Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1898-09-01
A Few Things That Observer Didn't
Observe.

i i there appeared III your cOluLniis al
article signed observer that loom:
| up SO much higher in point of argu-
ment than the ordinary high license
advocate, that felt reply should de.
yolye upon ADLER pens than mine; but
as no one has taken the responsibility
| will attempt to show the readers OF
your valuable paper that even the cap
ton he has chosen is very misleading
Sumptuary laws relate to unnecessary
extravaganza. Eating and drinking
are physical necessities and do not
have any direct connection in this re-
spect, and therefore are not subject to
sumptuary restraint; and personal
liberties are not abridged in this re-
spect by any law in America. Rum
| drinking is not physical necessity,
but is one OF the non-naturals that has
| fastened itself upon mankind, through
perverted appetite. and is clinging
to our body polite and poisoning our
social institutions like carbonic oxyd
does the heart and lungs; and should
| il be admitted that our prohibitory law
in dealing with the rum element in
Vermont should have little sumptu-
airy tendency ii would be more than
justified by extreme necessity.
Your correspondent says prohibition
is a method employed that fOrbids the
sale Of intoxicants, and then goes on
to say that liquor drinking Is detri-
mental to the race; does no good, and
even a moderate use has tendency to
make a man a wreck, but here his
stream OF eloquence divides-when he
claims that only one out of every hun
dred OF moderate drinkers ever reach
the drunkard's stage. know that it
is generally admitted that temperance
statistics are stale reading. but here is
something that will interest you. Gov
eminent statistics show one million
habitual drunkards. observer says
that they are all made at. the rate of
one out OF every one hundred moder-
ate drinkers. At this rate we have in
this country ninety-nine million OF
rum drinkers, besides one million that
have gone over the dam. Is it any
wonder we advocate prohibitions But
am not quoting this TO east any re-
Election upon observers" statement,
but | would like to call your attention
TO the poor fools we have got at the
head OF our National Bureau of Statis-
tics.
As to Mckinley and Dewey not be-
ing teetotalers, all have to say is that
every glass OF liquor taken as a bey-
erage by any man from president to
hod carrier il taking one more step
towards disgracing himself and his
self-rcspect Is lowered one more notch.
The general average of mankind is
very low. LII this innnitesimally small
class OF men that observer speaks OF
that never touch liquor and are carry
ing on the worlds reforms, and are in
the front ranks fighting all the evils
that degrade mankind were taken out
of the race it wouldn't take the wild
beasts long to destroy the rest OF US.
A great deal is said about personal
liberty. Ii any man is sufficiently self |
reliant to be able to drink glass of
liquor occasionally without becoming |
addicted to the habit. il should be his |
contribution toward the common good |
OF mankind to abstain from drinking it |
and not feel that his personal liberty |
was being encroached upon. He is per-
forming duty that springs from his |
citizenship, and in prohibition the re-
straint rests equally upon all and is
therefore no bondage to any one. High |
license orators have that abstract no.
ton of liberty that would be disastrous
to those wholesome regulations that
guide and restrain men from doing
violence to themselves, society and |
the state. Let us not pass beyond the
honest bounds of liberty and carry our
into crime. Why not prohib-
1t the use of tobacco and card play |
ing9 is next brought forward. We have
a law to prohibit gambling and that is
all the crime the pasteboards are capa-
Bile of. The tobacco habit is filthy
enough but it does not have the spirit
OF the devil to contend with. 1t does
not stand in the same relation to crime
that alcohol does. when tobacco CO.
agulates the blood, stimulates the
nerves, congests the, arteries and veins,
apoplexy aud congestion ofthe
brain, and excites and maddens the
nervous system to such an extent that
the human brain is made victim of
delerium tremens and sometimes spon-
taneous combustion; When tobacco
/
dethrones reason and leads its victims
helpless captives to poverty, vice and
crime, then personal liberty will again
be ignored and another prohibitory
law will be passed through the same
extreme necessity. And | verify be-
ieve that if the same number of fatali-
lies were caused by railroads that are
caused by rum, railroad traffic would
De interdicted in the United States.
We are told that the intent of the IL
'ense is to dispense liquor to certain
persons in certain cases; which | con-
true to mean all classes and condi-
ions of men in cases where they have
money to pay for it.
Your correspondent says that rum
and counting are both natur-
i instincts of the human race. l deny
t. There is nothing WRONG with ma