The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1898-11-11
Those License Signers.

of the cream of the people of the county
stared in the face Of shocked public in
cold type. The status of the moral, the
business and the society of the county
was there speaking to dumbfounded
public, saying in the mute voice of the
printed page, eff whiskey is sold, as de-
basing to manhood and itnpoverishing
community as its final results may be,
and we don't deny the charge of guilt
urged against the traffic, we want share
of the blood money to help pay our
taxes" This is the diabolical unspoken
language that list of silent names herald
ed, though unheard, more shrill and
piercing than war trumpet's blast, And
those names stand for all that is best in
morals, all that is best in business, all
that is powerful in giving tone to society
Though not the same but similar in
huence invited a gang of outlawed race
course gamblers and black-legs to Elkton,
a few years ago. That invited curse was
local, confined to one spot as its home
and habitation, but its influence spread as
the miasma from pest hole is spread Oil
the wings of the wind to strike with
disease and death, victims far removed
from the breeding spot of the deadlygerns.
The promoters of deadly moral pes
thence have permission by this thought
less or unrealized act of those signers to
plant its seeds in every district of the
county How can the political and
moral degeneracy that all may see who
watch the drift, be accounted for? The
political and moral corruption that has
been uncovered i'll Pennsylvania this
year shocks the country, and this is not
confined to the Quay machine" in that
State. The same moral and political
canker is in every city and State. The
people lift helpless hands and cry out in
feeble way till the tempter comes and
offers them bride. His bride is in many
forms. To the Elkton public he offered
share Of the money that came from the
pockets of the greenhorns of the country,
the stock gamblers of the large cities,
the stealings of the clerks from their
employers, the losses of otherwise honest
gulls who would grow quickly rich by
hazarding their little savings from honest
industry on the speed of tempered with
horse or bribed jockey.
Our licensed bride is a share of the
lo,aet ell sc Tho ,,oor o,d ,,eadx, n porf
of the money of young manhood that
may be tempted to risk the horrors of
alcoholism, and then of the sure gains
from the chained slave who has become
the confirmed drunkard. In place of
seeing the duty that every profession of
christianity which they go up every sey-
enth day to renew vows to, the moral OBJ
legations they owe to society, and of cit
izenship they owe to the State to lend
their efforts to stamp out the speakeasy
nuisance, exaggerated and complained of,
they accept the elusive bride TO share a
small portion of the money that wasting
business, the rum trade, gathers in
But whence is this degeneracy that is
tainting society as plainly as the frosts of
autumn tint the foliage of the forest? 1t
is the pinch of want, the stealthy but
gradual approach of poverty, which the
public feel rather by instinct, than con-
science Of A comparatively few are rap
idly growing unhealthfully rich, whilethe
vast multitude in the great human sea,
is sinking into or approaching year by
year little nearer the bedrock ofpoverty.
AS they settle they scramble and struggle
first for a dollar, then for dime, and
finally give up in despair and settle down
as inert matter to the bottom, sans hope,
sans respect, sans patriotism sans every
thing, crustaceous with the vices of
society.
In the meantime, while a dead calm
rests at the bottom of this sea of humna-
ty, the few, the very few, and steadily
growing less, fill the world with shoutings
of the marvellous wealth Of the country,
holding it up as sign and proof of what
they nosily proclaim.
1t is the steady drop in prices for the
last twenty five years that has stricken
the business of the masses with the pre-
monitory symptoms of paralysis, and the
vast, the marvellous accumulations in the
hands of an almost infinitesinlal number
whose lavish waste excites the envy and
intensfes the discomfort and despair of
the multitude whose lives want and dis
tress have shrouded in moonless night
ofdarkness.
Money that auswereth all things can
only be obtained in such niggardly guam
titles for all that honest toll aud every
energy can produce, that doubtful meth
DDS tempt the most virtuous to sin, while
the benumbed conscience of masses
allows them to acquire by means little
short of theft Chronic hard times with
no apparent let up are lowering the
standard of morality, causing people to
look with favor on doubtful methods to
exc out their scsnty means, and even our
best citizens to be willing to share the
profits of the saloon in the vain hope of
deducting few cents from their tax bill,
And it is a vain hope. The liquor trade
blights the business of community, and
it is the business of the community that
pays the taxes.