Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-03-13
poys PROHIBITION PRonigIT'
a Most serfou. Question Calmly nna
pfspassiopateIy Answered.
RICHMOND, March III, 1886.
To The Editor of he Dispatch !:

Dfspasstopateiy Ans"cfe"'
RICHMOND, March IL, 1886.
To The Editor of the Dispatch:
Local option is in the air. We hear
the murmur Of the gathering clans, and
We are told Of the levy of the sinews
Of war. We presume, therefore, that
the day is not distant when the friends
of this measure will become clamorous
TO test its merits and demand that the
sense of this already distracted city be
taken upon the question Of its adoption
Permit us TO say at the outset that
we range ourselves under the loerai
banner of temperance and moderation
in all things, but utterly disown that
species Of Phai isaical temperance waich
" strains at the gnat and swallows the
camel" or
.Compouuds for sins they are inclined to.
BY dainnlDg those they have no mlhu 10
1t is proper that We should approach
this question in gentle moderation, ana
with due regard to the lights of expe-
rience which have not been hid under
a bushel; and if we shall be found al
variance with the advocates OF this mea-
sure our antagonism will be, rot 20
temperance itself, but to the fai'a;io1;
methods by which it is sought. We
cannot discuss it as if the manufacture
ard sale of malt and spirituoui LIQUORS
were crimes per Sc, or an offence
against the wellbeing Of society which
should be visited with the torrors OF
ostracism and the pains OF MANY
Neither can we approach it from the
high plane of Christian morality with
out due reverence to that first miracle
in Cana Of Galilee, when
~The conscious water saw It's God and
b!ushed.'
Will the advocates Of prohibition have
MS turn our faces to the light and glad
den our hearts in contemplating the
victories which this method has secured
in other nations and in other States:
Alas where is this victory, and who
shall number this mighty host of the
redeemed: 1t is not hey 0nd cayll that
in Maine and in other States where
prohibition has had full sway time and
again that its effect in diminishing this
traffic is not commensurate with the
deceit and hypocrisy which it has en-
eendered? We cannot escape this con
clusion. however hastily we scan the
secular press of the day; but if the
advocates OF this measure are blind to
the straws which I'LL the air and show
the direction Of the current, we beg to
direct their attention to the following
item from the Nation Of February %,
1886:
"Saco IS a Maine town Of $3.50 peo-
pie, which used to be as free from DIS
ease as other places Of similar size.
The prohibitory law of Maine forbids
the sale of liquors except for iAechani-
cal or medicinal purposes and estab-
fishes in every large town an agency
for their sale for such purposes. At
recent temperance meeting in Saco
official statistics were presented, show
ing that in 300 days 10000 prescrip
uons drinks were put up at the local
liquor agency, being an average OF
eighty a day. The effect of prohibit
ton upon the public health evidently
demands investigation. In the days
Of Noah the juice oft the vine vas drunk !;
and the Wise Man hath predicted
:" The thing that hath been, it is that
which shall lie and that which is done
is that which shall be done
But, apart from the fallacious method
we are asked to adopt, we are solicited
to engage in an arbitrary and tyrannical
crusade against 4 business, an Occupa-
ton, which has existed from time i'm
memorial in all civilized communities,
under the sanction and protection Of
lava business a. legitimate and law
full as any in which man can engage,
and which has not been deemed UNI
worthy even Of the hOnor5 Of knight
hood in that most Chrstian of countries,
England. We are asked, in the light Of
experience, to try a method foredoomed
to failure, and in the face Of decision
lust rendered in the United States Cir
cult Court at Topeka, Kan, in which it
is held that the State is bound TO in
demnify individuals for losses resulting
from the passage Of a prohibtory law.
If We are to learn anything from the
history Of our race, it must teach rs
that prohibition in this city can only
insure deceit. hypocrisy, inferior liquor,
and high prices. y.