The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1886-01-28
The Logic of Prohibition.

The object of prohibition is point
where much fog has been made to gather
One misconception is that prohibition
aims to "make people good by law
The changes have been rung upon this
charge until many actually believe that
prohibitions object is "to coerce men to
virtue" "tu reform men from without" "
"to purify the stream at the neglect of
the Fountain" and, thinking the method
false, they shout, "Away with it J" On
the contrary, there is not man amongst
Prohibitonists, cherishing this deluslon
not onel The object is neither ex-
pressed nor implied in action or platform.
It is not in fact nor in effect, either in
the principle or policy of prohibition.
Law is protective and restrictive, not
reformatory. It's aim is to guard rights,
not to produce righteousness. No ad.
vocate Of prohibition supposed that is
going to make man virtuous by taking
the liquor saloon out of his path. 1t is
not framed to reform the man, but to
protect society. Reformation will come
through other processes and agencies, but
the law will give reformation q better
chance.
Are we to be told, because We advocate
law prohibiting gambling houses, that
We are seeking ITO coerce men 10 virtue"
and "reform men from without and not
from within? ?" Does my advocacy of
civil enactment concerning the Sabbath
expose me to the charge of seeking "to
make people good by law" "to purify
the stream to the neglect of the foun-
tain ?" Who expects to take the love of
money out of mems heart by shutting up
the gambling saloons? Who expects to
make men holly observe Gods day by
a Sabbath law? That is not the object
in either case; nor is the making lnen
''good" the object of the prohibition of
the liquor traffic.
A second misconception of the object
of prohibition is, that it seeks to strike
the individual, to invade his rights, to
enter his home, and to compel him to
stop drinking. But this is not its object.
Surely we may say, with every powerful
emphasis, this is motifs object prohibition
aims at thing, not man. 1t means
the drink shop, first and last and all the
time. 1t would smite traffic, and not
a personal indulgence, annihilate grog
shops, not invade homes. If, in abolish
ing the saloon, prohibition does some
times touch personal right, the saloon
is nevertheless the thing aimed at, and
not the personal right.
See how this works in other matters.
A mob is bad thing. Prohibition says,
"Repress it," But to repress it, it may
be necessary to seize private property
and destroy life, nevertheless, the mob is
what prohibition is after not the life and
the property. A conAagration is bad
thing. Prohibition says, "Stop it,"
But to "stop it" may require seizure and
destruction of property in the path Of
the fire, nevertheless, the fire is what
prohibition is after, not the property. A
contagious disease is bad thing. Pro-
hibition says, 'Fence it in, the house
must be quarantined." But that's an
interference with personal liberty, never
theless, the contagion is what-prohibition
is after, not personal liberty. So the
saloon is bad thing. Prohibition says,
"Abolish it," But to abolish it, it may
be necessary to interfere with some
private drinking usage, nevertheless, the
saloon is what prohibition is after, not
the private usage.
Can inter ference with personal liberty
be pleaded as against the repression Of
the mob? No. Can the plea of individ'
ual right of property bar the effort to
stamp out conhagration? No. Can
the right to 60 in and out of our houses
at pleasure be urged as against the re-
straints of quarantine? No. Neither
can private drinking usage constitute
good reason for opposing prohibitory
liquor law. If the law smites the usage
in shifting the saloon, it does so only in
cidentalIy. Good citizenship will will.
ingly bear an incidental evil for the sake
of an essential and universal good.
Life, in the end, will be more sacred if
we repress the mob. Property, in the
end, will have better securities if ne put
out the fire. Personal liberty in the
end, will have completer safeguards if
we stamp out the contagion. So, every
interest of society and of the individual,
in the end will be better shielded if once
we say, determinclly and effectually,
"The saloon must go!"-Reu. Herrick
johnson, d. d.
VV;,,{o, noro nf Roac