The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-06-30
"The story is Old"
BY w. B. MERCHANT.


"All that can be said on the temper
anee question has been said million
times over. There is no need to take
temperance paper"
''The woman who made the above
statement is a wife and mother. How
ones thoughts will circle round and
spread out, like ripples from center of
agitation, from that old adage, tThere
is nothing new under the sum-
Do politicians ever tire OF these magi-
cal words, tariff We. free trade" Every
four years, or oftener, the changes are
rung, the old ground plowed, the seed
sown, the harvest often depending upon
the amount of cultivation. Does any
one say the story has lost its grip?
There is theme much older than this.
! The preacher tells of creation, of the fall,
and of redemption. Thousands listen,
think, and shudder at the thought of the
world without Christianity; o, pity the
few who say, "The story is old, let it
die -
i Almost as long ago as creation the
story of human love was told did this
woman say to her would-be husband,
''That story has been told million times,
don't tell it to me?''
The circle widens and comprehends all
nature. Every season brings forth the
earth's products, fruits, grains, ETC., and
all flesh (; every day the. appetite 'reiter-
ates the ancient demand. Nevertheless,
we must not say anything upon the
temperance question, because it may
have been said before. Will the tempter
hold his peace the while? An old picture
/ comes to mind of church, "Closed
while the pastor takes a vacation" The
arch fiend says, 81 never take vaca-
tionn ~
Don't say anything about temperance
to that woman's boy! He may learn to
tipple of his father, what matter if he
tipple harder? Don't say anything if he
join the midnight carousal; bad blood is
sometimes engendered there; he may
reach felon's cell, but keep your lips
closed unchecked temptation sometimes
ends on the gallows, and the victim
But let us go back. This woman has
daughters, too = they may be beautiful,
genteel, educated (although these things
are old and ought not to be repeated. }
! Don't tell them of wine-bibbing hus-
bands, its too frivolous. Can you follow
the wave and tell who the victim might
be, aye has been? Oh, the story is old,
but now is the time to thunder it into
that mothers ears.
Too late? 1t would not save her boy
it would not save her girl from life OF
double anguish? They are not worth
of the old story. Poor mother But
! thank God, the sun will continue to
melt the ice and thaw the frozen ground
the seed will sprout and grow, the drip
iping water will still wear the rock.
AS to the idea put forth by some that
inthe case of prohibition the state ought
to compensate saloon-keepers and distill-
ers for loss of property, the. matter il
deserving of candid consideration. Nc
good cause can be aided by wrong doing
But let this fact be noted the state has
no right to prohibit business at all, ex-
cept on the ground that it is intrinsi-
cally bad business, and one fraught
with damage to society. The funda-
mental justification for meddling sum.
marily with this liquor business is, that
! 1t is business found to be SO essentially
and continuously, always and everywhere
i injurious to society and ruinous to other
wise happy homes, as to prove itself to
be an incomputable.d damage to the com.
monwealth, amounting to horrible
nuisance and a curse. 1t will he time
enough for the prohibited nuisance te
demand compensation for its abatement
when some compensation shall begin tc
be made for the, merciless misery anC
loss it has already occasioned. The liz
uor business is so essentially injurious
its prosecution is in fact, even if not yet
so denominated in law, crime.