River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1886-04-01
License or No License2

crisis in its short history. Very soon
will the question be asked, shall we,
during the year 1886, have in our midst
licensed saloon, or no. Now could
this question be answered by the
mothers, the wives, the daughters of
our town, we would not need to feel
anxious about the result. Unfortun-
ttely this is not in their power and
they can only appeal TO those, In whose
hands lies the pow or, to settle this
question for them, in the face of God.
Perhaps the line of reasoning followed
by some of our voters who have here
tof0re stood firmly for the right, may
be something like this: That as long as
liquor is and uiH BE- sold, men who
sell should be obliged by law to pay
for the privilege of 50 doing, and 50 by
increasing the funds in the town
treasury, lessen the burden of taxa,
Jion resting upon law abiding citizens.
Now to some that may perhaps sound
very reasonable; but let US look into
it closely. All action is based on the
principle OF right and tUrOng. whether
men realize il or not they are governed
by one or the other of these motives.
My brother, you who hold in your
hands the potent power of the ballot,
look down into your heart, and exam
me the m0iiCe which governs your
action in this matter! Is it a deep
rooted conviction of right, or is it a
question of financial interest, or
desire to retain the good will of one
class, or to defeat another against
whom you perhaps have a personal
grudge!
Will the amount gained for the
town treasury compensate for the
harm done, or will the few dollars or
cents less on your tax receipt be to
you a sufficient recompense for STAIN
ing your soul with the sin of helping,
by your vote, to destroy your neigh
Dor body and soull The insidious,
deadly work wrought by alcohol in
The human system, the slow but
certain crushing out of all that is good
in the human heart, are facts too well
understood to need argument now.
You are wronging your neighbor and
his family by your pOte, as surely as If,
with your own hands, you took the
shoes from his children's feet, the
bread from their months: as surely as
f you administered drop by drop the
poison which destroys the body and
curses the soul. You cannot escape
your personal accountability in this
matter. The oUtUdrd act is not the
same, but it is done in effect, and the
consequences to them are just the
same.
Ii men are making money by this
traffic. in a sneaking, underhand way,
will you be justified in adding to this
the hundred-fold greater wrong OF
throwing open the doors of licensed
saloon to the young men and boys of
your town! Perhaps your own boy
might be safe from the awful tempta-
ton. OF that you could not be quite
sure, for boys, pure as yours, have
fallen: but have you no responsibility
where your neighbors' boys are con-
cerned, especially those who are with
out helpful home influence!
Then you have a duty toward the
liquor dealer, as well as toward the
drinker. Not only is it true that you
cannot help to place in his hands the
power to ruin his fellow men without
becoming a partner in his crime, but
1t is also true that in giving him this
power you are aiding him to plunge
more and more deeply into sin. Dare
you take upon yourself this fearful
esponsibilityl
If after YOU have done all in your
power, to restrain him, and to prevent
he traffic, he will still carry on the
business, legally or otherwise leave
him in the hands of One who has
said "Justice and Judgment are the
habitatioa OF His throne. There is
com ng a day Of adjustment.
Then there is your duty toward
your jeLL0tg- U0ter, who may have less
strength of mifd than yourself, and
who may be led by your action into
the wrong path. BY being true to
God. and to your own better nature,
you help Others to be so. owen Mere
tIith never penned ;ruer words than
these No life can be pure in Its
purpose and strong in its strife, and
an fe not be made purer and stronger
thereby"
You believe that the right way TO
settle this question, and the only way
in which it ever wiH be settled, is by
entire prohibition of the manufacture
and sale of intoXicants, but you say it
will take time. Can it be right then,
for you to keep the pr6Rg dLtre, in
vour little corner of tie world, and
wait for the great world lying outside
Of Maiden Rock TO settle 1t!
Edward Garrett has truthfully said;
IF there is a right thing TO be done,
and we have to pass through a UroHg
thing on our ray to it, depend upon 1t
there's another toay, and a better one,
and it is our fault and not God $ If we
do not find it out"
In seeking the pecuRidry interests
Of your town you are looking at but
small part of the great general good.
IL is a many-sided question. The
money obtained by license is taken
right out of the homes of your own
town, and as a result there will roll
hack upon ,Ju an added taxation to
support the orphans and panpers, made
such. by the very agency you are
voting for. and by which you are
hoping to lessen this burden OF TAX
alton. This is not overdrawn. 1t has
been proven true, only too often. on!
Uhaferer may be the apparent results
OF gain or loss, do what you knoto TO
be the right thing to do. and at the
coming spring election when you meet
this question face to face on your
ballot, we plead with you to vote 'for
God. and home, and native land.
For God, by obeying Him when lie
says "put uot"--eitheT directly or, by
yonr rote, indirectly-''the bottle TO
INV ueighhor." For home-not your
home only. but your neighbor nome
also-and native land. of which your