National Republican., 1886-09-07
DiacmaaInn PrnhihIfinn.


EDITOR NATIONAL REPUBLICAN: Avail
ing myself of your courteous invitation to
present through your journal the question
of prohibition, permit me to preface by OBJ
serving that II such consideration was
shown generally by the influential Journals
an education upon this vital and important
question would soon be reached by the peo-
pie that would compel the enforcement Of
prohibitory laws where they exist and
force upon all parties the necessity for the
enactment Of prohibtory laws without
forming any party distinctively for that
purpose.
The government, to be enduring and in.
fuential, must have for its foundation q
moral and intelligent people. That the
liquor traffic destroys the morality Of the
people is amply proved by the cold facts Of
statistics, which undeniably show that 80
per cent. Of all crime arises from the use OF
intoxicating liquors. To what degree In
toxicatiDg drinks destroy reason and the
greatest intellects the people Of Washing
ton have opportunities to observe equal TO
that Of any other community. This propo-
sition alone furnishes solid and enduring
foundation for national prohibition.
The limits OF space to which l must OF
necessity confne myself preclude the pos
sibility of referring to much less discussing
the question in all its bearings, but, at this
time, when the laboring classes have at last
succeeded In receiving some attention TO
their demands, perhaps 1t may be in order
to attempt to show the intimate relation Of
prohibition to the general prosperity Of the
country. The nations wealth and pros
perity is based upon the skill, sobriety, and
industry Of It's producing classes, and every
thing that tends to lower the standard Of
the workman's ability or his habits can but
be the enemy to the country's prosperity.
to
the cause Of the "hard times" and In order
to overcome this seeming mismanagement
OF investors and manufacturers more per-
haps than with view to contribute to the
laborer's bodily rest or intellectual develop
ment have labor organizations insisted upon
less hours Of work per day and postponed
for year or two the time when boy may
| enter as an apprentice. AS means for the
elevation Of the laboring classes their de-
mands can but be accepted with pleasure,
indicating as they do general desire to
control sufficient time to acquire an educa-
ton through which to reach greater pro-
fciency in their craft; to preserve their
physical organism, that they may not only
enjoy healthy old age, but transmit to
posterity race strong through heredity
both In mind and body. As means, how
ever, for checking oyerproduction shorter
| hours can but at best be a temporary expe-
diency. What is understood: by overpro-
duction will not be stopped by closing the
cotton mill two or three hours per day.
But stop the rum mill permanently and you
have solved the problem.
| There is no overproduction Of useful
commodities In this country, but there is a
| decided inability on the part Of the people
| TO purchase what is necessary for them,
and this inability must increase In proper
tion to the increase in the business of the
rum mill. The enormous sum OF $l1 ,000,-
1 act L. a..
| for Intoxicating liquors. Were the people
who earned this money by the sweat OF
their brow to have spent 1t for necessities
| and comforts OF life, the rum mill would
have stopped, and every other mill In the
country run at double time to produce the
cloth, shoes, tools, arpets, groceries, &C.,
for the want OF which hundreds OF thou
sands have suffered In order that the rum
| mill might run.
| We spent last year for bread s505, ,000. 900
for meats, $303, ,000, 900; for tea aud coffee,
| S145, 900, and for boots and shoes, $l07,-
100000, which items, incredible as 1t may
seem, foot up about the same amount we
4 spent for intoxicating liquors. These are
figures which speak with eloquence to oul
merchants, manufacturers, and laborers OF
all classes. For the general taxpayer Il
may be Of interest to know that from five
to fifteen times the money paid for liquor
licenses are expended In protecting life and
property endangered by the traffic, prose.
cutting, and Furnishing criminals 1t makes,
and providing for the paupers and insane II
produces.
II dollars and cents only entered into this
question prudent regard for the country's
welfare ought to stamp out a business that
lives only by sucking the life blood from
every other business. But interests OF far
greater importance are involved, inasmuch
as the saloon stand as the greatest enemy 10
the home, the church, and the state, and In
every department and age Of life infuses Its
destructive poison. The liquor traffic is a
curse, and a license will never make 1t O
blessing. Every one who votes to license @
saloon knows that by doing so he grants In.
diligence to a place that is incapable OF
doing anything else than blast reputation
ruin homes, incite crime, and make drunk
ards. The liveliest imagination or most sub
tie sophistry can find no difference between
the saloon license Of to-day and the indul
gence for sins to be committed dispensed
some 400 years ago by the church, aud al
the thought Of which horrible practice the
whole world shudders to-day. A. X.
WASHINGTON Sept. 4, 1886.