South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1884-06-06
Xhoughts ON tina Prohibition
Question.
By A. c. CowoILL.

AND OF soarchin2 Investigation. The
greatest strides in intellectual advance.
ment that the world has ever witnessed.
has marked the epoch Of the nineteenth
centusy.skss NSsS.fs 90
Wonderful Developments have been
made In tho respective sciences with
valuable acquisitions thereto.
The wonderful inventive genius or A.
merica has surpassed that Of anv other
land. and while we have proQrsse ed ran.
idly intellectually ana scie nt: 6cal,v he.
yond what In the ages of the past had
been dres med Of. so religiously and n,or.
ally we have moved steadily onward.
The day ofracks and iuquisitions has
past. No more Is man scourged and
Persecuted for mere opinions sake. This
has all disappeared from our land, and
rises only In our memories IS q dream
Of the past.
Discordant sects which formerly had
no word IN common, and were divided
py yawning chasms OF crecds of men.
can now talk together on religious sub
Jects, worship together, &c, with more
traternai feeling than ever before. or
al these things we can truly be proud.
Thus far We have improved greatly NOR.
ally and religiously; bu. in this direc.
ton there is much yet to be done. and
one Of the greatest barriers that checks
the progress Of the world in this direc-
ton is the liquor trafii }, When our bes
men all over the land are falling victims
70 lntemperance Of this kind, blightinp
Their intellects. depriving them OF rea-
son, and Fastening them onward to meet
premature grave, as liquor is every day
uoing, We should stop in our rapid ca
reer and for once give this question n
passing thought or two. The question
ls, "Shall we prohibit the sale ard man-
ufacture of Intoxicating liquors excopt
Tor medicinal purposes p Many objec.
lions and arguments are raised az aipst
this question which we shall briefly no.
tlce; One suggests thai az this would
pIace the liquor altogether in the hands
OF the doctors--the doctors have their
friends and these friends have their
friends, and in This way We will have
just as much drinking as we had before.
vi course Legislators when they pass
laws against crime do not hold up their
HANDS and say: "but hold on, if we pass
THIS law we can not get honest men to
carry 1t out" Suppose the founders OF
our Government had reasoned in this
way. Men of good sound judgment do
not reason thus.
But we have always noticed that how.
ever brainy its advocates are, a bad
ctuse necessitates weak arguments, and
sometimes able men deal in commo di-
ties OIL this kind. If men are dishonest
In the eyes Of the law We can not be held
responsible. The principle was laid down
many hundred years ago, that she that
Is unjust in the least, ia unjust also in
much, and he that is faithful in that
which is least, is faithful also in much"
IL the trust of dealing out liquor as a me.
oicine is reposed in our doctors, and they
sell and deal it out indiscriminately to
any and everybody, sick or well, is it
any more than violation Of law? No
man can sell unless he take out licen Sc.
and yet We have heard Of doctors selling
without licensed Then if under the
nigh license law mel will sell whiskey
and tobacco, &C., without license in open
violation to law and not meet with their
just retribulion, why is il that if under
prohibition they do the same thing il
becomes so terrible? Then if in the for
mer law the offender meets his punish
ment which, in nearly every Gaze proves
eDeau1, why is IL that If prohibition were
enacted and the same punishment used
for violation precisely similar, why
does II Cthe puuishment) become inefec.
t"at? Now if there is anything in this
argument against prohibition, it bears
with equal emphasis against the high H.
cense law. Another objection aclins,
Prohio'tlon is that it will cause s,illing
on the sly, moonshiners, &c, &c. Well
we have only had prohibition in part in
our county, the only prohibition We have
had and which we remember with some
amusement, is, that when a moonshiner
was stilling in the mountains Of Gilboa.
IN the quiet moonshne OF plenteous au-
tumn, smoking his pipe, while he watch.
ed the cracking Ere, and listened to the
soothing kettle AS the fumes Of vapor
passed from IL through the coiling worm
carrying with 1t the seeds Of death !;
whlio thus pleasantly employed a reve-
nue. officer steals in upon him to break
his meditations, b7 the verification Of
the ancient prediction that "tbe seed az
VIZ "Ohioi ShtbiI the SGEDC0 nj
head" Consequently, the still worm or
ceiling serpent is severed from its native
still, choppcd in pieces by an axe or some
other weapon adequate TO the task, and
things generally made a wreck of; and
the distiller carried off in triumph 10 be
tried before some earthly Caesar. What
we wish to say in reference TO this. il.
that u under the present law We have
bad moonshinars aud disposed OF them
In This way,so under prohibition the same
disposition could DO made Of them
Hence this argument intended 20 bear
against the prohibitory law is only a
"moonshine argument"
Another objection is, that If prohibition
were enacted, it would take away thou.
sands of dollars from liquor dealers who
nave large investments in the business.
Ihs Mt first seems like n sort Of an ar
g1ment TO view it specifically, but when
examined, ~ will not stand tho test of
Criticism. In order 10 answer IL we will