Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-05-30

Z AOIltN VI rum III NNliil ilt NNNn 0iB tAb-
stantlally known and improper. Alcohol
Is not mere explosive than coil oil, and
its presence IN bulk Is not deleterious tc
/ health nor specially ofteDfiye 10 the
senses. Prohibition falls to vindicats "
aelf against alcohol on any Of thes,
counts, and IL certainly may not hope &c
wrench from The resisting hands Of yir.
tuons business rights, which are world
wide aud valuable, and expect thoughtful
men TO approve Of its efforts, except that
q paramount good cansbe accomplished
In no more reasonable way. The abuses
q alcohol are world wide, and are per.
haps more Injurious than its uses are val.
liable, and here we Ind another great
camp throwing stones NJ the camp above.
Ia word, alcohol IL In itself gift to
the ingenuity and industry of man, less
valuable than IRE, and more valuable than
gunpowder; but the sum Of It's crimes and
It's misefies are greater Than eitf or These
facts do not furnish q sound reason for
indlscriminate restriction, except that in
the btGess OF things practical restitution
for the Injuries OF drunkenness cannot be
enforced by law, or that the uses and
abuses Of alcohol are 80 far incapable of
separate definition that the abuses
alone cannotb practically eliminated from
the duties OF citizenship. Three methods
OF legal procedure are here Indicated
!. To forbid the production Of alcohol
2. To enforce practical restitution for
the Injuries OF drunkenness.
3. To distinguish between proper and
improper uses OF alcohol
Perhaps II we really know what we are
talking about, know what drunkenness is,
why IL Is Il crime, and realize that alcohol,
which Is excellence itself in pharmacy, Is
madness in the brain, we may resolve
these difficulties intelligently Alcohol
IL tangible to considerable evil only
through a single channel--the human
gullet, Society has only TO guard this
channel judiciously, that Is rightfully to
pres rye all the rights and TO anticipate
and efeat all considerable wrongs con-
nected directly or indirectly with the use
of alcoholic liquors. We cannot make
you believe this by swearing TO it, nor by
the buster Of many words. You must
look about you for the facts on which IT,
rests they are within easy reach OF ALL
The eff CO OF alcohol IN circulation IN the
human system Is TO der nge the organs
OF the system Tho individual under its
influence can neither walk htraight, talk
straight, nor think straight. His percep-
ton and recollection of facts, his percop-
lions OF the rights Of others and OF his
own, whether Of life, or property, or
feeling are as grotesque and Unreliable as
the motions q his limbs, and the limit OF
IL the mental and physical help
lessncss Of fun saturation, or death. The
Indictment against this crime comes from
all the organs u the body, from all the
duties Of citizen, husband, father, brother
and son, from Ill the trades OF men and |
all the tools 81 trades.
He Is Of necessity liable to do that |
which he would not do in the natural |
action OF his faculties Do you regi2e |
the terrific sweep OF these simple words2 |
Do you zee In them legal formula, a |
cause, compelling cause of legislative |
action? If the victim of alcoholic drink |
Is capable Of epasmodic evil but incapa-
bic OF deliberate good, the law which |
eliminates II from the privileges of citI- |
may not be classed among those
Amtable vagares which would guage the
on the corset strlngs, or forbid |
the use Of tobacco.
II mania for poisoning ones self or
another by strychnine should become as
prevalent as elf.derangement by alec.
hole drink, with It's slower hut scarcely
less fatal consequences to tho happiness
OF the family aud the peace of the state,
| suppose stringent laws should he en-
acted against its manufacture, and the
good would go with the bad but we see
no necessity Tor such restrictions against
as the signs Of arrangement are
written by provident nature on the disor-
dered and untitled limbs, aud law and men
have no excuse that this madness and
crime should 20 ON perpetuatlng Itself,
lts ignorance and vices, and miseries,
from age to age,
The tendency to quarrel, "to raise he'll |
generally" IL not the sorcst, deepest
injury OF seli-derangencnt through alcc-
hol. 1t Is IN the passive and criminal ina.
billy Of its willing victim to do ANYTHING
deliberately and well, to protect himself
aud those dependent upon him from the
Of the thief or the exactions OF
nature. In the tltness OF things restitu.
tlon does not tXlst and cannot be made
suppose the arrangement should last for
q year or life timer 1t Is not wisdom
TO nurse prejudice founded on dlstor.
lion, but this false presumption may ena.
Die you TO more fully appreciate what
drunkenness Is, and What arrangement
runs on from spree 10 spree. How long
does the arrangement last 30 the unhappy
lamiiy aud the dlsordered state, when the
arrangement causes loss of employment
10 the poor and uniltness 10 direct. IN
tho rlchF Does 1t fall TO do these thingsY
lhere is something more than hlunder on
llps which say, make the drnukard re-
sponslhie'" The cnme OF the saloon
keeper aud his chief profit, also, Is 10 taxi
my tue money OF men already deranaed
ana cold-Olo0ded indifferarc CO rs 10 The
consequences upon the victim, his family
And the state. Tbls Is merely a suuaes.
Ton, nut IL Is OF That kind which oulets
leDate and calls anger 10 the feet Of re-.
lection, and Is of that height and strength
20 which falsthood cannot climb bv oath
ior rhetoric, II these views are corract
,nd 'hcy lie az the very threshold ~
thought aud observation, and are 81
amhsar that presume, the reader may
ruly say Of each Of them, | knew that
rom the beginning-two laws cover the
iase. -
/. The sale or gift OF an intoxicauno
iflnk, except for reasonable purposes, IA
person already per- eptlaly dcranged ~ I
intoxicating drinks, Is as capable OF Ia. I
ilctment, proof and punishment, as nny
Ilme IN the cAialOgnei and the duty al
nc people 10 order The law 10 prosecute
uu Punish IL, II Is clear and imperative
: auy duly they have heretofore assigned
law We do not propose "a sugsest
mat actions, now held as.crimes hy siat.
te, are onlranked ny this rank ottense;
v we may safely say, ihas no unfe. :
irleted onensa among men WORKS "a J
luch injury as this,
= inc voluntary use OF Intoxicating !
Tim, except Ion reasonable purposes, 10
lch excess, that derangmant OF natural
zion Is Porrepfible IN voice or look or a
natufe A innnnn hln ~ -. - y