Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-12-16
THE SALOON QUESTION.
from q Temperance and Business
Stand Point.
Correspondence of the Ledger,

Az SSAokN L
previous announcement, undertook t,
solve the financial problem CROWN.
out of tie liquor question, licensed
saloons, Of course, being his hobby
His effort was as Illuminating q failur,
as Were his labors to form the %acouaint
ance with truth. He is wholly una
bic TO explain anything, much less tt
argue any matter of importance. FL,
has no continuity of thought, no &C
quaintance with either facts or pr.n
cipies-no more able to distinguish
between principles and accidents
causes and effects, than an infant, moi
even having memory enough to re.
member from day to day what he
says upon subjects most familiar tc
HIM. Wednesday night he was q
'lrglnlan, a part of the chivalry OF
the mother of presidents, into whose
army he entered and became a cap.
tain and q hero? Thursday night he
was the output of Indiana, reared in
court house, his father being sheriff
OF a county in that state through
which the waters of the Wabash flow
ed rapidly, making a waterway for
the transportation Of the only arti-
Giles OF commerce produced in that
part Of the state, lumber and
fruit, the other name for which is
hoop-poles and pumpkins, to market.
For an hour and half the Capt
ratified on, now shouting shop
license price of blood" then came
story about the tail end of n dog,
then 'the price of blood" flour
saloons in Mexico" "sixty-four hum
dred dollars per annum for the city,
purchase price Of blood" then, the
audience was paralyzei by a blood
cnrdllng story of a country auction
eef, who went out in March, cried a
sale, had excellent success, his en-
pIoYer paid the agreed price and then
gave him two dollars extra, after
which the auctioneer went home,
carried his treasure with him, had a
warm supper, and after which and
warming his feet, he and his wife
went to bed about nine o'clock of the
night, then, as if reinforced by this
story, the Capt" turned his artillery
upon the churches and church mem
bers OF the city. "Oh, We whited
sepulchres!' Oh, ye hypociites."
"Oh, ye Judases selling Christ for
S6,400?" -Four licensed saloopss"
What is S6,4O0 compared with the
price of a boy" strutting up and
down the stage and, looking as if he
was mentally saying, chow is that for
hight
This is a fair transcript of the
subject of the speech. The three or
ours.hundred school children who sat
it put and had heard this thing 30
often during the past ten days, would
have shouted chestnut with a COM
mon voice had they had the &C.
companying bells. During all this
harangue he not even intelligently
stated the subject he agreed to dis
cuss, nor did anybody else, for he
Will allow no citizen upon his platform,
less by understanding, even the
youngest boys and girls will see what
a sounding brass" The Capt" is
1t this important matter be discussed
at oil 1t must be through the columns
OF the LFDGER-the great free plat
form for truth and the right.
The underlying policy, the living
soul of the liquor laws of our state,
for the support Of which Capt"
Shields pledge obligates every signer
is that the use of liquors, as q bev-
erage, is an evil-a Nazareth. a
mean city, out of which no good
thing ever has or ever can come. As
well expect grapes from thorns or
figs from thistles as a single blessing
from making beverage out of liquors.
The fruits and harvest of such are
paupers, insanity, crime. making
absolutely necessary poor-houses, lu-
matte asyiums, jails-an army of iu-
dlelal and executive officers, all to be I
supplied, maintained and supported
by direct taxation upon the homes
aud farms and investments of the
b members of society, unless
some way could be devised to make .
the traffic pay its own pe%cuniary costs
anil expenses. That there was no /
other way TO make the traffic support (
its victim, than, while it existed. to
tax It vigorously and compel the pay
ment of the tax was evident. This
could only be done by issuing a license
upon the conditions and under the 1
sanctions named in the laws, compell-
ing absolute performance of those
conditions. So the Federal Govern
ment acts with tobacco and cigars and r
our state with other matters of !
like general features. I have stated =
all there is, in principle as to the
license for dram-shops. There are sew o
eral accidents connected with the /
general subject, but I have no time
to explain them now. So far as dram
shops being the cause of drunkenness s
by the seduction of our boys and be- L
traying them iato the liquor habit, Z
the statute that grants the license =
provides that even under it the keep r
er shall not sell a drop OF liquor to Il
a minor except upon the written re- "a
quest OF the parent or guardian, nor q