St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1889-02-23
Total Abstinence.

vidual it would be impossible to show
that prohibition of the liquor traffic is a
wise policy for the State. The life assur-
ance so ietes, however, have demonstrated
that the total abstainer has at least third
better chance for long life than the moder-
ate drinker The question as to the ad-
visibility of total abstinence is closed
issue. 1t is no longer in debate among
enlightened men. For nearly half cen
fury life assurance societies in Great Brit
ain, Australia, Canada and the United
States have manyof them been accustomed
to insure total abstainers in one section
and moderate drinkers in another. The
result has been that a b0nus, premium of
ID, 20 and sometimes % and 20 per cent,
has been paid to the total abstinence sec
ton in contrast with the other Recent
laws in ma jority Of the States of the Re
public require that instruction in the latest
inculcations of science in regard to tenn
perance shall be given in the common
schools on penalty of withdrawal of the
public funds. All the approved text books
for this instruction nculcate total absti
nence.
With any political measure less stern
than prohibition, the chief mischiefs of
the liquor traffic fail of correction. Cen
tu1ies of experience have proved that
license, high or low, is powerless as a
remedy. Whisky syndlcates all over the
land clamor for high license in preference
to prohibition. The income which the
State receives from high license entrenches
the traffic behind the cupidity CT tax, pay
ers, and so hinders proh bition and makes
the population at large participator in
the prcti:s Of an infamous business. High
license gilds the saloon. 1t transforms
the gin-h hole into the gin palace. 1t tends
to produce combination of the liquor sa-
loon, the gambling hell and the brothel
under one roof in each Establishment As
Herrick johnson has s. \: 'Low license
asks for your son; higW license for your
daughter also" All T. ense of the liquor
traffic means State permission to a man,
for consideration, to4poison his reigh-
bors and manufacture drunkards, paupers,
criminals, taxes, ruiue:l homes and lost
souls.
If the liquor traffic becomes public
menace, its suppression becomes public
necessity. No doubt it Injuries the Repub
lie more now every year than slavery did
in any one year before the war. AS far as
the liquor traffic does harm, SO far its sup
preston will do good. 1t is the notorious
testimony of statisticians, judges, publicists
and competent observers of every class that
it is the direct or indirect cause of seven
tenths of the pauperism and crime of
Anglo Saxon nations. According to Mr..
Gladstone, intemperance has injured those
nations worse than war, pestilence and
famine AS total abstinence is wise
policy for the individual, and as any meas
ure less stern than prohibition is ineffec
tive in correcting the mischiefs of the
liquor traffic, the wisdom of prohibition is
as evident as that of curing the pauperism,
crime and political corruption which the
liquor traffic causes.
Prohibition of the liquor traffic on Sun
days is now mandatory in every State and
Territory of the Republic. The reasons
which make prohibition wise policy on
Sundays make it such on all other days of
the week.
The Supreme Court of the United States
has recently affirmed the complete consti-
tutionality of the principle of prohibition
All the churches of the country, except
the Roman Catholic and the Protestant
Episcopal. have declared themselves in
favor of prohibition. The Methodist
church teaches that the liquor traffic can
never be legalized without sin. The Pres
byterian church refuses church member
ship to rum sellers.
A drunken people cannot be free peo-
pie. Under universal suffrage, prohibit
ton is a political necessity, because with
out it the liquor traffic, as experience indi-
Gates, is sure to become predominant
power in municipal, State and National
politics. Every political party that is
afraid to offend the whisky vote is in
bondage to the saloon. But the sover-
eighty of the saloon in great cities is the
sovereignty of the slums. Until prohlbl-
ton succeeds, average municipal politics
will be kept in bondage to the criminal
classes. When the path to political pre-
ferment leads through the gin-mills, free
government is farce and it's future is
likely to be tragedy.
To be successful in the United States,
the suppression of the liquor traffic must
be political and national Only the arm of
the National government will be found
strong enough to break up the whisky
ring. 1t is great advantage to secure
prohibition in single States; but, unless
the nation forbids interstate commerce 10
liouor and ceases to be partner in its
manufacture, and destroys the traffic In
the Territories and other quarters under
national control, that advantage is largely
lost The perils of the future will make
prohibition prohibit. Political necessity
overthrow slavery. Political necessity
will yet make the liquor traffic an outlaw
by both State and National enactment
The sovereignty of the saloon is lncom-
patible with the safety of popular self
government. A nation that would not sub
nit to the South in the saddle will not