The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1885-08-14

what he should eat or drink. The
fact is cnticcments TO deviatc from
the straight and narrow way abound
every day on every hand, drunken
ness being one, but it is mems duty
to avoid them one and all, and te
persist in pursuing the one straight
course. 1t is Il common thing for
evil doors, when about TO suffer
punishment for their evil deeds, to
attempt to excuse themselves by
laying all the blame on drink. That
is but a lame attempt at eXculpation.
They should not have taken the first
steps in vice and crime, or having
taken them, should have retraccd
them on discovery Of their down.
ward course. 1t was not drink that
led them astray, but their own aban-
donment of judgment and reason,
1t is for self-help and the govern
ment of the appetites and passions
that reason is given to man. 1t is
for the same purposes that he is
educated. Those evil doors just
now mentioned, if they did not de-
liberately and intentionally go as
tray, fell by self-indulgencc, for
getting that self-controll is duty to
be practiced by every man. 1t is
preposterous to propose the punish
ment of the whole community for
the weaknesses or offenses of some
individuals. Those who undertake
it will sooner or later discover that
they have on their hands Il task
which they will never succeed IN
mastering.
1t has been said and repeated
hundreds of times by the advocates
of compulsory total abstinence, so
often indeed that it would be I'M
charitable not to believe them sin
cere, that those who partake of
fermented liquors, Hawailans in par
ticular, destroy themselves thereby,
that this addition has caused the
rapid decrease in the population that
has been going on since the advent
of civilization to these islands; and,
therefore, that it is the duty of every
one to obstain in order that the
cursed article strong drink, liquid
damnation as it has been called by
would-be ultra reformers, should be
for ever banished from these so to be
| blessed shores. Fallacious reason
| ing on mistaken statement Of facts.
| 1t is not drunkenness but a totally
| different vice that has reduced this
people to q mere fraction of what it
was at, the commencement of this
century. Those who have lived
among the people can tell u differ
cnt tale. Where drunkenness has
killed it's units RIGHTEOUSNESS has des-
troyed its hundreds or thousands. 1t
has been pitiable to see healthy
young persons who should have pro-
| longed their lives for decades of
| years, fall like leaves by the wayside
and disappear from sight from the
unmistakable effects of this vice,
leaving none to represent or succeed
| them.
Why, it was but the other day
that permission to use fermented
drinks was granted to native Hawai-
ians. How then is it that if prohi-
biton is blessing to be followed by
good results, these results have not
already been found here, when for
forty or fifty years, as regards ma
tives, it has had unlimited sway, but
where, as we have seen, the popula-
ton has decreased one-half in half
a century or little more. During a
great part of this time natives, espc-
cially in country places, have been
to certain degree abstainers, but
still the dreadful mortality went on.
1t is true that now and then in
country districts numbers would join
and 60 through an orgie on ferment-
ed oranges or other fruit vegetable
it has also been said that scenes of
the most atrocious character, so foul
as to be totally unfit for description,
were enacted in Honolulu itself,
caused by the furtive illicit consump,
ton of vile compounds made and
sold by unprincipled men most OF
whom were foreigners. But these
impurities were a direct consequence
of the prohibitory law. Happily
they are past, the remembrance OF
them only remaining. The numerous
stills which were dotted over the
country were also consequence Of
the same law, but from them, to the
benefit of public morality, we have
good reason to believe the island OF
Oahu has been lately freed. How
can this be accounted for but by the
legalizing of the sale of these liquors
on this island. Will not, therefore
the legalizing of the sale on thu
other islands have similarly bene
fetal effect? This question deserves
consideration. Honolulu and it