Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-11-21
EVILS OF THE SALOON.
1t Ministers to Vice, Crime, Misery aat
Suffering.

u
Suffering.
A subscriber down in Central Ohio
writes to ask why The Blade devotes
SO much energy to the saloon, and
pays no attention to the men who
drink" He thinks that the drinker is
just as much in fault rs the dealer, for
if there were no demand for liquor
there certainly would be none made or
sold" All of which is true; but let US
suppose in your little Ohio village, for
example-which has a population of
six hundred, we find-there were one
liquor saloou-only one place where
rum in any form could be purchased.
(There are probably more, however,
but for illustration let us suppose there
is but one.) Out of your six hundred
population, made up of men, women
and children, there are probably one
hundred who drink, either seldom or
frequently, at its bar Now tell us,
which would be the easier for the law
to do: to detect and punish every one
of those one hundred men when they
went to drink, leaving the seller alone,
not interfering with him in any way;
or to pay no attention to those who
drink. but to prevent that one man
from selling rum
Obviously the latter is the easier to
do And it would still be the easier
mode of enforcing prohibition if there
were half-dozen different saloons,
and as many different ones engaged in
the sale. 1t is easier to control six
,,or tl,,p 70 ooptro1 ono bupdrad Then
does it not follow that in q whole state
it is easier to control the manufacture
and sale of this poison than it is to at
tempt to control the hundreds of thou
sands of men who drink, habitually or
occasionally?
Again, the efforts of the numerous
secret and non-secret temperance or
CARNATIONS has been directed for years
to the building up of temperance
sentiment, to the education of the
masses in the direction of total absti-
nence. The saloons have been open
all of the same period, and the result
is that the saloon has proved itself
more potent educator for evil than the
others have been for good. Take your
own village again, for examples: Sup
pose every rum-hole in it were closed
permanently, wCuiA not your village
boys grow up without being exposed to
the temptations of drink? If its de-
moralizing influences were absent all
good influences would be far more po-
tent than they now are.
The evils of rum can not be overcome
so long as the saloon Is allowed to re-
main. Therefore the saloon and the
distillery and the brewery must go in
order that humanity may have this
monster evil removed. Why do men
make and sell rum? Simply because
there is money in it. Is there any good
reason that can be given why any per-
son should be allowed to pursue an oc-
cupation which is absolutely and en-
tirely injurious to his fellow-men? All
other occupations in this wide circle of
human effort have this raison d'etre in
necessity, utility, or convenience to
mankind. The rum traffic stands alone.
1t ministers to vice, to crime, to misery
and suffering. 1t is a monster vam-
pire, sucking the blood of the body
polite. 1t is not only useless; it is
curse to humanity. There is not an
other human occupation of which this
can truthfully be said.
While it is true, as our friend who
makes the query states, that If there
were none who wished to drink rum,
none would be made or sold, the con-
verse is equally true, that if none were
manufactured or sold none would be
drank. AS a question of morals, the
guilt is upon the one who gives oppor-
tunity for a crime. There are, for in
stance, many men who are absolutely
crazy when under the influence of Ii
quor; they are filed with an insane de-
sire to kill and destroy. When per-
son so constituted commits murder,
for example-and there are dozens OF
such instances reported in the daily
press each year-the moral guilt rests
as deeply upon. the man who sold him
the liquid fire that paralyzed his judg-
ment and rendered him temporarily in
sane, as it does upon the actual doer.
Men are frequently allowed to escape
the Just penalty of infraction of the
law, simply because it is shown that
they were irresponsible, through being
drunk at the time. Is not this tacit
admission. by the law itself that the
real blame rests elsewhere? And on
whom can this blame be placed save
on the shoulders of the man who fur
nished the rum?
Then, If the seller is morally to
blame for the crime and misery caused
by the drunkard; il the sale can be
more easily controlled than the drink
ing; and If the saloon is our most po-
tent agent in the perpstuation of the
vast array of evils resulting from the
rum traffic-and it has been shown that
these propositions are all true-it fol-
flows, then, that the traffic should be
destroyed as the most just, the most
practical, and the surest way OF curing
these evils. Prohibition of the manu-
facture and sale of rum is the only re-
ally practical way,to pulverize the rum