The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1885-02-25
The Evils of Whisky.-No- II.

are almost wholly supported by til
license tax paid by the saloon keeper
While il is true that a considerable par
of our free school fund is derived from
the privilege tax paid by the whisk.
vendor, yet it is also fact that he add
on the tax in the price of the whisky, an,
the people who purchase the whisk.
/ pay it at last. Not only so, but they
pay the saloon keeper a bonus of abou
seyenty-fiye per cent. profit on his whis
/ XIV. Why not, then, instead of giving
4 the privilege tax to the saloon keepe
! for him to pay it into the treasury fo
you, hand it directly to the tax collector
yourself and save this seventy five pc
cent. profit?
/ 1t is contended still further by thes,
advocates of saloon shops that prohibi
tion Will not put an end to the sale oi
whisky. To this reply that the law:
against murder have never put an ere
to murder; but that they greatly abatt
the evil, none will question. In the
States of Maine and Kansas, where they
have prohibitory laws, it is the testi
mony of the highest authorities, such
as the Governors of both States, that
there is less whisky drank in those
States than any other places of the same
size on the globe.
That the use of intoxicating liquors
has been fraught with almost infinite
injury TO our country no sane and un-
biased mind would dare to question
after a moments reflection. Neither
the tongue Of the orator or the pen of
the poet can portray to you a picture
that would even approximate the wretch
edness, misery and wee which have fol
lowed in its bloody march. OF the ten
thousand battles which have been
fought, of all the fields fertilize1 with
carnage, of all the banners which have
been bathed in blood, there are none
which present to the mind a spectacle
more shocking than the one presented
by this vile and abUminable evil. Il
makes mockery of free elections and
is the chariot in which the corrupt and
debased politician rides into Office. 1t
fosters crime, foments rebellion and
clothes thousands of our citizens in the
habiliments of woe. 1t fills our peni-
tentiaries, crowds our county jails,
swells the inmates of our lun ttic asy
lums, defies law, curses God and rejOices
in its triumphs. 1t disturbs our tran
guilty, swallows up in its ghastiy crater
our national wealth, says to the heart
broken wife, eve heed not your misery"
and drags down into the jaws of he'll its
countless votaries. 1t brings woe, not
veal; ignorance, not knowledge; death,
not life; hell, not Heaven. OF the
groans and walls of orphans and wives,
no tongue can tell, no pen can ite.
Eternity alone can tell their dismal and
wailing story.
The evil pervades the entire mass of
society and preys like yenomous worm
upon the very vitals of our country. 1t
hurls its thunderbolts directly at our
national intelligence and morality, and
in so doing endangers the very founda
ton upon which our national fabric is
erected. 1t is hanging like deadly
incubus upon our national happiness
and prosperity. Its ravages have ex-
tended into the fair circles of society
and robbed it of its most p ecious jewels,
Just as the young men of the country
enter the threshold of knowledge, just
as they are prepared to enter upon the
great arena of action they are carried
away captive by this great enemy OF the
human race. You have all, my readers,
either experienced or seen homes made
hell, the cause OF Christianity dis
graced, and the interest of country neg
lected on account of an evil more terri
BILE than death and as much TO be dread
ed as hell. | thank God that of late
there has been an effort on the part of
the people to resist this widespread
evil. / thank God that the States OF
Maine. New Hampshire, Vermont, Iowa
Nv
tiyes, have prohibited the sale of intox-
icating liquors within the pale OF their
jurisdiction. My readers, if you would
not have your names handed down to
posterity as having been greatly derelict
in your duty to yourself. to your coun
try and to your God you must abandon
this diabolical practice; you must resist
this widespread evil; you must place
your heels upon this enemy of your
race, this enemy of God and this enemy
of your country.
In the language of distinguished
author: "Intemperance cuts down youth
in its vigor, manhood in its strength
and age in its weakness. 1t breaks the
fathers heart, bereaves the doting moth
er, extinguishes natural affection, grasses
conjugal love, blots out filial attach
ment, bIights parental hope and brings
mourning age in sorrow to the grave.
1t produces weakness, not strength;
sickness, not health; death, not life.
1t makes wives, widows; children, or
phans; fathers, fiends; and all of them
paupers and beggars. 1t feeds rheuma-
tism, nurs es gout, welcomes epidemics,
invites cholera, imports pestilence, and
embraces consumption. 1t cevers the
land with idleness, poverty, disease and
crime. 1t fills your jails, supplies your
aims houses and demands your asylums.
1t engenders controversies, fosters quar-
rels and cherishes riots. 1t crowds your
penitentiaries and supplies the victims
for your scaffolds. 1t is the life-blood of
the gambler, the aliment of the bur
glar, the prop of the highway man and
the support of the midnight incendiary.
1t countenances the liar, respects the
thief and esteems the blasphemer 1t
violates obligations, reverences fraud
and honors infamy. 1t defames beuev-
oleace, hates love, scorns virtue and
ISLANDERS innocence. 1t incites the father
to butcher his helpless offspring, helps
the husband to massacre his wife and
aids the child to grind the parricidal
axe. 1t burns of mau and co Isumes
women, detests life, curses God, and
despises Heaven. 1t suborns witnesses,
nurses perjury, defies the jury box and
stains the judicial ermine. 1t bribes
votes, disqualifies voters, corrupts cleo
tions. poliutes institutions and endan-
gers our government. 1t degrades the
citizen, debases the legislature. eishono-s
the statesman and disarms the patriot.
1t brings shame, not honor; terror, not
safety; despair, not hope; misery, not
happiness; and with the malevolence of
fiend it calmly surveys its frightful
desolations, and unsatiated with havoc
it poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins
morals, blights confidence, Stays repu "a
ton and wipes out national honor. then
curses the world and laughs at its ruin
There, it 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
bes. friend, and Gods worst enemy
What glorious land we would have
should the canse of Prohibition univer-
sally triumph in this country, How
pure would be our elections, How
great our national wealth, How untar-
nished our fame! How grand our ciyi
lizationl The clouds of degradation and
corruption which bedim the lusttr of
this great Western sun would soon van
ish and it would shine with brilliancy
that would amaze the nations of earth.
In our political armament around Wash.
ington as their great and grand center,
would be gathered constellation of
philosophers, poets and sages more beau
! tiful than the constellation of Greece or
the galaxy of Rome. Let not the Pro-
hibitionists of Mississippi, bv their