Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-09
Liquor traffic Tnconstitutiona..

Very little attention is given in these
times to our constitutions in politics and
legislation. There is to be found "thc
will of the people" if they arc not
traitors. There is the life of our state
and OF our nation.
Who has ever brought the towering
liquor crime to the test of these consti-
buttons? Instead of this they have been
surrendered to it's service like any other
its serpent-grip. Oh, shame, treachery,
blindness! They are uncquivocally
against it, and demand its eXtermina-
ton. Listen to them while stating the
principles and objects for which they
were made.
The National Constitution says: 1--WE,
the people of tho United States, in order
| to form a more perfect union, to estab-
fish, justice, to insure domestic tran
| guilty, promote the general welfare, and
secure the blessings of liberty, do ordain
and establish this Constitution. State
constitutions have the same object. Ours
says: eve, the people, grateful to God
for our civil and religious liberty, do or
dain this constitution"
Government is instituted for the bene-
fit and protection of the people. They
then proceed to organize government to
carry out these sacred objects of "jus-
tice, domestic tranquility and general
welfare" Now arraign at the bar Of
these constitutions the liquor traffic;
with all it's torment and woes, all its
ruin to domestic" life, It's material de-
structon of S1,1Oo, 900 annually; its
crimes, poverty and public corruption,
its barbarous war on "thc public wei
) fare;" and close the Indictment by count
iprr re lnoI rNtar
bring in the verdict Is this business
constitutional? Common sense answers
No! 1t is directly and fatally at wal
with every object for which the constitu
. tions were made. For it's annhiatiol
they summon the whole power of pena
law.
These positions are undeniable. Tht
liquor ruin has not &; shadow of right
under our constitutions. 1t is a gigantic
crime against the state.
1t is a fundamental principle of judi
cature that nothing morally wrong Cal
! be legal, and what is wrong if the liquor
woe is not? The Supreme Court of tho
United States declared it n nuisance
Has it constitutional rights? 1t is op
posed to the common Jaw under which
Blackstone says: mo man has a right tt
use his property to the injury of an
other" The Supreme Court has sale
asa.n: "No legislature can bargain away
the public health or the public morals
The people themselves cannot do it
Government is organized for their pre-
I servatlon." And Gods law thunders
execute justice; Or my wrath shall &C
forth like lightning"
Thus the gigantic liquor crime. will
all it's licensed inventions, is stripped %
every shred of legal covering. This posi-
ton is so unanswerable that q littlt
thought by the people and a few trials by
the courts will settle all forever.
The question Of the overthrow of til,
liquor power is broader than prohibition
1t involves the problem of whether OF
not our sacred constitutions and FREE
; government would continue to be prosti
tuted to the support of the greatest curse
on earth. killing the moral and materia
vitality of our country. The miscon
struction of the Constitution in support
, of slavery for two-thirds of u century
made its termination possible onl.
through blood. The danger now is no
less, but the constitutions arc still the
J field on which all foes of intolerabl'
wrong can rally in unity, and there con
quer. A. WILEY.
NORTnFIELD, MINI.