Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-03-29

existauce, and by wellknown
law, a principle is responsible for
what his agent does. Set up the
saloon and at once it becomes your
agent and you will be responsible for
the work of sorrow, sin and death it
will accomplish.
3. But here comes up a timid little
fellow and says, 81 don't expect to
work or vote for the saloon. l will
not'do anything to help it on but
just can'ttake any partin the fight
against IT," Well sir, if yon cannot
advocate good cause, you are rot
much account to God or man, besides
brother, you can't get out of it that
way. You must show your colors
and 6ght, or you are deadhead.
"He that is not for me is against me"
said the Master. If you remain 81
lent, your silence will proclaim
your consent and you become
party to its crimes. You must get
up and show yourself on the one side
or the other, or you are nothing, and
you won't be much even then unless
you are on the right side.
8. But here is one who saws, "Some
of my friends are on the liquor side
of this question and while l myself
am opposed to the business, l don't
like to oppose my friends" Did
you say they were your friends? Well
yuo are mistaken. The man who
wants to set up liquor shops in the
county is not your friend and he is not
the friend of any one, unless it be
the devil.
4. But says still another, "Prohi-
bition does not prohibit, therefore
let us have the saloon" This is the
old thread-bare song the friends of
the liquor traffic have been singing
through all these years. Because
whiskey is not abolished and all men
are not sober, is not good argument
against the local option. Your point,
my friend, is not we'll made for no
one with a reasonable amount of
brains will pretend to say that a pro.
hibitory law will put complete
stop to all wliskey selling and whis-
key drinking. Why expect more
from this law than has ever been
gotten from any others There is a
law to prohit murder; has anybody
been murdered since that law was
enacted? There is law to prohibit
stealing; has any theft been commit
ted since its creation? There is a
law to prohibit robbery; has any
crime Of that sort been perpetrated?
Have any of these laws been violated
since they were brought into exis-
tence? Where is the man so sense
less as to say no to these inquities?
Then if they have been violated and
are being violated today, why not
get up your petition and secure the
names of your friends to it and run
with swift feet to the law-making
bodies of the land and beg them to
obliterate these laws, make them
null and void because they have been
violated and they do not prohibit.
There would be just as much reason
and common sense in this course as
to do away with local option law on
the pitiful plea that it does not pro-
hibit. There is but one honorable
position to be taken in this matter
and that is to be an upcompromising
foe to the liquor business in all its
forms, for it is the enemy of our
race. 1t degrades our men, it ruins
our boys, it destroys our homes, it
buries from sixty to seventy-five
Thousand victims annually and
swallows up over two hundred mil
lion dollars worth of property every
year. If you tolerate this business
you sin. Ifyou sign petition in it's
favor or cast ballot to give it life
you become guilty of its crimes. Re-
member this. and show yourselves
men," The highest element of man.
hood is Godliness, to be like God, to
do as Jesus would do if He were
here, regardless Of consequences.
''Show yourselves men," This coun-
try is more In need of men today
than anything else. We have a
great abundance in everything else
but we are running mighty short of
men. We need men of sterling char
acters and more courage who are not
afraid to take stand for the right
and maintain it though the heavens
fall. Let me beg you as friend
and brother, take your name from
that abominable petition which does
not mean high license but open bar
rooms, then fall in line with all the
good, the noble, and the true and |
work against the liquor saloons, fight
against them, talk against them,
pray against them and, whenever you |
can. vote against them; thus will you
''show yourselves to be men," God
and the truth will be on your
side aud while the friends of the
liquor business will be lifting up
their eyes in torment, (for the drunk
n rH kar 90 x-ofl