The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-28

49, - 1sest oottts q sum tndI WOulO
Pay for the entire wheat crop OF IL
itnois. $4,000. 900 bushels, and the cat
crop, $4,000 bushels. Chicago sta
tstics furnished by III. b. sesinger.)
Not only is there more liquor con-
sumed, but the quality as steadily de-
teriorates. More OF II and worse. Sixty
years ago. whisky at rs cents a gallon
was pure; today, at SO to SIG a gallon,
II contains fusel oil and other poisons
enough to Kill steer. The harder the
hand or license presses, the greater the
temptation Ia adulterate the drinks.
The intoxicants of former time were
as spring water compared to the in
furiating cup of the modern saloon. AS
the quality of the liquor is debased, the
character OF the public house has sunk
with 1t. The saloon has come to be the
storm center of all that Is hostile to
good citizenship and clean manhood. 1t
Is the nest Of crime, the club room OF
the boodler, the rendezvous OF thieves,
the spider web of harlots. the incubator
OF riot. the snake which, warmed in the
bosom OF liberty. is sinking its fangs
into that vital virtue which alone makes
liberty live. Sixty thousand corpses
corded up annually by the dragon, to
say nothing of the incompatible broken
hearts and blighted hopes. Yet trucu-
lent statesmen. burning to fight Spain,
may not whisper against 1t.
The saloon Is the most menacing fig-
ure in our political horizon. 1t does not
hesitate to commit any crime against
law or conscience TO gain it's end. 1t
knows no party, but seeks to make all
parties its agents and to hold the bal
ance Of power. 1t beholds the rising
sentiment of all good men against 1t
and with the pertinacity Of selfshness
| evenly pursues its own way. Well
| meaning persons have tried to regulate
| 1t by license, and 1t has thrived I'M
| der the restriction. States have raised
| up constitutional bulwarks against It,
and II has spent countless thousands
| Of dollars to destroy them. Laws
have banished II; II bids them insolent
defiance. All the courts, to the supreme
national court, have pronounced against
| 1t; II has stopped at no evasion or
| chicane to defeat the verdict. The sa-
| loon stands as our political Satan, the
| incarnation Of everything inimical to
| good government, the aggravating in
| gredient of every other national dam
ger.
Whatever may be our view as to in
dividual alcoholism, there ought to be
| no question among decent men as to
| the saloon; for Ii Is not a personal mat
ter, II is an institution, a social ulcer,
| which could be removed and still leave
] men free to die drunkards IL they WISH
| II my neighbor drinks II Is not my
| civic affair; but II is my affair If he
opens a shop to tempt my boy to drink
| He has a right to go sweetly and quiet
| ly to ruin by himself, that is personal
| liberty; he has no right to create an
| institution to work ruin in the COM
| munity There is no question concern
| ing the infinite damage, socially, civilly
| and politically, of the saloon. The life
| of Frances Willard, even though like
| all reformers, she went further than
| many are ready to follow, in its final
result has certainly consolidated and
organized the public sentiment against
the open dramshop. Her soul is
| marching on" In the coming days
her name may not be the least in. the
roll of the nations nobility
What is true in America is true in
the world. Hand in hand with civiliza-
ton marches the demon of intemper-
ance. The Russian government derives
3S per cent of its income from the
brandy tax. England in fifty-two years
has spent as much for drink as the ag-
gregate capitalized value of the prop
erty of the United Kingdom. In Ger
l Of hra,t mt W.
sumed has increased ninefold in thirty
five years (Berlin has 1,500 more public
houses than a century ago, and one
church less) In Belgium this vice has
spread fearfully among the working
classes. and in the Industrial portions
there is one dramshop to every six
| or seven persons. THE French race,
saws The Constitutional, sis deteriorat-
ing daily; it's consumption OF alcohol
has tripled in forty years." In India
the English government encourages iq-
uor selling as a source of revenue, and
this among vast people whose an
Gent religions positively prohibit in
toxication. They had prohibition In
China $500 years before Christ; drunk
enness has been forced upon the Celes-
tials by the cannon Of Christendom. ia
| pan, Whlch had ueath pehai'y ~ IA
toxication while she was hermit ma
ton, now spends as much for liquors
yearly as the entire expense of running
the government. In four years Amer
ica Skinned nearly $4,000, 900 worth OF
rum into Africa; and beside this Great
britain. France and Portugal export to
Africa more than we; an unspeakapie
ocean of liquid damnation.
...la nnf0
saw that the issue is pettyY
DR.. CRANES EPICRAMS.