St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1885-11-28

babbling ? Who hath wounds withou
cause Who hath redness of the eyes
They that tarry long at the wine; they
that go to seek mixed wine."
Such was it's tendency and such itE
| efectin 1870, when Sir Matthew Hale
then England's Chief Justice, said j:
'The places of iudicature have long
held in this kingdom have given me an
opportunity to observe the original
cause of most of the enormities that
have been committed for the space OF
nearly twenty years, and by due obser-
alton Ibave found that if the murders
and manslaughters, the burglaries and
rObberies, the riots and tumults, the
adulteries, foundations, rapes and other
enormities that have happened in that
time, were divided into fVe parts, four
of them have been the issue and prod
uct OF excessive drinking, of tavern or
ale-house drinking"
What is there, then, either in th evil
itself or in the knowledge of it, that
serves to account for the recent ever
increasing interest in its suppression ?
We answer, as to the former, the GIGr-
ne5ng prevalence Of social drinking, eSpe-
c'Gtty among young men and IN our c0un-
try !; and, as to the latter, O. fuller
kaowyedge, through the za,cs Of kerec1;tu,
OF the phySacfIt, intellectual and moral
perUersio1ls Of alcoholism to reproduction
in Intensified form an posterity.
The revelations of science in this di-
rectlon have opened the eyes Of the
thoughtful and stimulated apprehenu
sion into alarm.
The very instinct Of self -preversation
Impels nation to suppress traffic
that before its very eyes, not slowly
evens but with alarming rapidity, is
sapDing the very foundation of that
nations llfe-the manhood of its citi-
zens.
Can the thinking citizen be silent
when science reveals to him the hOrri-
Bile fact that the nation of which he is a
responsible part, is bartering the man.
hood of it's unborn subjects for gold
Were he silent before such spectacle,
the very stones in our streets would cry
out.
We say, then, and few will dispnte lit
something must be done and tina,
speedily.
But we say further what a smaller
number will admit: the Something to
be donep is the suppression of the liq-
uor traffic.
Obviously, within the reasonable linn
its of this paper, the argument upon a
question so far-reaching can be but
b rely outlined.
The reasons are:
First, 1t is right. It is wrong for
nation to derive revenue from that
which curses and degrades it's own citi-
zens. 1t is right to suppress an evil
that strikes at the very sources of a ma
tlon's strength.
AS we'll might a parent enrich him
self from the gains of his children's
wantOnness, as for nation to subsist
upon the price of the horrors entailed
by the liquor traffic. It is morally right
to suppress it it is also legally right.
In the celebrated License Cases."
reported in 9th Howa ard, 504, in answer
to the argument of no less an advocate
than Daniel Webster, Chief Justice
Taney said:
If any State deems the retail and in
ternal traffic in ardent spirits Injurious
to its citizens, and calculated to pro-
duce idleness, vice or debauchery, see
in the Constitution Of the Unit
ed States to prevent it from regulating
or restraining the traffic, or from pro-
hibttiRg. it altogether if it thinks
proper
Cdlu CuSGlC6 MCL0dH @
If the foreign article be injurious to
the health or morals of the community
q State may, in the exercise of that
great and conservative police power
that lies at the foundation of it's pros
perlty, prOht6tt the sale OF it. !"
Said Juustice Catron:
81 admit as inevitable that if the
State has the power of restraint by Ii
0nnGnn IN nv+nnf chn hos
cretary power to judge of its limit, and
may go the length Of prohibiting sales
Said Justice Woodbury.
"The power to forbid the sale of
things is surely as extensive and rests
on as broad principles of public secnri-
ty and sound morals, as that to exclude
Dersons.n
Said Justice Grier
: 1t Is not necessary to array the aD-
palling statistics of misery, pauperism
and crime which have their origin in
the abuse of ardent spirits. The police
power, which is exclusively in the State
is competent to the correction of these
great evils, and all measures of res
traint or prohibition necessary to effect
chat purpose are within the scope Of
that authority
But, second, The suppression of the
liquor traffic is not only right, it is also
polite.
Convert four-ffths Of the cost Of the
and support of criminals,
1ine-tenths OF the cost of the support of |
oanpers, and eleven tWelfths Of the
expense of maintaining idiots, into the
School fund, and who can estimate the
benefits that would accrue to the State
through the enlightenment of it's citi-
Ieps 7
Devise some means by which the
earnings of the poor, now worse than
wasted in the dram shops, shall find ex-
preston in the home and all the associ-