Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-04

corn. AS consequence grain - very
scarce, and il Is reported that some Of
the poorer classes have been subsisting
mainly on drisd-sppiss recently. The
county commissioners have ordered
carload of corn to relieve the distress
to some extent. q corn-bread Is the sta
pie article Of diet in that county" Here
is q wofui evil entailed on society
women and children starving for bread,
while the very corn their hard labor
helped to produce is bought up and
soaked and rendered unfit for food and
then thrown into the maws Of forty
distilleries to produce q drink, in fifty
gallons Of which there is not as much
nutrition as could be placed on the
point Of pen-knife.
How long must this state Of things
be endured? Is there no reliefg Has
society no right 10 protect itself? Have
the starving women and children Of q
State no rights that the law ought to
protect! Surely we all admit they
have. But why ere they left to vail
and cry in vain? Shall the Law say,
Go on with your distilleries, because
there is money in it for the State and
TO stop them would deplete the Trea-
sury? Is rum to rule and ruin, tri-
umph and trample, laugh and revel
with the money and lives Of our people
because it pays for the privilege?
Think on 1t, gentlemen, 81 per capita
spent for education and eli per cap
ita for whiskey; four saloons to
every school in the nation, and
$4,000 funerals Of drunkards in
this land every year. Are we to stand
and look at these stern facts and quiet
" submit because the liquor traffic
helps business? Is the dollar argu-
ment above all
There are class Of good men who
oppose prohibition. They go for moral
suasioD. So do we. But what effect
has moral suasion on many people en-
gagged in the traffic? About as mnch
as whistling has on the wind. We
need something more potent than moral
suasiop. We need the law, with its
stern " Thou shalt not" There is an
opinion abroad that drunkard-making
is not wrong, though it is little mex
pedient. Please desist, as the lamb
might say when it is clutched by the
eagle, and the eagle replies: "You
shut up; | get my living in this way"
Please desist. Those who regard
this as the only legitimate agency
would do we'll to reflect whether it
might not be we'll to repeal all laws
against crime and organize society into
a cosxing fraternity. II We are going
to take the ground that moral suasion
is the only weapon that should be used
in suppressing great moral evil, then
strike out from our statute-books all
laws against eyil-doing; and then soci.
ETY. would be swept from existence in
an explosion Of vice that would shake
the earth. Let it not be overlooked
that law is a great educator of the pub
lie conscience and a most important
lactOr III mural suaSlOu.
One misconception Of prohibition is
that it aims to make people good by
law" This is an entire mistake. Pro-
hIbition is not framed to reform the
man, but to protect society. The law
is protective and restrictive, not re-
lormatory.
Another misconceptiOn Of the objec.
Of prohibition is that it seeks to inter-
feTe with 4 mans personal liberty-to
invade his rights by forbidding him to
drink what he wants. This is also al
entire misconstruction Of the law. The
prohibition OF an act is solely on the
ground Of its evil effects on society.
Prohibition does not proceed on the
ground that man has no right to drink
glass Of wine or brandy, but on the
ground the effects Of the liquor traffic
on society. It's not intended to inter-
fere with mans personal liberty only
in so far as his personal liberty
interferes with the welfare Of
society. The law is not after
man, out tning ana tnat tDlng Is
the liquor traffic. The indications are
that the question of prohibition has
come to the front to stay. There is
public sentiment backing it, strong and
deep, which will outlive all the ridi-
cule, denunciation, and misepresenta-
ton which may be directed against its
advocates. 1t is destined to be the
greatest question of all the questions
before the people Of this country. AS
well attempt to force a full-grown
chicken back into the she'll where it
was Matched as well attempt to force
the mighty Mississippi back into its
tiny source as to attempt to force this
movement back where it had its small
beginning.
MATTHEWS COURTHOUSE. p.