? Because the
leaders of prohibition in Mississippi are
solid Democrats. See Watson, Nugent,
Inge, etc. If the Democratic party is a
whiskey party, if it espouses the cause
of the whiskey traffic, then | am no lon
ger a Democrat. The Democratic party
then becomes an enemy to the social
and educational welfare of our country.
Your correspondent attempts to illus
trate the wrong principle of prohibition
by saying that an old farmer muzzled
all his cattle because old Pidy sucked
herself. Is it true that ninety-nine of
every hundred men drink and only one
gets drunk? No; ninety-nine men of
every hundred who drink will get drunk
where only one drinks in moderation.
Is whiskey a comfort? Is it blessing?
How many men in hell to-day would
say to the contrary!
Fabius says it is a spirit of fanaticism
led by a few fanatical preachers, who
would carry the world to heaven by the
hair of the head, etc. / know great
many preachers, but | don't know any
such as Fabius describes. (There may
be some negro preachers to whom he
alludes, but / know of no white ones.)
Ahl Fabius, the preachers don't
want to fill their churches with un-
godly men and incarnated devils, mere
ly to have an easy time and a fat
salary. You know (f you know
anything about church matters) that
preaching is not a lucrative vocation.
No soul-loving minister ever grew rich
in this worlds goods working for the
Master. 1t is not their aim to grow
rich. As intelligent and competent as
| know most of them to be, they can fill
almost any position in life; and were
they not impressed to work as ministers
in the Masters vineyard, they might
make thousands and grow rich. Fabius
says prohibition is that same oyer-bear-
ing spirit that caused the North to rise
up in arms and abolish slavery, though
it cost the livessof million citizens.
Please remember, Fabius, that the di-
rect cause of the Civil War was the
secession of the South, and the North
believed they must rise in arms and
drive US back to save the Union.
Fabius says it saps the foundation of
liberty. What is liberty? Liberty per-
mits no injury. If you put up a saloon
near my door, and my boy frequents
your saloon, and drinks, learns to swear
and play cards, would you not expect
me to do all in my power to close the
saloon? You say, keep your boy at
home. How? might lock him up in
a room as | would a thief or a murderer,
but would not that be taking away his
liberties? You are in favor of liberty.
Liberty to destroy? Liberty to ruin ?
Is that liberty? Away with it. If /
have a right to drink, ! may get drunk
while exercising that right, and while
drunk may sell the last thing possess
to get more whiskey, may beat my wife
and maltreat my children; then | ask,
is that liberty? No.
Fabius says God is not a prohibition
list. Then why did he drive Adam and
Eve from the garden of Eden? Because
they abused their liberties, he separated
them from the source of temptation. |
Now, men have abused their privileges /
and the Prohibitionists only wish to do |
Just what God did; to-wit: separate |
them from the temptation. He says
Christ was not a Prohibitionist. Fabius
must read about that wine again. He
says when the guests had exhausted
their supply of the sparkling fluid,
Christ made them more wine. The
Bible don't say so. He turned the
water to wine to be taken in a sacred
and not drank as a beverage.
The Savior never for once taught that
drinking as beverage was allowable.
But the most Himsy argument ! ever
read is that the absence Of thing shar
pens ones appetite for that thing.
Topers tell different tale. If they de.
sire to reform, they get as far from
whiskey as possible. Many man has
been ruined by being persuaded to take
only social glass. One drink demands
another, until the man Is overcome.
Abstain from all appearance Of evil. j"
The Prohibitionists have come to stay.
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