The Russellville Democrat., 1886-07-14
Shall We License The Dram
 shops?
BY PROF. GEO. F. FOSTER, NJ. P.


 It Is important that in the first place we should get clear perception of all that is meant by the word license.
 The underlying idea is thatof permis- sion CT allowance. 4 hackman's li- censc, for instance, permits him to en- gage in the business of cab driving, q marriage license permits two persons to be legally united in wedlock, and a liquor license permits person to sell intoxicating liquors.
 This permission or allowance always carries with it the idea of right. When a parent or teacher permits child to do certain thing. the child instinct- ively feels tllat the thing itself is right and not wrong. Similarly. when the law licenses or permits anything to be done, it teaches that what it permits is correct in principle and cxpedient in practice. Again, the authority which permits q thing to be done will and must protect aud support the person 1t permits against all that would annoy and harrass him. If one permits his boys to go fishing, he must protect them to the extent of his power against all who prevent or interfere with their sport. So when the law licenses or permits any business to be carried on it is bound to protect the person licensed. The license or permission is generally coupled with certain conditions wich the person must obey, and penalties are attached to the violations of these conditions. When therefore, a commu- nity or a country issues licenses it does three things:
 l. It calls the dram shop into exist ence and permits it's work.
 }. It declares that the dram shop is correct In principle and expedient in practice.
 3. It pledges-its authority to the pro- lection of the dram shop, in it's congo nial and permitted work.
 II. What it is we license. Before Il community calls an institution into ex- istence, declares it right, and pledges protection to it, the people should care fully consider wla; arc it's aims and effects.
 l. It provides nothing useful. No fabrics to ear, 10 foods to sustain the body, no implements of labor, no books 10 inform tlic mind. iio article of coin- fort for the home. uothing that adorns civilization, eleyates society, or. adds q single impulse of good to the eommuni- ty, can be found on it's shelves or witli- in its four Walls. If every dram shop in America were to be burned to-mor- TOW, the country would not lose Il sim gle iota in all that goes to clothe. feed, develop and beautity her millions.
 ?. It encourages idleness. \ dram shop immediately reduces ''loaiing" to a fine art. 1t is n convenient place to 'sdrop inlu.' Some of the s'buys" ale always on hand. There is constantly something to hear or see. Games for the idle hour are ever ready. Drinks are forthcoming at any moment, and stories and songs fill in the intervals. All are invited and welcome to stay. And thus the dram shop is continually turning the active and industrious into the idle and siiftless. Thus it is q standing peril to the children in it's neighhorhood.
 ,. It is a school for tippling. The principle object q the dram shop is to get sober people 10 tipple, and tipplers to drink to excess. It exists for no other purpose, eff it succeeds in doing this it's gains iEcreasc; if it fails,, 1t scarves and dies. Unless t is able to turn sober children into drinking men and women, 1t must cease with the present generation. So it's aims is to debauch each generation of children. It greedily eyes the school and homes, and sets itself to trap the innocent. The s'stand" is chosen i'll the most public resorts, the temptations are made as al- turing as possible, the bar keeper is se- lected with this point in view, the host put on his bandest manner--all to gain custom, that is to induce sober people to tipple and tippiers to drink more and more. In no other way can they reap their harvest of gain.
 4. It breeds dishonor, vice, poverty and crime. We would s,.a.ccly eyer henr of brawl or fight If it were not for the dram shops. When people are cool, collected and masters of them selves there is almost perfect peace and quiet. But the dram shop changes ail these conditions. IL collects in heated rooms all sorts of characters, the vic ious aud the innocent. It frenzies them with strong drink, launches them into thc widest disorder and the bloodiest duarrelS. Nine-telrhs of all the crimes against good order, decency and the person, are the traccabie outcome of tlielram shops. There, idleness breeds the vicious corrupt the lnno- cent, the yulgnr, indecent and blas- phemous gtadnally poison purity, wages are sqnantlcrcd, self respect IS lost, passions are inflamcd and the seeds Of crime sown broadly. No words can portray the niscili,.fs and nliserics that brood and breed in the dram shops of our cal,nt,y. II malicious ingenuity had racked ils brain for thousand years. 1t could have devised no more an efficient agency for cor ruption than are these.
 5. IL antagonizcs every influence of home aud school and church. The dram shop rivals fhc home, and in innumcr- able instances robs it of loved ones, breaks it up and ruins 1t irrctfievably. There is no communisy cursed with dram shop butcan point to one or mere deadly aistigonism.
 The dram shop nulliiies the work of the school It renders parents indfier- ept to the education of their children, it brings poverty and rags, and SO keeps little ones from the school, or 1t drives them out on the streets 10 beg and to steal. A large percentage of the chill Isrcn of OUT country arc grown mp in l utter Or comparative ignorance because nl such hardening and corrupting ui- Ilneuccs.
 Ilic dram shop bDocks the path of the l rIsurch The Christian church spends millions of dailufs to-day in the field of | foreign missions, sends out hundreds of [ and makes thousands Of converts each year. But for every one convert slc makes ii other lands. the I