Mexico weekly ledger., 1888-03-22

CoIiSbstutif oH ndtitl.
SMITH &c CHIN.
ties of our fair land? In 1870, Sir
Mathew Hale, Chief Justice of
England, said: seThe places of
judicature / have long held in this
kingdom have given me an oppor-.
tunity to observe the original cause
of most of the enormities that have
been committed for the space of
nearly twenty years; and by due
observation, / have found that if
the murders and manslaughters,
the burglaries and %robberies, the
riots and tumults, the adulteries,
foundations, rapes, and other enor-
mites that have happened in that
time, were divided into five parts,
four of them have been the issues
and product of excessive drinking
tavern and ale house drink
ing" These houses were the
ancient and tame forms of the
modern saloon. l have before me
abundant testimony of prison and
penitentiary wardens, and eminent
jurists proving that the learned
|jurist was right. Several years
ago Noah Davis, Chief Justice of
the New York Supreme Court, sus-
tanned Chief Justice Hale. And
now comes the honorable Supreme
Court of the United States and in
it's decision, rendered at the Octo-
Der, 1887. term, on the celebrated
Kansas liquor cases, tits whole de-
cislon lies before me in neat
pamphlet form) speaking ofthe at
tack Judge Brewer (appropriate
nameD had made on the temper
ance laws of Kansas says on page
25: "There is here no justification
for holding that the State, under
the guise merely of police regula-
tons, is aiming to deprive the citi-
zen of his constitutional rights; for
we cannot shut out of view the
fact, within the knowledge of all
that the public health, the public
morals and the public safety, may
be endangered by the general use
of intoxicating drinks; nor the fact
established by statistics accessible
to everyone, that the disorder,
pauperism and crime prevalent in
this country, are in same degree at
least traceable to this evil"
On .27 this court says in speak
ing of personal liberty to traffic In
alcoholic beverage under the pro-
hibitory laws of Kansas: "Such a
right does not in here in citizen
ship Now can it be said that the
Government interferes with, or inn.
pairs any ones constitutional
rights of liberty or of property,
when it determines that the manu-
faeture and sale of intoxicating
drinks, for general or individual
use, as a beverage are, o may be-
come hurtful to society, and con-
stitute, therefore a business in
which no one may lawfully engage.
y 4 x No one may right
fully do that which the lawmaking
power, upon reasonable ground,
declares to be prejudicial to the
general welfare" Hear another
authority also a great one, on
personal liberty. Thomas Jeffer-
soc, in seventh volumn of his
works, page /, says; "No man
has a natural right to commit ag-
gression on the equal rights Of
others" Again, in his inaugural
address in 1901: with all these
blessings what more is necessary
to make US a happy and prosper
GUS people Still one thing
more, fellow citizens, q wise
and frugal government which shall
restrain men from injuring one
another and which shall leave
them other wise Free Noble
words. / fully believe were
Thomas Jefferson alive to-day and
a citizen Of Audrain county, and in
the full exercise of his mental
powers, he would, in view Of the
alarming growth of the power and
evil of the liyuor traffic vote for
Local Option.
democrat" has doubtless for
gotten that preachers are citizens.
we did not surrender our rights as
citizens either when we became
Christians, or ministers Of Christ's
gospel. Each one of us has q
citizens interest in this fight
against the saloon; ofice-seekers
~buttpnhole us for our votes, judges
of election permit Us to vote; the
collector and marshall gladly and
courteously receive our taxes, and
nothing goes wrong until we
chance TO tramp on the toes Of
some whisky attorney or his
friends. The APOSTLE Paul boast
ed Of his Rorna,, citizenship, and