Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-03-15


Ing fugative slave, which. when
summed up, amounted TO the dec
iaration that a negro had no
rights which white man was
bound to respect. And the same
exalted tribunal has recently rem
dered no less startling opinion
to the effect that the minority in q
State have no rights which the ma
jority are bound To respect.
1t required q terrible war and
the sacrifice of untold blood and
treasure TO establish the falsity OF
the former opinion, and it remains
for time TO prove the means by
which the lovers of personal libef-
ty will show To the world the
greater falsity of the latter.
Prohibitionists claim that the
State has the same right to prohibit
the sale of liquor that it has to
prohibit the storage of gunpowder
or the indiscriminate sale OF poi
sohs, for the alleged reason that
the one may be as hurtful to the
public as the other. A single
glance will show the sophistry OF
this proposition. The State may
forbid the storage of gunpowder
where such store would endanger
the lives of people and be
| HURTFUL TO THE PROPERTY
OF others, or it can prevent such
storage in place of which the gen.
eral public are ignorant. II man
stores gunpowder under his side.
walk, he may thereby subject
thousands of passers-by jas well as
all adjacent property to constant
through unknown danger daily.
This the State may prohibit; and
so with the sale of poisons, which
may not be sold to uninstructed
persons, except under certain reg
ulations, the reason being that such
persons do not know, and have nc
means of knowing, their danger
All such laws are based upon the
right and duty of the State to pro,
tect tie citizens from fraud, or i'm.
Ininent and unknown danger.
But this reasoning does not ap.
ply to the sale of pure ,unadulterat-
ed liquor. Every sane, sober man
of legal age knows all the danger
there is in such liquor, and he has
the natural right to drink it, and
having that right, he has an equal
right to buy it wherever he car
find it, and the person of whom he
buys has the same right to sell it
subject only to proper regulations
affecting the rights of others. TIC
concede one mans rights to buy
and drink liquor, and at the same
time deny that of another to sell
him, it too absurd a proposition te
be entertained by any sane person
1t is like saying to the man, "Yor
have perfect right to buy and
drink liquor, but we viii place al
officer of the law between you ant
the seller, who will see that yor
have an opportunity to buy" Thi:
is simply admitting right but
denying its exercise, which is ad
ding insult to tyranny.
| What is the purpose Of prohibi
Ition, if it be not to mitigate the
evils of intemperance? Certainly
nothing. Let us inquire what are
claimed to be the evil results of in
temperance, and having ascertainec
them we will then see whether they
have been removed or even lessen
ed by prohibition whe,e it has beer
tried longer and under the mos
favorable conditions?
/ Prohibitionists assert that a
least so per cent. of the crime, in
sanity and pauperism which affiic
| the country, are the direct results
of intemperance,, and that if WI
| will only establish and maintain
prohibition we may turn most o
our prisons, jails, poor houses ant
lunatic asylums into factories, dis
miss our courts and sit down ant
enjoy the millennium. Now, al
this is fine talk, and no one woult
rejoice more than / to find it true
but it is very far from being true
J as / know, and as any of you ma,
know by looking into the facts
/ Where shall we look for the facts
If any of your neighbors had trie'
| a new process in the arts o
, mechanics and you were solicite'
f to try the same thing, what woul
you do? You would certainly asl
, who had already tried it, and i
4 you were told that Jones had trie'
, it three years, Brown four or fiv
years and Smith forty years, an
if you had any notion whatever G
trying it yourselves you woul
: first see some of those who had al
ready tried it, and, if possible, yo1
, would see Smith; for you woul
: consider that his long experience i
the matter would enable him to tel
you all about it; and if you foun
Fl Smith to be an intelligent man
r and that he had given the thing
fair trial, and you should lear
: from him facts convincing you tina
8 the thing did not work, you woul
RI hesitate about going into it your
selves, would you not?
Well, that is just the case here
f You are asked to try prohibition a
f a temperance measure and you fin
0 that several States have tried
t for a longer or shorter time, an
that one of them {Maine) has trie
it nearly forty years. s'Oh, but,
8 says one, "Maine has never give
. it fair trial; it has never been full
= enforced there" / answer that
has never been and never will
: fully enforced anywhere, but ths
Maine has tried as hard to enforo
: it as it is possible for any people I
ltry-and of this there can be n
doubt. ] have taken the pains
: carefully examine the prohibitor
. laws Of Maine, commencing wit
: the Dow law of 1851, and endin
: with the three acts passed la:
= winter, and / say here and nov
t,.lat there is nowhere to be foun
such series of violent attempt
!, to make a law that would ansWt
q the purpose of its creation. Frol
tiroe tn time as eyperienee s,1poes