The Opelousas courier., 1894-08-18

| TEGSluclllSM Hiss SLeIld lTuQlaE.
V.-Pres. and TT. Mrs. r. R. Settoon.
Rec. Secretary, Mrs; s. 7. Crawford.
PLEDGE.
I hereby solemnly promise, God help.
ing me, to abstain fTOM all alcoholic Ii.
quors as a beverage, including beer
wine and cider, and thej [ will employ
all proper means to discourage the use
of and traffic in the same.
/. Prohibition will ruin only one
branch of business-the whisky bust
ness.
2. Prohibition will prove financially
detrimental to one class Of men-the
saloons keepers-but let them find more
honest, if less lucrative, employment.
8. Prohibition will not harm the gro
Gerry and general merchandise dealers
who sell whisky /; for the sale of groce-
ries and dry goods will increase in d.
rect proportion to the decrease OF the
sale of whisky.
Of our large dry goods establishments ;
the money which formerly went to the
saloon keeper there.
5. Prohibition will cause the new
Industries, the factories, mills, ETC., to
prosper.
6. Prohibition will lessen the num-
Der OF men arrested for crime commit
ted while intoxicated thus ~lessening
very materially the parish expenses.
z. Prohibition will not ruin the par
lsh ; saloon licenses do not cover saloon
crimes and the financial expenditure
they entail.
8. Prohibition will bring happiness
into homes made sad by drunkenness;
and cause wOme and children to be
better fed, better clad.
8. Prohibition, by removing seduc-
tive temptation, may enable human be-
ings to become men again help the
higher instinct within every human soul
to rise ascendent over brutal habit and
low appetite ; and cause man, created in
Gods image, to resume something of
the old time divinity OF bis nature.
10. Prohibition will protect the young
ards. 1t will remove the bright saloons
that please the eye and attract the gay,
t%houghtless boy that saunters by. Men
of st. Landry, you a leave nj better
legacy to your sons than a home I'M
touched by whisky. Vote to Danish this
curse from this parish where your boys
are growing up, and when they have
become noble, intelligent men with
sound minds and sound bodies upon
which alcohol has not preyed, they will
honor you. They will say with pride:
'My father helped to rid our home of
this temptation, this prosperity is due
to his VOTE" What a noble In Memo
fiaAn.+
1t is strange how often this plea is
urged and with what semblance of earn
estness: "There'll be as much whisky
in the parish after prohibition as be-
FORE" This carries it's contradiction
upon its very face, and how intelligent
men can repeat the statement is more
than hard to understand,
Some men will bring in jugs of liquor,
without doubt; but numbers more will
not or cannot. This system of retailing
by the drink cannot exist and it will not
be SO easy for men to spend their small
change for drink, or for the eggs and
fowls of the poorer classes to be ex-
changed for the fiery beverage.
The opportunity to vote upon this
question will again be given the men of
st. Landry and that before long. Let
those who voted right before do so
again and those who were in error at
the late election redeem themselves by
.repenting and casting ballots for the
good Of the parish, for the protection of
the helpless.