The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-10-17
REFORM All THE TOP.
TFrom The Voice. /

VI SAo ~ lShoSV.h0l E Utlds IGiDIlls
There were imported into tho United
State in 1889 Intoxicating liquors pro
duccd in foreign countries as follows:
Still ), 49, $50
6thnu y y Ia; 1,o7G,s 63
Malt 1851, $50
........ . $40, 996, $40
These are the valuations at the Gus
tom. House, and must probably be
doubled to get cost to the consumer,
making SSa0,O O0. 900 expended for import
ed liquors.
Now, with slight exceptions, this
amount was used by the wealthy. The
poor do not buy champagne. lii must be
remembered, too, that this is but a small
part Of what the wealthy buy, for they
use large quantities of domestic LIQUORS.
Tho Union League Club, which well
represents the wealthy classes of New
York. expended in 1888:
For winos SIS, 763
the latter amount largely, no. doubt. for
whisky and other liquors OF American
production.
1t is probable there is as much drunk
cnncSS in proportion to their numbers.
amCng the rich as among the poor. 1t is
not so obtruSivc nor quite so hideous
when the rich man is put to bed by his
valet as when the poor man rolls on tho
sidewalk with no one but a policeman to
wait upon him. The statistics of drunk
enncss among the poor are open to all
the world in the police court. Drunken
ness among the rich is often recorded
only in broken hearts. But the. mischief
n rJ cprrDr, n nc NOT 1acS orI AM ;,l;,on+
injury to society may be greater.
While this goes on, it is uphill work
to talk of "destroying the saloon" The
poorer classes, the laboring men, at once
resent it, naturally, though not wisely.
The porter says 81 have as good a right
to my glass of beer as my employer has
to his champagne" Samuel Gompcrs,
at tho National Temperance Congress,
stated the views of a large class of work
ingmcn as follows:
"That all legislation to regulate the
liquor traffic affects only those who buy
over the bars, or in small quantities, and
at such tiWes as they want it: that legis-
lative regulation of the liquor traffic
cannot and does not affect the rich or
weil-cOnditioued people, who can and do
purchase large quantities, and use it at
will
At the same session of the Congress
Thaddens b. Wakeman said:
"The real difficulty is, that The work
ingmcn, and the most of the people of
this country, believe that there is com
fort in alcoholic drinks"
Well, the rich, who ought to know,
since they can try all forms of comfort,
set the laboring mel the example OF
holding Just this belief. James Parton
says: 't{As soon as a man finds that he
has made a fortune. his first aim is to
provide himself a good wine cellar"
While this is the rich mans standard
of comfort, it will be the ideal heaven of
the poor. They will resent with indig-
nation any attempt to bar them ont Of
this heaven of intoxication: and they
have the majority OF votes. In Pitts
burg they will cvade restriction by 5000
@Spcak-casics." In Atlanta they will
vote solidly against prohibition, This
is just tho trouble in the South. A GER
tain class of planters and merchants
who arc not temperance men are quite
willing TO favor Il form of prohibition
that will keep liquor away from "the
niggers," while leaving the gentleman
his wine. OF course. when that is ance
perceived. the npgrocs-and all the
poorer c~lasscs-become dcad-sct against
prohibition. The drinking of the rich
arrays against prohibition the deter
mined opposition of the poor.
Mrs. Hunt says OF the defeat in Mas
s%achusctts:
"In 1855 we lacked, in Massachusetts,
on the whole vote cast, only 1000 men
to make q majority for local Prohibition,
that is, against license, under Local-Op-
ton law; but a majority Of over A, 900
of the Same men, a few weeks later,
voted against forever prohibiting by Or
ganic law the manufacture and sale of
alcoholic liquors. This instance clearly
illustrates the difference between senti-
ment against alcohol and sentiment
against the saloon. The gentleman who
does not want the saloon on his street,
"r III his ward, o. suburb, will vote no
license there, but he will not vote so to
abolish the manufacture and sale that
he cannot. without becoming accessory
to Undertaking, get the glass of wine CT
beer that he likes and believes in; and
therefore Massachusetts and many other
States are disgraced by the LOCALIZED
saloon.A
That point must be conquered Or moth.
ing can be conquered. We must form a
sentiment against alcohol" among the
classes which control the social and bust
ness life of the nation or we can never
control the poor, suppress the saloon" or
even abolish the diyes,n
Here il. q field where temperance cdu-
cation, moral s%uasion, the pulpit and the
church have a mighty work to do. We
need men in metropolitan pulpits, brave
and strong as Lyman Beecher and George
B. Checver Of half a century ago, to
preach that swine is q mocker" so that
the rich shall heed; to plead and thunder
against intemperance till the wine is
banished from the table of tho wealthy.
lest by its uso "the weak brother perish
for whom Christ died" We need edu-
eating agencies of commanding power to
make men see that alcohol is Injurious
to the constitution of the millionaire as
surely as to that of the hod-carrier, and
entails just as irreversible o curse upon
his children and his childrcn's children.
We need leaders of wealth and culture
like William Z. Dodge and Clinton B.
Fisk, full of the noble patriotism which
will abstain from what for them wonld
be but II Of many Injuries for the sake
of the toiling thousands for whom it is
dcsolatiOn and death.
The rich have need to do it for their
own security. For if the liquor traffic
Is to go on debaucl.ing the masses till it
shall have made them all either fools OF
fcnds. the fortunes that are built on
the crust above that volcano will be
swallowed up by such an upheaval as will
make the French Revolution pale into
insignilicance. All who pray, all who
preach. all who teach and all who care
for temperance need to unites heart and
voice and influence,&for q Total Abstin-
encc Revival which shall sweep through
the PALACE as well asthe cabin, and make
possible the legislation we need, which
is nothing less than the demand of oul
National Prohibition platform, ato pro
hibit the Importation, expectation, manu-.
%facture and sale of intoxicating liquors
as a beverage" If we are to suppress
the saloon at the bottom, we need to
smash the champagne bottle at the top.
Prohibition Has Demonstrated Its Sue.
cess.
Judge w. c. Webb, one of the ablest
%jurists in Kansas, and a former opponent