Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1895-08-27


only the people OF this country but all
the nations OF the earth 10 n glorious
freedom, nand pointing TO a time when
every crown shall crumble to dust, and
every scepter shall fall from the Nerve
less had OF every monarch of earth
He stood at that time battling for the
rights of the people against the rights
~ the king. He stood demanding that
/ the people preserve IN their own hands
their liberties and their freedom. and
surrender them not TO government; and
today he is the acknowledged high
priest OF the Interpretation OF the
rights OF the citizens as against the
| rights OF government and wherever
American institutions are known.
| wherever American law is respected,
his name stands first on our roll OF
honor.
Not only do believe that prohibition
violates the fundamental principles OF
the American government, but believe
that II violates the religion OF Jesus
Christ himself. When the finger of
inspiration engraved on the tablets OF
stone Gods commandments 10 the child
rem Of men. there was no eleventh
| commandment there saying that men
! should not manufacture, should not
| drink, should not sell. intoxicating
iquor What a mistake, according TO
our prohibition friends. the Creator or
| heaven and earth made when promul-
| eating, for the government of all the
| future, His laws, that he did not place
among them prohibition command
ment.
II Is no reply to this TO say that the
| liquor traffic had not then raised It's
head. and that 1t was not the EVIL In
those days that It Is today. because
| God Almighty in HIS wisdom knows
| the issues of the future as well as the
issues OF the past. and looking with
the prophetic eye Of divinity down
| through the ages the evil, II eYil II be,
OF the liquor traffic was as clear 10 HIS
mind at that time as II IL today. lie
permitted the children or Israel to
manufacture, sell and drink intoNicat-
| Ing liquor and when Christ came bear
ing aloft His banner OF love He made
no change in this respect He appeal
ed to men to be sober; He appealed
| to men to beware OF the wine cup, but
nowhere In all His teachings did He
ever lay down one precept from which
our prohibition friends can derive con-
ISOLATION. At the marriage feast, one
| OF the first miracles that He ever per-
| formed. where In the language OF the
| English poet beautifully expressed,
the conscious water saw its God and
| blushed" and wine OF splendid quality
| was made for those there assembled
He distributed It to his followers, He
| cheered their hearts with II. and in
! that act violated one of the very pro-
| visions of the law which you are now
| seeking to enforce upon the people OF
| Tarrant county. Had He been here In
| Grapevine and done the act which He
did In Cana of Galilee, lie would have
been vioator OF your law, subject TO
| arrest and imprisonment. But not only
did He manufacture wine, but II Is said
that He ate and drank with publicans
and sinners. He did not consider 1t be-
meath His dignity. though he came
| g, h.f &C heaven itself 10
! consort and associate with men en-
gagged In the liquor traffic. He was
| their friend; and how much better than
| their master are some OF the ministers
who are claiming to be His meek and
lowly followers, but fail TO comprehend
| the purposes of God Almighty In HIS
dealing with the children OF men, If
| force in dealing with moral questions
Is right, then why did God ever permit
sin and error to enter the world? Christ
said, when Peter struck of the ear OF
the servant of the high priest, that He
could summon, If he so desired, legions
of angels around Hin. He came with
the powers OF heaven at his back, He
could have brought from the shining
courts of that Imperial land legions
that could have overturned the empire
OF Caesar and established the empire
OF God and Christ In It's place. but II
was not His purpose, II was not the
purpose of His Father to thus deal
with men. Mankind only reaches its
perfect condition by resisting tempta-
ton. Evil has been strewn all along
our pathway in order that we may be-
come strong by opposing and resisting
It's seductive influences. This, my
friends. is the way In which God deals
Ewith humanity, and II was not His
purpose, Il was not the purpose Of His
son, to remove men from temptation,
but to subject them to IL, In order that
they might grow strong and rise to
their perfect stature OF manhood.
| want to talk to you a moment now,
about the effect OF the liquor traffic on
Fort Worth-its local aspect. II is
estimated by conservative men that the
rental value per annum paid In Fort
Worth by the men engaged in the
liquor tTafic, and their employees,
amounts to the magnificent sum OF
three hundred and twenty-five thou
sand dollars. Engaged In this business
are twenty-five hundred employees,
earning wages aggregating over "A mill
lion dollars per year, upon whom more
than six thousand persons one-ffth of
the population OF our city are depen-
dent for support. But when you strike
down the liquor interest in Fort Worth,
Won not only strike down the men en-
gagged in It, but you strike other Dus-
ness interests in that town, and de-
stroy the trade Of the merchant You
take from the telephone company SIX
teen hundred and fifty dollars in rental
per annum. giving employment TO i've
young ladies now supporting families.
The electric light companies alone re-
ceiye from the saloon interest eighteen
thousand dollars annually. Water rents
paid to the city by the saloons amount
10 eighty-five hundred dollars psr year,
while the ice companies receive an an
nual income OF more than ninety thou
sand dollars from the sale OF ice to the
saloons. The saloons pay In occupn-
ton taxes more into the hands OF the
tax collector of the county than all of
the citizens OF Tarrant county outside
OF Fort Worth combined pay to the
support of the county government.
The county taxes paid by the
taxpayers outside OF Fort Worth
amount to little less than
thirty-three thousand dollars per year.
while the occupation taxes OF the sa-
looms amount 10 more than forty-one
thousand dollars per year. Suppose
you deprive the property owners OF
| Fort Worth OF over quarter Of a mill
lion of dollars annually in the way Of
| ,entals You nos only e. troy that
much but you reduce the rental value
OF every other piece of property in the
CRY. Suppose you turn loose twenty
Ave hundred men now engaged In the
liquor traffic In that city. Where will
they find employment, and from what
| source viii thalr wives and children re-
ceIve support? There are no other