The freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1886-18??, 1886-06-30
ADDRESS BY Mr.. jerks.
To the Voters of Marion County,

There has ever been conflict
between Right and Wrong, Purity
and Impurity. the Moral and the
Immoral. It is an irrepressl BILE
conflict and will be a continuous
one. So long as mankind is actu-
ated by ever-varying influences,
controlled by passion and preju-
dice, or what is worse, careless in
difference as to matters moral and
political, rather than the use of
judgment based on lofty principle,
just SO long will they suffer them
selves to be led or driven to the
sup port of party, regardless of the
corruption of parties or the entail
ment of disaster, which is certain
to follow disregard of that which
is best for all.
To the average politician of the
two old parties, the foregoing will
have no effect. They are the po-
litical "claquers," the cormorants
who will sap the life blood from
any party, and who under the
cloak of patriotism, wait only for
the spoils Of Office and are ever
hungering for the loaves and fish
es. Professedly Temperance men,
who talk and pray for the dawn of
a new era of enlightenment, but
who see nothing beyond license of
whisky-high, restricted, or other
wise-who dare not vote their sem
timents, and who on election day,
publish their hypocrisy by voting
strictly for party, regardless of all
moral obligations to home and
country-With such this address
will receive no welcome.
There is class of individuals in
every community, in every county
and in every State, the number of
whom is increasing more rapidly
than our political opponents dare
admit men who clearly discern
practical issue in matters where
the prevalence of right will result
in the greatest benefit to all; men
to whom principal is so far re-
moved from a policy which calls
tor deviation from duty, that the
arguments of oily-tongued politi-
cal barnacles, clinging fast to their
sinking political ships, can never
swerve them from that sterling in
tegrity which is the royal crown of
manhood from this class of voters
the Prohibition party receives
gracious welcome, and in turn a
stimulus to renewed effort is i'm
parted and a cry for a fresh attack
on the common enemy, King Alco-
hol, is heard all along the line.
There is also class of men to
whom the overtures of the Prohi-
bition party, come like beacon of
light to the wrecked mariner, as
haven Of safety from the blighting
curse of their lives generous, warm
hearted men, whom but for the
curse of rum, would to-day be lead
ers in the van of Temperance and
of all which tends to good citi-
zenship and noble manhood.
The history of Alcohol is a story
which needs no repetition. 1t is
not skeleton in the closet, but
stalks abroad like a pestilence,
whose breath has poisoned all that
is brightest and best in our land.
1t has as many wiles as the SER
pent, which led our first parents
astray. Its rings and caucuses
have captured the two old parties,
whose leaders have committed
themselves so irrevokabIy that
there is no unloosening of their
letters, and captive-like, they dare
not exercise their rights as free
men; they are wholly bound to the
rum power, and for what? That
their unprincipled leaders may
struggle and fight for the spoils Of
Office. There is no issue worthy of
note between the two old parties,
and entirely oblivious of the over
lures of an intelligent, order-lov-
ing majority of the citizens of our
common country, they fail to dis
Germ the hand writing on the wall {:
"1hou art a0eighed * x and found
a0anting, Thy days are numbered"
They ridicule the "Third Party" as
party of "a great moral idea !"