The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1886-02-06
5tad'ss- 4" literature and Bios''pAs.
An Original WING Feature.
FALLACIRS OF HIGH LICENSE.


FRANCES f. WIIINRD, PRESIDENT OF y.
y. {. T. L.
Henry Clay said, "N hat the law calls
property is property Law is the
mighticst educational force in nature.
The chiid's first todding step is study
of the great law of gravitation and his
! first fail a Relation of it's changeless
| penalty. l. is Just the same in society.
! Laws of conduct, manner, etiquette,
with imexorabie penalties attached, envi-
ron every human being at every step.
| 1t is the same i'll what we learn from
books, art. travel; our whole life is a
study of law. Indeed. we study nothing
else from first to last for the very good
reason that there is nothing else to
! study. In worldly sense is cur educa-
tor to bring us up from weakness to
strength; in a spiritual sense it is ''our
school master 10 bring us to Christ"
| All laws on human statue books should
| be to related TO humanity's veal as were
| thpSe from Sinai: they should set up
right standards; they should level up,
not down; they should never justify the
wicked for a reward; they should never
! recognize as property to be protected
any commodity that introduces and per-
petuates IN the community disease, pow
erty and crime. For the law educates.
| 1t either clears or dims the moral sense.
| Hence it must set up the standard of
right, of truth and justice and thunder
III the ear of greed, that would glut its
| a cursed Selfshness upon the innocent
and weak, God-like Thou shalt not"
But besides being wholly wicked i'll
| principle, any form of license is pitiably
iucunscqurnt in policy. Take the false
and arrogant claim of license with the
misleading prefix "high,' which is the
latest device of Satan, who herein proves
his power, as many times before to de
ce:ve the very elect" That some good
men have been led away by its lying
promises makes this unhallowed method
of legislation all the more dangerous.
| But no temperance expert ill the natiCn;
no man CT woman who has made such
study of the principles involved as those
do whose lives are consecIated to tie
| greatest of reforms, has spoken one
word in favor of this worst of all metho DIS
for handling the liquor traffic. They
| know too we'll that thigh license Sokes
Mammon to the chario: wheels of King
Alcohol. 1t puts premium on the GU
| pidity of tax payers and lulls their con-
science to sleep with its siren song
make the traffic bear it's own burden"
unCii their dulled perception loses out of
SIGHT the fact that they have legaliZed a
tialia which will render at once mecca
sar5 the expense of almshouse, hospital.
! insane asy lum and penitentary, aud is
| fed 10y HE dcbauchery of their own chill
| dren. Moral chlorofurm thus admins
tered IN the form of poisoned gold, to a
| Il. y or il commonwealth, means its GER
tain degradation; the ruin which is no
! less intellectually than morally sure to
fail upon a people who ''call evil good
| and good evil; who put darkness for
| light aud light for darkness" OF all the
monopnl.es that are Il monopoly in SIN is
most to be dreaded and deplored. High
! license entails that monopoly, and along
with it the power to gid the hook of
lniquity with dazzling, tempting bait.
! + vsant surroundings and 'high-toned"
social standing are the devils most
! coveted allurements and high license as
suIcS them to the saloon as no other
method can. With concentration always
comes power and the political Influence
! of the liqnor traffic, now boastfully pre-
dominant in this republic rhere the side
/ a}rayS rims MW gets most c0tes, will
reach the height of an autocrary under
/ high license. AS has been said the tes-
| timony of our thoughtful temperance
/ specialists Is unanimous against this
measure. Hon. ii. w. Hardy, ex-may or
/ Of Lincoln, Nebraska, came to the Lake
| Bluff cunvocation, where a score of our
/ leaders we're gathered in August last.
I Tor the express purpose of giving us the
/ experience Of his own city, where, after
eight years. of trial, the high license law
which lie, i'll ignorant hope, helped to Sc
cure, is a complete and confessed failure
! He warned US with pathetic earnestuess
] 4 g.
/ prohibition, and his vehement protest is
/ echoed in the following statement from
the N,brdsLd Hethodit: That high H.
! cense has in the least curtailed the drink
/ lug customs of the people, no careful OBJ
server viii claim. |. has NJ more effect
on liquor selling and drinking than tax
on birthstone would have ON the condi-
ton of The lost" Snail we never get to
! the end OF this high license fallac,?
! Shall we never learn that not the acces
SORES 80 the sin of selling poison, US
! drink, hut M6 sin itself is what we must
J StIcHnusly oppose, prohibit and eventu-
ally blot cut? For instance, suppose We
/ =
! bling houses. Has the rattle of dice a
different sound in marble gambling
! palace from what it would have in a mud
cabin ? l. the decentralization l,sS
bee luse the table is mahogany
instead of pine Are the sui
cides that result from gambling fewer
! in proportion behind marble porticoes
| than wooden easements? 1t is the effect
! Of tie gan,b'iHg passion on brain and
! heart, on health and home that makes it
an uumlngled clrse. Its surroundings
have as little power to change that effect
| as have the clothes we wear to change
| the color of our eyes 1t is at this point
that the argument of our high license
! friends exhibits its faulty and folly.
The ouly real values possessed by the
state are its citizens, what ruins them,
| ruin the state. Now whiskey has pre-
cisey the same effect upon the citizen
whether it is poured from broken bot
tie or cut glass decanter. The worst
poison that ever gets into it is alcohol.
| lie may enter the place where it is sold
through il carved door or one made of
refuse lumber; he may stand before a
rose wood bar or one of unplaned boards
he may swallow the draught of which