The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1885-01-08

mere HS6u O0 no OrOuD1e HuaG-
ever in exterminatiBg the whisky
business. Rum is not half SIS
strong as imagined and can be east
ly handled as any one Of the innu
merable curses that the good of hu-
manity demands the law shall take
hold of. The liquor traffic has no
real strength, and its existence is
only assured by tie cowardice OF it's
opponents. In the cities of the
country it has maintained its place
through the party organizations by
adroitly holding its vote in hand,
and keeping it in readiness to
throw as q mass on the side of the
party that would give it the best
terms, but in the country it Is not
strong enough, numerally, to have
any real power.
All that is necessary to, not re-
strict but wipe it out, is the organi-
zation of the people who oppose it,
irrespective of party lines. Could
there be an honest combination Of
those who hold that the sale of in
toxicants is an evil, and who be-
lieve that they have the legal right
to destroy it, they would be aston
ished at the ease with which 1t
would be accomplished.
Why should not the good people
of any county combine to this end?
What are they to loose by it2
w hat influence in business, society,
or anything else, have these pirates
of the beer spigot? What business
can injure, or what earthly influence
can they WELD anything, except
on election days?
The business men of the coun try
should be the first to take hold of it.
The country merchant has dollar
and cent interest in this matter, and
he should make it his business to
lead in all movements for crushing
out the liquor traffic, for it is the
worst opposition he has. One prom
inent democratic merchant in Otta-
wa county, Ohio, astonished the de-
mocracy by voting for the prohibit
tion amendment in 1888. When
asked why he did it, his answer
was:
Because, the money of the coun-
ty is being absorbed by the whisky
and beer shops. Every bad account
on my books l can trace directly to
beer. The beer shops get what is
due to me. The amount paid out
for whisky and beer is just that
amount taken from my trade. The
drunkard, and the county is full Of
them, don't buy hats, boots, cloth
ing or food to any extent. His
wife gets but very little that l sell,
for neither she or her children are
properly fed or clothed. 1t has
mortgaged the farms of men who
owe me, who, when they did not
drink, used ten times the goods
they do now, and always paid for
them. The number of drinking
places is increasing so rapidly that
unless the business is destroyed it
is only a question of time when
they will absorb the county. l
voted for prohibition in self de-
fense."
He was right and his manly
statement of the truth swelled the
vote of the county for prohibition
to more than respectable proper
tions.
All that is necessary to carry
prohibition triumphantly is for
determined men to take hold Of
the matter and organize their coun-
ties in the interest of prohibition.
The Temperance organizations, use
full as they are, cannot accomplish
prohibition alone, because they lack
the numerical strength. The par
ties cannot do it as they are now
organized, for they allow the liquor
interest to get between them, and
give it the balance of power in al
most all the states.
It must be done by the organize
tiou of citizens, led by practical
business men, on a non-partisan
basis. All who are opposed to
liquor selling must agree to act to-
gether on that question, and differ
as widely as they choose on all
others. Here is a giant evil to he
killed, and to kill it it must be at
tackled by the people whom it is de-
vouring, and armed with the weap-
ons fitted for such warfare. When
they engage in q struggle they
must not be handicapped with other
questions. Tariff and anti tariff
men must stand shoulder to shoul-
der against rum; greenback and ma
toinal bank meu, all in fact who
hate the liquor traffic, must be
permitted 10 come together on this
one question, and be given an OPP
portunity to deliver a blow at it di-