National Republican., 1886-10-02
rno1tln1rrnN pn1RMIns.
Prohibition Desirable, But High LII
cense the Most nctioabte.

ccnse tho Most Practicable.
EDITOR NATioSAL REPUBLICAN By the
opening Of your columns for a "prliln1n-
tary' discussion Of the prohibition question
have been induced to offer q few thoughts
on the subject, which shall endeavor TO
submit in such language as to Induce yout) 10
declare this article sin order" Have
caught your eyo9 Very well:
As an abstract proposition there are few
thinking people who are not convinced that
the manufacture aud sale, us Il beverage, NJ
Intoxicating liquors works q positive Ia.
jury TO the human race, as nwhole. aud
that to probably one.thlrd of the whole
population II is either, directly ur Indirectly,
q curse. To this extent the question admits
OF no discussion. IL is fully Us evident that
II the tllstilation Of whisky and kindred in
tUxlcauts could be forever swept from the
face of the earth 1t would be a great bless
ing to all concerned, both In this life aud
that which Is TO come, and II is equally as
apparent that the cOnsummatiou OF such
wish ia beyond the pOsslble-eo apparent
that no intelligent person Will dispute tho
point. II Congress and every state legis.
lature should pass laws tomorrow making
II q crime, punishable by death, TO mlnufac-
tture, buy, or sell any Intoxicating liquors
the traffic would nos DO entirely
suppressed, for the reasons Lhatit would be
next to impossible to at once enforce the
law, In tue first place, aud that its rigid
prosecution, IN the nextsplace, would just
now well nigh depopulato the country
But, there 10 always a "but," you know,
while prohibition does not entirely prohibit,
It unQuestionably dimluishes drinking, and
the question to be answered is whether II
is not preferable to curtail the vice by the
passage OF such sumDtuary laws
than TO legislate TO its unlimited
license. Probably one-half OF all
the men who drink In inviting public
saloons and who occasionally get "A little
"on," chiefly because of the surroun llngs
and the company met In such places, would
seldom, II ever, take drink II they hal to
use strategy and play the sneak TO obtain
the LIQUOR and then drink 1t "behiud ths
door, And this argument is especially
forcible In the cases OF young men aud
youths who are entlced Into "these gilded
hells,n as our temperance friends, the
'fanatics, ,"call them, by the glitter OF these
establishments, where the appetite which
SO oftens blights their lives, is first
old drunknrds would get liquor by hook or
crook, but they would soon die out, and,
with the druukard manufactures shut
down, there would be few OF those unfOr-
tunates left In decade or two who would
want to get drunk either by hook or by
crook, ana crime would be reduced to tho
minimum in the next generation or 3d.
The manufacture, sale, or drinking OF
liquor cannot be "prohlbited" In day or a
year; but It is thing that in my judg
mcnt, can be practically accomplished in
time. The people must be educated up to
the point, and moral suasion is one of the
best of educators with the intelligent
classes. But why persuade o man and
tempt him at the same timer What would
nfa n hnc vuI, ahn mt tarn nj
ingly cooked roast Of shote on tue table aud
tell you that you could eat OF II IL you
wished, but that 1t was sure TO make you
sick, II 1t did not kill you, II you did eat IT,,
because the hog had the trichinosIs What
I in the dickens did he put 1t on the table
forP Why tempt hungry man with un-
I sound meat? Why license whisky shop
/ on every corner to allure the unwaryp
Liquor licenses are a source OF revenue to
the government, ehY Well, let's see about
that. Startling as the statement may seem,
statistics chow that so per cent. OF all the
crime committed in this country is due to
| the use OF Intoxicating liquors, and 1t is q
fact that has been too often demonstrated
TO be disputed that II costs more than
| double the amount of money derived from
| liquor licenses to prosecute tho criminals
and support the paupers and lunatics that
are made such through the sale of the
ardent. believe that II there were no
licensed saloons, and that IL no liquor was
publicly sold, at least ten billion OF the
eleven billion Of dollars, which are now
expended for strong. drink annually In the
tion Of homes and left with the grocers and
the dry goods merchants. The tax derived
from this real estate and personal property
| would exceed the revenue now derived
from saloon licenses, and the whole com
munity would profit by the change.
Liquor exerts different influences on DIFF
ferent temperaments, aud while there arc
| some men whom an excessive use OF IL will
| only impoverlsh and conslgn to drunkards q
| graves, there is no doubt that there are
Others whom II will cause to murder, steal,
rob, and to commit any one or all of the
crimes In the category. And yet some OF
the men who, when drunk, are as crazy as
any patient In the insane asy-
lum fall back on the argu
broach the subject of "personal liberty" to
them. American citizens must be allowel
the ''liberty" of getting drunk, forsooth
And after becoming drunk they must be at
"liberty" to kill their fellow men aud, as Is
too often the case, their fellow women, who
are generally their wives. Then he is al
"libertyn no longer, but the sheriff Is al.
lowed the "liberty" of breaking his neck
for having had so much 'liberty' In thi:
land OF liberty This is q great argumeutl
The next best thing to the enactment aud
enforcement OF prohibitory laws is the high
license system, and l am not sure that this
10 not the more desirable plan OF the two
to begin with. With law requiring 0
$1,000 saloon license and fixing severe
penalties for the selling Of liquor to minort
and habitual drunkards, a long stride along
the path to ''prohibition" would have beer
taken, und II is great pity that our TEN
perance workers "can't see It," Methinkl
they could see II II they were not purposely
blind, and they ought to learn TO accep
the theory that half q loaf Is better than nc
bread at all. This whole hog. or-none prln
oiple will not only not help the cause o.
eventual total prohibition, but II is
serious barrier In the way OF the accom-
plishment OF that desideratuma 1t is no
an insurmountable barrier, however, fo
the middle element-those who are no
connected with either the temperance so
cleties or the Liquor Dealers Associations
may take hold OF the matter and Drins
about this very class Of legislation withou
consulting either Of those classes. In open
ing the columns OF the NATIONAL REPUB
LIcAN for the legitimate discussion Of thi
subject your paper has become the pionee
teacher In educating the people to take
proper view Of the question without belni
influenced by cant or fusillade OF anath
emas. and to suggest and probably put II
operation the most practicable engine Il
reform the present order OF things, and b
curtail II not to stamp out what is univer
sally recognized as a great and growing
eyil In this fair land OF ours. LLEwXAM.
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| The Pregtdent'A Poor ReIationa