The Washington critic., 1888-01-21
THE ALCOHOLIC CURSE
"0livia'Sn Views on the Whisky
Traficin the National Capital
PROHIBITION NOT THE THING,
Let Wine and Beer Go Free and No
Adultcrated Liquors Allowed
.H in the Market.

Down down ~ but IL will not down,
the alcoholic problem in the District
stares Congress and the Executive IN
the face. So fafas the citiEens--we
political ciphers-are concerned, we
stand back, represented by q few
grains of the purest gold of woman
hood-the actual workers who go in
their stainless robes to the Capitol to
delve in the Congressional mines Of
darkness, and the bold life-wreckers
who plead that "if Washington does
not get the liquor plum Baltimore
will; therefore, just that amount Of
business will be wrenehed away from
the Capital"
Gentlemen compoundcrs Of the
poison, let US look the awful situation
in the eye. Statistics show us-and
figures never lie--that seven-tenths
Of all the useless rubbish that fills our
lunatic asylums, jails, reformatories,
hospitals and Potters' fields are
brought there through the liquor
traffic. TO support this writhing mass
bone and sinew Of our beloved coun-
| try--pours out few more drops of
| sweat from his tired brow and filches
| off q parcel Of crumbs from his scanty
| loaf, for political economy teaches
| that all the burden of taxation rests
| within the grimy hand Of labor. Even
God seems to turn deaf ear to the
bitter wall of the workingwoman and
her starving children. Why not let
Baltimore have the chance to manu-
facture these miniature hells? Would
it not be glorious for German, with
his Baltimore attachment to come to
our Capital and snatch every internal
den within four hundred feet of our
public schools, where our darling boys
drink in whisky lessons with their
reading, writing and geography?
Would not the millennium begin to
descend if we could only see the five
cent corner grocery gracefully sliding
away on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
road tracks?
Will the good dear German come
with Baltimore at his heels and take
our st. Elizabeth, our headquarters of
mania potu that already covers acres
in extent, and yet is so full that we
shall soon have to make history re-
peat itself by putting the surplus into
the police van and spilling the un
fortunates in the Maryland woods?
Perhaps Baltimore can beat us il
| barbarism; ought we not to be will
ing to let her try?
AN OVERFLOW OF DRUNKARDs.
Our Jail and workhouse so overflow
that Judge Smell is forced to tax,
personal bonds" and condone mino
offenses because there is no place 70
the offender not already filed, and n
whipping-pOst or method of punish
= ment exists such as our forefather
wisely provided, and such must be re
o vived if the liquor traffic is nc
: checked.
Are the saloon keepers mad this
g they should go to Congress to get tha
n kind of business bolstered up that
sapping the very marrow out Of tn
bones of our social structure ]
: Congress sane if it longer permits tn
Capital of the Nation to make a mui
' derous assault on itself?
We have come to that point in OH
i drunken history when tears and sof
persuasive voices fall like dew on th
rock with about the same consequcn
, ces. The squares of our beautiful
!, city, with very few exceptions, ar
, honey-combed with drinking hells
! Our streets are lighted up with the re,
: noses of our policemen without TIL
: slightest abatement of our gas bills
Drunkenness in some stage is the rule
the purely sober citizen the exception
e Will not Congress have mercy on tn
b little handful of human beings at tn
Capital who have no more power 70
| their own protection than the swal
4 lows who build their nests under tn
6 Capitol caves?
= Do the people of the District wan
prohibition as it has been tried il
Maine and Iowa? God forbid, 70
: experience shows us that more liQuo
1 is drank in the States where ii is ''pro
t hibited" than if the law had neve
: been passed.
. WHERE PROHIBITION EXISTS
! we make the man who drinks com
NIT two crimes instead of one. TIL,
first is where he wrongs himself, tn
: next is where he breaks the law. i
we have no place now for our crimi
r mails what shall we do when we flint
. prohibition does not prohibit and tn
: drug store takes the place of tn
saloon, whilst the quantity purchased
Y works longer drunk? Congress
now called upon to strike the key
note which will sound from Maine t
California. No question of such vas
3 magnitude has come up in Congress
since the tocsin Of war resounde
! | throughout the land. The foe j
, already at the door clutching ou
! burning throats. Help! Help! 70
: Gods sake help, or We perish.
0 First of all, give us a commission
, composed Of an equal number Of mel
and women,
TO INSPECT THE BUSINESS
:, of every person who vends liquor il
. the District; said dealers TO be unde
thousands of dollars bonds, to be for
I feited in case any adulteration i
found. This will prevent drug store
9 from becoming saloons, and save +
G the family the amount of the physi
clans spurious bill. Let us avoid b,
all means the drug foolery. Thi
r. commission should be paid a salar,
. ? commensurate with its difficult duties
!, for this is business, not sentiment
Let wine and beer be as free from
taxation as the water of the Potomac
I. but let a penalty of the severest kin'
: follow the tampering with or adultera
: tion of either. In the history of nation
$ has it ever happened that crime ant
= weakness has been cured, unles
y the first underlying basis of tn
trouble receives the healing balm?
: What causes the burning appetit