The Brookhaven leader., 1884-01-10
WHO ARE INTERESTED!

There are those who consider the rum
question aS one affecting only the man
who drinks and the man who sells. Their
never was Il greater mistake. Every
person in Il community has an interest,
a direct, vital interest in every man who
drinks and every man who SELLS the
drink. 1t i everybody business
whcthc' liquor is drank or not The use
of intoNicants by any one concerns the
entire community.
Turn mad-dog loose in the streets
and the entire community haStens to
destroy it, because il, very existence is
Il menace to the community y rum
seller in community, 50 far rs pow
er for damage zoe, is worse than a
dozen mad-do9s. One dog may 1r
killed and his power .or Z. il cca,cS: the
rum-Sclicr stays.
1t does make difference in com
munity Whct or or not a man support,
his family decehtly and properly.
Whether man i useful citizen or Il
burden upon other citizens i a matter
of interest to every one in the com
munity in which he reside. Whether
a man bring, up his children to indus
trious and virtuous habits. or launches
them upon the sea of life Il, pirates, to
prey upon others, j. Il matter Of very
much moment To everybody.
When Il man >itS down to the business
of drunkard- making he ha> established
school for LegTary and CT me. His
business i, to impl1nr in a many men
and boys Is possible an appetite to @rat
ify which not only takes the cutirc pro
cccd~ of their labor. but units them for
labor at all: an appetite 50 powerful
that when labor will not supply it, it
compclS it, victims to resort To crime.
1t is Il business which, inaSmuch as its
victims can not Support their families.
throws the burden OF thcrSupport upon
tha community at large. II iS busi-
ness which not only makes courts of
justice necessary. but i the Foundation
stones Of the almS-hou,cS and the jailS.
Who ever knew drunkard to occupy
a decent dwelling, or to pay rent
promptly for the miserable hovcl which
he invariably inhabitS?
Who ever knew the wife of drunkard
to make purchases of any amount. of
dress goods for the clothing OF herself
and children?
How many children Of drunkards are
kcit out of school Tor want of decent
clothing? and, for want OF prope cdu-
cation, what percentage of them grow
up into manhoo and womanhood ig-
noront, depraved and vicious?
From what classes como the dcpravcd
the thieves, the street rullianS and
the gaminS who naturally graduate into
crime?
There can scarcely be found crlm-
nal who can not trace his education III
crime to rum.
There is scarcely ease of destitution
that requires public interference that
rum is not the cause Of
The regular. almost universal, plea
of murderrrs in eXtcnuation of their
crime is: Il was drunk when did it,"
The breweries and distlleries, and
their l.cutenants, the keepers of rum
shops, are directly responsible for nine.
Y Per cent. of all this misery and death.
Ttcy do not wait for their victims to
come to tham-they 90 out and seek
them. In the city of Toledo there are
six hundred regular rum-shopS, and
counting the houses of infamv. the
gambling dcns and other places of ike
character that depend directly upon
rum IS 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 tic natural demand for liquors.
How do the other seven hundred make
living?
They create trade in the horrible
stuf they deal in. They 90 out and
pull in victims. They stop the labor
inc man on his way home. They en-
tice him out of house evenings, they
search out boys and initiate them in the
h;rtit, 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
W isky hUs ness, as rule. is in the
hands of Il class who are utterly regard
less o. the eject 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 pre- ociouS 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
eventTate 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 a muir
der-dcn 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 bust
ness from first TO last without con-
science. II is business that ruins the
drink-buyer. soul and body, and leaves
the seller almost as badly wrecked. 1t
is soul soaring, pity-eradicating, feel
ing hardening business. one which