The record-union., 1898-12-13

| ten deep on the brow of any one, it
should be written indelibly deep on the
brow Of this modern devil, the drink
| traffic.
| believe II Jesus were on earth to-
| day, He would stand in our cathedrals
and churches as He stood in the tenn
pie that day He declared that octave OF
woes against the oppressors of man.
KIND. He would say with tenfold en-
phasis to all engaged in this traffic
now can We escape the damnation of
| hell" A famous preacher across the
| sea, speaking of social conditions in
the coming century, asks where VIII
| the saloon be in the twentieth century:
He answers by saying: TT will be
| burned with fire and birthstone. 1t
was built by the devil and to the devil
| 1t will 60 The public house is the
| gate to hell. Who can write the dis
tory Of the ruin it has wrought? Oh,
the misery, the heartache, the desola-
tion, the orphanhood, the murder, the
suicide, the madness for which that
accursed traffic is responsible. VIII
the twentieth century see the annihila-
L
| Men in the traffic resent the odium
that is attached to the business. They
| try to show that it is as respectable
and lawful to make and sell strong
drink as to make and sell any article
of ordinary merchandise. They argue
that to turn wheat into whisky is as
honorable as to turn it into bread. They
say that the still is as respect Ale as
the mill. Take a sheaf of wheat and
let one-half Of it go into the still and
the other half into the mill and see the
diverse results. The distiller and the
miller are as far apart as hades from
| heaven
| The liquor dealer points to the license
| that the community has given him for
a certain monetary consideration. 1t is
true he has license. 1t is true that
| that license does all it can to give re-
spectability to the traffic. 1t legalizes
the traffic. The license makes the sa-
| loon as lawful an institution as the
public school,
| If were a liquor dealer I would keep
my license with great care. When L
made my will I would direct my exec
utors to put the precious document IN
my cold clammy hand, so that when
called upon to confront the souls OF my
victims at the bar of God could hand
to the Judge the license that Chris
tian community gave me to carry on
my work Of destruction and death L
would tell the Judge on the throne that
the citizens of the community in which
1 lived wanted to raise money for rev.
enue and that the permission and au-
thority to debase and degrade the souls
of men came from them. Thus l
would try to roll the deep damnation
| of my sin on the heads of the men
who voted to have these vent-holes OF
hell opened in the city and nation. The
men who vote to legalize the traffic are
partners in the crime and in the curse
of the traffic.
| Oneof the most scathing arraignments
of the traffic 1 have met in many
day was an address to jury by an
| American lawyer Il am aware there
| is a prejudice against any man en-
gagged in the manufacture of alcohoi.
| I believe from the time 1t issues from
the coiled and poisonous worm in the
distillery until it empties into the nell
! Of DEATH dishonor and crime that 1t is
demoralizing to everybody that touches
| it from source to end. l do not believe
that anybody can contemplate the suo-
| ject without being prejudiced against
| the crime All that we have to do is
| to think Of the wrecks on either side
| Of the stream of death, of the suicides,
| of the insanity, of the poverty. OF the
destruction, of the little children tug
ging at the breasts of weak and des-
pairing wives asking for bread, Of the
men of genius it has wrecked the men
struggling with imaginary serpents pro-
duced by the devilish thing, and when
you think Of the jails, of the aims
houses of the asylums, of the scaffolds,
| I do not wonder that every thoughtful
man is prejudiced against the vile stuff
called alcohol 1t breaks the fathers
heart, bereaves the doting mother, ex-
tinguishes natural affection, erases con-
| jugal love, blots out paternal hope and
! brings premature age in sorrow to the
grave 1t makes wives widows, chill
dren orphans, fathers fiends and all
paupers. 1t crowds your penitentiaries
and furnishes victims to the scaffold.
1t degrades the citizen debases the leg
islator. dishonors the statesman and
disarms the soldier. 1t is the sum of
all villanies, the father of all crimes,
| the mother of all denominations, the
devils best friend and Gods worst en-
emy'
| This arraignment of the traffic is not
| one whit too strong. If the traffic
does not do all these things, if these
are not facts, then I would not know
| fact if I saw one at monday in the mid
die of the street The men engaged in
the business know better than any one
| else that it is the most disreputable,
lowest down business in creation. The
| only thing that keeps them in 1t is
the money they make out of it. 1t is
avarice fattening on appetite. The
| wealth of brewers, distillers and liquor
dealers is proverbiaL With little cap
ital and no conscience a man can soon
pile up a fortune, though every dollar
is clotted with the blocd of murdered
| souls.
| I am glad that the traffic is held in
| such contempt 1t is such a mean
business that you can hardly find a
genuine American in the business. Nine
| tenths of the men in this traffic in this