The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-03-05
HIS PRICE.
The Value Which Loving Father Places
upon His Boy.

= a k<O1ltaSs 1tttAEA tttNNC
upon His Boy.
Consider me not ayarieious; My
friends; if l tel you [ have set 4 price
oo my boy: This is Necessary. from
he fact that live in a community that
puts a price upon the boys, the girls;
the youth. the manhood and the womi-
anhood of that community: Theh
judge me. not harshly until YOU have
compared my price with that fixed by
the community in which live, and of
which you and l form part.
But before giving you my price, per-
haps brief description of the boy may
not be out of place. He is now Just
entering upon the teens. the same dear
little boy whom we have nursed and
handled upon our. knees, who has been
the object of our love and devotion
from his babyhoOd up TO the present.
and is now the pride of his father and
the hope of his mother He is in good
physical health, with mental faculties
all alert, quick to discern betwe en- right
and wrong, easily imbibing correct
moral principles. In short, he is u
fair specimen physically. mentally
and morally of the youth of this
community, which, in its organized ca
pacity, treats him and all others AZ
proper subjects for barter and sale.
Perhaps You may ask me by whom are
they put in the market? who are the
buyers? when, where and how is this
internal traffic carried on against the
laws of God and man? Well, I'll tell
you who, when, where and how, on
one condition-that is, if you will do
all in your power to put a,stOp TO it,
They are put upon the market by the
law-making power of this country,
this State and this municipality, by fix
ing a price, valuable consideration
a license fee-upon the payment of
which a man is permitted to do, is IL
censed and granted the privilege to do
that which he had no right to do until
he bought the privilege. Now, it is
clear that something is sold by one par
ty-the community of the law-making
power-and bought by another party,
The individual who intends to use what
ne has bought; and that is the privilege
to sell intoxicating liquors as a bcver-
age. The permission to set up a bar
and sell liquors in this way means the en-
tic.ng, cLsnaring, enslaving, the moral
degradation, the mental wreck, the phys
zeal ruin and death of somebody 5 boy in
the vicinity where it exists. 1t means
chance at hundred boys, with GER
tainty that more than one will be en-
shared and degraded. When the Ii
cense is granted the granters know this
fact as we'll as they know that day fol-
lows night, and yet for the considera-
tion-the permission is grantcd-th
license is given. Is not this clearly
sale of somebody's boy-togethcr with
his health, his integrity, his mtelli-
gence, his moral sensibilities, his very
life and all there is of him or in him?
And while it is sale of somebody's
boy, who is to be sacrificed to fill tho
capacious nav of this monster which
thriyes upon misery, degradation and
woe, it is the establishment of shoot
ing alley in my neighborhood, and my
boy (being human, and no better or
stronger than thousands who have
fallen) is set up as target. at whom
this skillful fendish archer is permit
ted to shoot his poisoned arrows, with
an absolute certainty OF bringing some
one down.
And am asked by - hristisn COM
munity-at least by the IaW-maEers
of what is called a Christian people
how much | want for my consent
to this bargain, my assent to this con-
tract, my signature to this compact
with Satan and agreement with hell?
how high shall the license be? what
shall he the fee? Oh, shama! that in
this enlightened age such question
can be asked! ! answer, o We rum
sellers, 90 gather in your ill-gotten
gains for thousand years, pile up
] your gold until it is so high that it
casts a dark and dismal shadow over
at my feet, and you have not tempted
me. Go, bring from among your kim
dred as many victims as you have made
/ in ours-as many desolate homes, as
many bitter tears, as many heart-sobs
EYE for eye, tooth for tooth, blood
for blood, soul for sOul-and YOU have
only strengthened my resolution not
to sell, You don't wish to buy at such
a price? But wait l have not told
you all. Before you get my signature
/ TO this helliSh compact, you must, at
the peril of your life, sever my right
arm from my body, discoIneot it from
my heart and brain, before these fin
gers will sign your league with death.
. This IS my price, Mr.. Rummy, and
these are my terms. No sale, you
say? Very good. No sale, I'd saloon.
--Erch0nqe