Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1897-04-28
THE PROSPERITY AND PERPETUITY Oh
THE NATION IN PERIL.

THE PROSPERITY AND PERPETUITY OF
THE NATION IN PERIL.
The most momentous question of
public policy that has ever occupied
the attention of the civilized world is
involved in the use and legalized sale
of alcoholic liquors,
Upon the just and proper solution of
this problem depends the life, health,
and material prosperity of the country.
What the people most need, therefore,
is intelligent Observation-Disclosures
ment that will include a clear and def.
mite knowledge of the nature of alco.
hol, its effect upon the human system,
and its tendency to iniure, debase aud
destroy the material interests, humane
sentiments and moral agencies that are
essential to the happiness and pros.
perity of a civilized community.
All the interests of society, the NOR.
atty, education, religion and common
sense of the people are all appealed to
and must be included in the stupeDdous
revolution that is demanded and indis
pensable for the final rescue of the
country from the ruinous financial de.
preston, and the avalanche of crime,
poverty and anarchy now impending,
nay, already upon us.
1t would seem that evidence of the
character and effects of alcohol bever
ages has been sufficiently accumulated
to make any further information on
this subject superHuous. But this is a
dangerous misrepresentation.
While the whole world Is involved in
the dire consequences which attend
the use of alcohol, every class and
grade of society being familiar with
alcoholic certainly no other article
has had a more universal and every
day consumption than alcohol in all
it's various FORMS yet there is no other
agency of evil to society, or any other
material whose true nature and ulti.
mate effects on the human body are SO
delusive, or SO little understood, especi.
ally as to its treacherous, poisonous
character, as this product of decayed,
starchy substances called alcohol.
1t is but recently that the acid, viru-
lent nature Of this poison as the exer.
ton of microbes has been fnlly known,
but this is now attested by the most
eminent scientists. 1t is found that
half an IN of pure alcohol taken
into the system, by par alyzing the
nerve centers, will kill as effectively as
arsenic or strychnine, and nearly as
quickly as a shock Of electricity; and
its subtle, poisonous character is so
antagonistic to the vital organs, and to
every fiber in the human body, that
the poison. however moderately taken,
is a foreign element, always on its
deadly mission, and its poisonous eff
fectS a never be entirely eliminated
from the system, even by total absti-
nence, besides producing a hereditary
faint, and instigating criminal outrages
OF the most desperate character.
1t is well known that exhilaration of
the nervous system by the use of al.
cohol in beer, wine, whisky, etc., has
so appealed to the appetite, that its in
sidious and deleterious consequences
are mostly ignored. and the people have
been so blinded by this dangerous ex
element, thatit has become an incubus
on our civilization, producing such
misery, crime, and degradation that no
words can exaggerate its horrors.
Besides, the cost of this poisonous
liquor is like a malignant cancer, eat
ing into the material interests and vital
energy of the nation, and so prodigious
is this result as to be to most minds be-
yond credulity. 1t is estimated that,
directly and indirectly, the enormous
sum of two thousand million dollars of
the peoples hard earned resources are
annually consumed and worse than
wasted through this awful drink habit,
averaging a loss of one hundred and
sixty dollars, or three dollars per week,
for every family in the United States;
this stupendous tax making a depres-
sion in our finances and a loss o pro.
duction that makes hard times newt.
able-all of which goes to show that
this alcoholic poison is a most diaboli.
cal, cruel, and intolerable nuisance,
and a curse upon every material and
moral element of society.
The great problem, therefore, in all
its financial Importance, and involving
such mental, physical, and moral in.