The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-01-05
WHO HAS AN INTEREST IN RUM ?

WHO HAS AN INTEREST IN RUM 2
There are those who consider the rum
question as one affecting only the man
who drinks and the man who sells. There
never was greater mistake. Every
person in community has an interest,
a direct, vital interest in every man who
drinks and every man who sells the
drink. 1t is everybody's business
whethe.' liquor is drank or not. The use
of intoXicants by any one concerns the
entire community.
Turn a mad-dog loose in the streets
and the entire community hastens to
destroy it, because its very existence is
a menace to the community. A rum
seller in a community, so far as pow
er for damage goes, is worse than a
dozen mad-dogs One dog may De
killed and his power for evil ceases; the
rum-seller stays.
1t does make difference in COM
munity whether or not man supports
his family decently and properly.
Whether man is a useful citizen or a
burden upon other citizens is matter
of interest to every one in the COM
munity in which he resides. Whether
man brings up his children to indus
trious and virtuous habits, or launches
them upon the sea of life as pirates, to
prey upon others, is matter of very
much moment to everybody.
When a man sits down to the business
of Misunderstanding he has established
a school for beggary and crime. His
business is to implant in as many men
and boys as possible an appetite to graf
ify which not only takes the entire pro-
ceeds of their labor, but units them for
labor at all; an appetite so powerful
that when labor will not supply it, it
compelS its victims to resort to crime.
1t is a business which, inasmuch as its
victims can not support their families,
throws the burden of their support upon
tina community at large 1t is a bust
ness which not only makes courts of
justice necessary, but is the foundation
stones of the alms-houses and the iails.
Who ever knew drunkard to occupy
decent dwelling, or to pay rent
promptly for the miserable hovel which
he invariably inhabits?
Who ever knew the wife of a drunkard
to make purchases of any amount, OF
dress goods for the clothing of herself
and children
How many children of drunkards are
kept out of school for want of decent
clothingP and, for want of proper cdu-
cation, what percentage of them grow
up into manhood and womanhood, TO-
norant, depraved and vicious?
From what classes come the depraved
the thieves, the street rullians and
the gamins who naturally graduate into
crime?
There can scarcely be found crlml-
nal who can not trace his education in
crime to rum.
There is scarcely a case of restitution
that requires public interference that
rum is not the cause Of
The regular, almost universal plea
of murderers in eXtenuation of their
crime is: 81 was drunk when did it. -
The breweries and distilleries, and
their lieutenants, the keepers of rum
| shops, are directly responsible for nine
ty per cent. of all this misery and death.
They do not wait for their victims to
come to them-they 90 out and seek
them. In the city of Toledo there are
six hundred regular rum-shops, and
counting the houses of infamy, the
gambling dens and other places of like
character that depend directly upon
rum as the foundation of their business,
the number will reach eight hundred.
As bad, as widespread as is the drink
ing habit, one hundred would fully sup
ply the natural demand for liquors.
How do the other seven hundred make
a living?
They create a trade in the horrible
stuff they deal in. They 90 out. and
pull in victims. They stop the labor
ing man on his way home. They en-
tice him out of house evenings, they
search out boys and initiate them in the
habit, knowing full we'll that once fixed
it is almost impossible to break it, and
that once in their hands they have a
| mortgage on him forever.
There are exceptions, honorable ones,
but they are few in number. The
whisky business, as rule, is in the
hands of a class who are utterly regard
| less of the effect of their hideous trade
| upon others. As rule they sell in
differently to the drunken man who
can barely stand before the bar, and to
the precocious boy or drunken woman.
They sell to whomsoever has money to
pay, even though they know that the
tumbler-full swallowed at eight is to
eventuate in murder at nine.
And this same reckless disregard OF
the public good runs through the whole
business. The brewers wagon stops
with the same regularity before MUIR
| der-den or, thieves resort as before a
respectable saloon, and the vilest OF
them can secure their supplies from
wholesale concerns. The only question
asked is concerning pay. 1t is a bust
ness from first to last without a con
science. 1t is a business that ruins the
drink-buyer, soul and body, and leave,
the seller almost as badly wrecked. II
is a soul-searing, pity-eradicating, feel
ing hardening business, one which
knows neither remorse nor shame. Ii