The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1890-04-22
THE FARMERS ALLIANCE AND
PROHIBITION.
GLENOLA. n. c.. 1890.

principle is lacking IN the Farmers
Alliance. Whether it was intention,
alIy omitted when the Alliance was
organized or has been simply neglected
I do not know, but one thing I am
sure of: that such a principle should
hold a conspicuous place in such an
organization whose noble object it is
to reform and elevate the laboring
classes and crush out of existence op-
pressive trusts and monopolies. The
two words which come nearest defn-
ing the object of the Alliance, I be-
lieve, r reform and economy. Re-
form to capital land also to labor and
the labor), and economy to labor and
the laboring class
1t is an acknowledged fact that the
Iaboring class suffers more from the
use of ardent spirits than any other
class, and the suffering comes in more
ways than the direct consumption of
i~ntoxicants If the consumer was
the only injured party, the suffering
would be extreme, but this is not the
case by a great deal. The wages earned
by a drinkor, or a large part of them,
are often spent to alleviate the crav-
ings of his depraved appetite when
they should have contributed to the
wants of his uneducated, starving and
naked family. AS a general rule the
family of the drunkard is dragged
down with him to poverty, suffering
and ruin. But this is not all. Go to
the jails, insane asylums, alms,houses
and penitentiaries of this country and
you will find that at least eight tenths
of the inmates of these receptacles of
crime, poverty and insanity are brought
here directly OF indirectly from the
use of ardent spirits. But yet a little
farther. Go to the gallows; inquire
what brought its victim there, and
the answer comes: "Nine-tenths are
brought here by whiskey."
All, selfish man Shame on you
for your inconsistency You devise
plans to punish your brothers, and
even take their lives; you devise refuge
for the needy and unfortunate, and
yet for the sake Of your fendish and
depraved appetites, but you say for
the sake of a little pitiless revenue to
come into the Golfers of your treasury,
which might well be called the Grew
enue of blood" you place before your
brother the temptation and means by
which he is brought to these recep-
tacles Of wretchedness and misery.
But, does the influence of the whlskey
curse stop with the jail, insane asy-
lum, scaffold, &C.? Indeed no. It is
felt by every man, oma and child
in this country. We hear a continual
howl from it's effects, and yet in the
majority of cases the poor bowler
don't know what he is bowling about.
Many of the pol ical papers in this
and other States, especially during a
political campaign, are heard bowling
from the same cause. They know
what is grinding the people of this
country and causing them to groan,
but they will not tell them. They
know that the aus of high taxes
comes from the support of aims
houses, jails, &C., and from the sup
port of criminal courts, and that all
of these are peopled mainly, directly
or indirectly, from the whiskey curse.
In almost every political campaign,
high taxes are the weapons mainly
used by State and county contestants
for political honors. The Republican
party will say let us in and we will
down with high taxes. The Demo
Gratis will say let us continue in and
we will reduce your taxes. Both
parties are lying for the sake of office.
The Democrats know that the taxes
are as high as they constitutionally
can be. And both parties know that
the taxes cannot be lessened until the
expenses of the State and county are
lessened and the leaders of these par
ties know that a vast amount of the
expenses come from the drink curse.
Why do not the politicians tell the
people the cause of high taxes, and
that the taxes cannot be cut down un-
til the cause, the Unnecessary cause, for
which a large amount of them are
levied, is abolished. One of the surest
ways to reduce taxes would be to
secure a strict ~prohibitory law, backed
up and enforced by the people. And
in order to secure such a law, the
question should be put directly to the
people, as in the case of local option,
only on a broader scale. Instead of
being required to get up a pegition
signed by one-fourth of the voters in
the district to be voted on, let the
question License or No License be
voted upon throughout the State at
every legislative election. By this
mode of procedure the liquor question
will be agitated every two years, and
the more it is agitated the faster will
prohibition grow.
Of all the organizations, there is
not a better organized body in the
United States than the brewers and