The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1886-04-22
The Temperance Question.

sumption. They assume that to refuse IL
cense would not curtal the volume of
or restrict the indulgence OF an
deprayed appetite, which is the
growth of Indulgence. They assume that
the State has no right to prescribe to
its subject what he shall eat or what he
shall drink-tilat to do SO is sumptu-
ary and in denial of a natural right
They assume that to refuse license would be
to deprive the Commonwealth OF certain
amount of revenue derived from the priv
iIege to sell liquor.
These predicates are mere assumptions,
relating generally to .expediency, and not
to the higher and more important inter-
ests. That they are assumptions IS ap-
parent to the most superficial view. They
imply that the appetite for liquor or the
habit of drinking is stronger than the
the law. stronger than the will to obey
the law and stronger than the sense
of moral obligation which ought to re-
pose in every citizen to respect and con-
form to the law. But even if the assumption
that the habit or appetite for strong drink
could not be restrained, that would not
compromise the moral principle involved,
nor should it affect the position OF regu-
late the efforts of those who believe inthat
principle. It is question of right or
wrong, between which there is broad line
of demarcation, and on one side or the
other every one is compelled to locate his
sympathies and convictions, whether he
expresses them or not. 1t will not be
denied that the habit of drinking is the
result of indulgence and growth-that it
is followed by excuses and finds its con-
summation too frequently in crime-in in
| Jury to individuals, to community and to
| the State Is it expedient, is it public pol
icy for.the State to give its sanction-to
place the seal of its approval upon and
dignity traffic that carries with it, in
| its practical operation, so much CT
wrong to the body polite ? 1t is no an
swer to introduce analogies to show that
crimes of other kinds are not restrained by
legislative enactment. The people are
dealing now with one wrong, which may be
and is pregnant of many wrongs, land itisn no
argument in favor of it that other wrongs
exist No one can defend drunkenness.
nor should any one defend what tends to
drunkenness. It is wrong in itself and its
nature is not ameliorated because other
wrongs are looked upon with indulgent
eye. Eradicate one wrong which has
deeply stirred the moral sense, as well as
the apprehension of the people, and then
the other wrongs, whatever they may
be, may engage attent iOn. The duty
and mission of every citizen is to
do what in him lies-to use the facul-
ties with which he may be endowed, the
talents entrusted to him, to better the con-
dition of his fellow men. 1t is para
mount duty, impressed by reason, by hui
manity and by religion, to labor for a
higher moral life, a more exalted plane OF
human action and for that condition of
society which will assure the greatest
amount of happiness and contentment :
Which, license or no license, will best con-
tribute to such consummation 1t is to
invoke the calm, conscientious Judgment
of all to the question thus presented, that
should be the ambition of every one who
may engage in the discussion.
Nor is the assumption tenable that the
State has not the right to say what the
subject shall drink, Ifmerely considered
from the low standpoint of police power.
the State has the right to say what legis-
lation will best preserve and protect the
health and the lives of its citizens. 1t
has said it before, and it is its duty to say
it all times. Because man OF settled
habits is not in danger of abusing the
privilege assured by license, is no reason
that the State should indulge him in what
may be to him an innocent habit. 1t is
the privilege sanctioned by the State and
the habit innocently INDUCED, it may be,
by che citizen, which make drunkards, and
all that the fearful word imports. 1t is
legalizing temptation to the young-it is,
by example, seducing the youth OF the
State into pitfalls and ruin-invltlng
them to first thoughtlessly taste, until
tasting becomes a habit land habit becomes
a fixed and incurable appetite. destroying
the moral nature. the manhood, the hope,
the life here and hereafter of it's victim.
No st ate has the right to place its seal OF
approval upon any legislation which may
lead to these conditions--nosman has the
right to invade the impossible nature OF
his neighbor's children by his example, I'M
der the color of law and lead them to tam
per with poison so deadly, disease SO
infectious and fatal. The State has no
right to estroy its 'seed corn," as the
great English statesman, Burke, happily
designated the youth of a Nation, 1t is
as much its duty to guard and protect
them as it is for the husbandman to pre-
serve in healthy condition the seed which
he sows and from which his harvest is to
be reaped. If the seed is good the harvest
will be likewise good. If impure and de-
fective, the result will be disastrous, as a
natural, inevitable result of the condition
of the seed.
Throughout the whole controversy upon
the temperance question as it has been
conducted in this State, we have not seen an
argument or statement that has lifted the
license side of it above the plane of a sup
posed erpedaezry, or mercenary consider
alton. The moral phase OF it has been con-
sistently and designedly ignored-the fu-
ture of the youth of the Commonwealth
has been lost sight of in the presence Of
+ a fixed habit of moderate indulgence by a
few men Of the present-the benefits to
community from having the heads and the
hands of all the people directed to some
useful employment and making values,
instead of dissipating their time and tai :
ent away in fostering an appetite that is
sure to bite like an adder and sting like a
serpent, are not thought of. The right of
the mothers and fathers of the State to
ask protection, in the removal of great
and dangerous temptation from the rising
generation. is passed over to consult the
stomachof such men as Senator Vance, who
openly announces that conscience is made
subordinate to appetite. No more impor-
tant duty presses upon the Commonwealth
| to-day than to train the young to the full
development of their moral and intellec-
tual natures that the State may derive ben