The Arkansaw traveler., 1889-04-13
Historical Review of Prohibition.

By Minister of the Gospel. Prohibition, to which many preachers arc welded as the penacea for intemperance is another moral muzze that will not Rt We talk as if 1t were new idea, whereas it is as old as the race Some writers think like Milton that the forbidden fruit was of an intox xicating nature and that the first failure of the prohibtOry law was in paradise However this may be- 1t is certain that the old Egyptians were prone to tipple to excess, and very stringent laws against drinking enacted in the year 2200 B. c. The Emperor Yute banished the inventor of rice wine from the realm and pro- hibited the drinking Of that wine, but without success
 In Greece under the Draconian code a man who walked the streets in state of intoxication was put to death, and under Pttacus & crime com mitted under liquor was punished with a double sentence. The old Romans were given more to insobriety than the Greeks and their sumptuary laws, which were much in the line of our pro- hibitionists wholly failed to restrain their excesses
 The old Gauls also had their prohibitory laws all their vineyards were destroyed by order of Domitian, A D. 62 Beer then took the place of wine and the Gauls were just incorporate as ever Mahomet was as rigid in his way St. John or Fiske The koran forbids the of wine or strong drink by the faithful, but obeying the universal craving for a stimulant they took to opium. Thus the Turks the only nation Of strict prohibitionists and it is not denied by any one that socially, morally, and in every respect they are the most degraded nation on the earth
 The emperor, Charlemagne, enacted a whole series of sumptuary laws, not one of which suc- ceeded in enforcing abstinence upon his subjects.
 In England far back as the days of the Saxon king, Edgar prohibition was tried and failed and since then every now and then some sort of pro- hibition has been tried and all met the same tate
 In our country one has only to visit some such city AS Portland Me, to sec how prohibition does not prohibit. There is ample room for restrictive measures wisely and impartialy administered. The establishment of attractive coee-house might, if tried here as in England, do much to promote temperance. The heroic band of non- treating templars who resolve never to ask a man what he will have and never to accept treat from any will work wonders in the line of true reform. But the sooner we learn the fact that never be made moral by any legislative act the better it will be. Self rule must be the only firm basis of moral reform and any system that ignores that must sooner or later fall
 With thinking men outside of partisans 1t has come to be an accepted truth that prohibition and persecution in religion and every reform has only tended to propagate the ideas of those prohibited and persecuted. This is because deep down in the heart of mankind is the instnctive tone of freedom It is the principle of personal liberty that the prohibitionists of all kinds whether they seek to prohibit drinks or meats or dress religion come in conflict with The greatest thinkers and writer's the foremost divines, and the greatest statemen have all pointed out the fatal error of prohibit tion that it does not respect the inherent right of every freeman to decide for himself what he shall eat, drink, wear, and use, we'll as worship Exchange.