The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-04-02
TEMPERANCE DEPARTMENT.
EDITED BY THE WOMEN IS CHRISTIAN TEN
PERANcE UNION.
OUR MOTTO FOR GOD AND HOME AND
NATIVE LAND.
INTEAIPERANCE,
BYP. A. ROSS.
PART III.

sons to sell liquor, yet, in the light of hui
mainly and religion, they are the direct
agents in the destruction of mankind. BY
legislating those places of drink into <ex-
istence, the aWproduces and countenances
the greatest scourge that ever blighted a
nation.
Inasmuch that the trainers of this same
law having failed to enact those measures
which would have speedily destroyed the
liquor traffic, are thereby accessories to the
spread of the blistering pestilence of rum.
The present statutes which provide
the enactment OF payment for the priv
ilege of dealing in ardent spirits. and that
privilege to be granted to no one except
those who, upon the testimony Of sworn wit
nesses. are adjudged competent to engage
in the business, are only intended to pre-
vent promiscuous traffic in liquor and to
create field from which to gather revenue.
They have no tendency whatever to the
final eradication of this king of evils
We make this aggressive and specific
reference to show that the present iniqui-
tous license system is the prime source
from which springs the baneful presence
and to which is so directly chargeable the
deplorable results of liquor. Until that is
abolished there will be 10 complete eN-
termination Of the liquor traffic.
In order to secure legislation for the
suppression Of the manufacture and sale
Of liquor, we insist that it is the incum-
bent duty Of every man who fayors the
Temperance Cause, in the exercise Of his
rights as fireman, to positively refuse to
aid in elevating any man to any position
who is in concert with the liquor traffic.
He should vote for no man who will not
appropriate the prerogatiyes of his Office and
boldly and persistently champion those
laws which will conduce to the full relief
and personal welfare of his constituents.
Through nominations made by them
selves, Temperance Associations must send
men from each district to the halls of
government who are backed by other than
bar-room influences, and who are neither
the pliable pets Of groggeries, nor the ODE
dent servants of whiskey-r ings.
If they ever expect to accomplish the
overthrow Of Intemperance, they must
assist in electing only those men who are
i'll sympathy with their cause and who
themselves, believe in Prohibition.
In thus voting, only men who are
willing and DESTROYS Of relieving I; bur-
dened people will be dignifed by an en-
trustment with the vital interests of a
Commonwealth. The sooner the temper
ance people recognize this cardinal prin-
ciple, the sooner will the drink traffic ex-
pire.
The ultimate triumph of the Temper
ance movement is in the hands of the peo-
pie. The conflicting parties are arrayed
for battle. On one side are God and
home and native land on the other, the
devil and his angels and hell. Take sides,
show your true colors, display your man
hood and fight for the faction you espouse.
This land would present far different as
pect to-day, had Christian and Temperance
men long since labored and voted as they
prayed. We are now gathering the bitter
fruits of endeavoring to serve God and
Mammon at the same time.
The surging streams of liquor will re-
ceive no permanent estoppel except by the
total destruction of their execrable sources.
And should q subject freighted with SO
much Importance to all creation ae neg
lected? Should q malady Of so fatal Il ma
ture be left to its own devices +? Should so
vicious a monster be permitted to stife
and devour every one it marks for its vic
tim /? Should q business which degrades
and ruins our children be allowed to live
and flourish? Finally, should not the de-
mon which strangles virtue and begets i'm
morality be condemned and crushed I.
Every day one comes in contact with
some face upon which Intemperance has
set its scorching signet, marring and stain
ing it's lineaments.
Is a man who is soaked and saturated
with liquor fit for physical labor, capable
OF mental exertion, useful as social COM
panion, dignit fed as a moral example If
not, and he as not. then he is only suitable
as an associate for those scions of vice
who reyel with delight in gross immoral
ity, Kissing vulgarity and loud-mouthed
blasphemy. Thus whiskey-drinking places
man outside Of the sphere which makes
him blessing to his ace-puts him be-
You'd the fartherest limit Of usefulness.
This worthless condition is not gener-
ally the studied choice OF the victim. but
is always the direct tendency Of liquor-it
flows III no other channel-it produces no
contrary effects. 1t would be as utterly
impossible for an unrestrained, habitual
drlnker to desist from forsaking God and
home and wading in filthy scums, as it
would be to cap the mouth of a belching
volcano, OF to dam up rushing river with
tiny straws.
10 drink liquor is as natural to man as
the temptation to taste the forbidden fruit
was Irresistible to Eve. Even the sight or
smell Of liquor instinctiyely begets clam
oiang desire to drink, and earnestly did
the royal moralist, when considering the
inherent proclivities Of carnal man to run
INTO SIN, exclaim, Avoid it, pass not by
It, turn from it and pass away
View it as you may, whisl1ey dealing
has not the least semblance Of commenda-
ton. No honor attached to it, no re-
deemlng quality coupled with it, no bless
ings produced by it, but, on the contrary.
IT. ropagates every species of crime, every
degree of shame, misery and want.
1t is very prolific of luxury and elegance
and ease to its corpulent vendors, but
equally so of sweat and agony and blood
to its pitiable victims.
When Temperance people shall have
rooted out this fearful drink traffic they
will endeayor
"By virtues precepts to control
The thirsty cravings of the souI.''