Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-03-13
IngersOll ON Alcohol.

Col. Robert G. Ingersoll, in address,
ing jury in case which involved the
manufacture of alcohol, made the fol-
lowing terrible arraignment of the de-
mon. No one can gainsay its truth,
and no one can read it without a sbud-
| der:
| am aware that there is prejudice
against any man who manufactures all
cohol. believe that from the time it
issues from the coiled and poisonous
worm in the distillery until it empties
into the jaws of death, dishonor and
crime, it demoralizes everybody that
touches it, from its source to where it
ends. l do not believe that ANYBODY
can contemplate the Object without
being prejudiced against the liquor
crime All we have to do, gentlemen.
is to think Of the wrecks ON either bank
of the stream of death, of the suicides.
of the insanity, of the ignorance, Of the
restitution, of the little children tug
ging at the faded and withered breast of
weeping and dispairing mothers, of wives
asking for bread, or the men of genius
it has wrecked, the men struggling with
imaginary serpents, produced by this
devilish thing; and when you think of
the jails, of the almshouses, of the asy-
lums, of the prisons, of the scaffolds
upon either bank, do not wonder that
every thoughtful man is preiudiced
against this damned stuff called alcohol.
Incompetence cuts down youth in its
vigor, manhood in It's strength, old age
in its weakness. 1t breaks the fathers
heart, bereaves the doting mother, ex-
tinguishes natural affection, grasses con
jugal love, blots out filial attachment
blights parental hope, and brings down
mourning age in sorrow to the grave. 1t
produces weakness, not strength; sick.
nest, not health; death, not life. 1t
make wives widows, children orphans,
fathers fiends, and all of them paupers
and beggers. 1t feeds rheumatism,
nurses govt, welcomes epidemic, invites
cholera, imports pestilence and embraces
consumption. 1t covers the land with
idleness, misery and crime. 1t fills your
jails; supplies your almshouses and de-
mands your asylumsi II engenders con-
troversies, fosters quarrels and cherishes
riots. 1t crowds your penitentiaries and
furnishes victims for your scaffolds. 1t
is the life blood of the gambler, the eli
ment of the burglar, the prop of the
highwayman, and the support of the
midnight incendiary. In countenances
the liar, respects the thief esteems the
blasphemer. 1t violates obligation, rev.
erences fraud, and honors infamy. 1t
defames benevolence, hates love, scorns
virtue and ISLANDERS innocence. 1t in
cites the father to butcher his helpless
offspring, helps the husband massacre
his wife, and the child to grind the par
ricidal ak. 1t burns up men, consumes
women, detests life, curses God, despises
heaven. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses
perjury, defles the jury box, and stains
judicial ermine. 1t degrades the citi-
zen, debases the legislature, dishonors
statesmen and disarms the patriot 1t
brings shame, not dishonor; terror, not
safety; despair, not hope; misery, not
happiness, and with the malevolence
of fiend it calmly surveys its fright
full desolation and unsatisfed havoc; it
poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins NOR
ais, blights confidence, Stays reputa-
tons, and wipes out national honor,
then curses the world, and laughs at
its ruin. 1t does all that and more. 1t
murders the soul. 1t is the sum of all
villainies, the father of all crimes, the
mother of all denominations, the devils
best friend, and Gods worst enemy.