The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-02-06
VINO are You Goingto Hear and Heed?
To the Members of the Legislature of
North Caroina

To the Members of the Legislature of
North Carolina:
List week there was witnessed in
Raleigh, one of the most impressive and
important events ever occurring in North
Carolina, when men from all sections
of the State. with one mind, and an earn
est purpose, prayed the Legislature to
help by wholesome legislation to rid the
State of an evil widespread, hurtful and
destructive, and which is now protected
and fostered by our laws. Who were
these people seeking this legislation; and
why were they there? No one could ac-
cuse them of selfish or ambitious mo-
tives They had no personal ends to
serve, and they received no money COM
Eensation. Many were there at fin
ancial loss and personal sacrifice.
They were there as citizens who loved
their State and sought its best interest.
They knew full we'll that the liquor
traffic is the fruitful mother of crimes
and of criminals. That it fills our jails
our ohain-ga our penitentary; that
fully three fourths of the offenses on
the criminal docket are due to the traf-
fic As such it is the greatest foe to
the security and well-being of the State,
and as patriotic citizens they were seek
ing to remove the evil.
They were there because they loved
their homes. Liquor is the worst foe the
home has ever known. 1t has done more
to bring blighted prospects and squalid
poverty and heart-aches, and fostering
shame and brutality and lifelong suf-
fering than all other causes combined.
They were there because they loved
their children, ard they knew full we'll
that while the liquor traffic exists, and
holds out it's enticements to appetite
and sOciabiltv, that our sons are never
safe from being made drunkards, and
our daughters from becoming drunkards
wives. When it is known that in every
generation two millions of the boys are
ground in the drunkard's hopper, what
father can assure himself that his son
Will not go that way. They were there
because they knew that of all the evils
with which the race contends that strong
drink is the "unapproachable chief;
that it is the source of the worst Of
lenses catalogued in the records of hui
man guilt and of the greatest woe and
suffering registered in Gods book of ac-
counts That it entails poverty and ig-
norance and want and crime and bru-
tality and suffering and death; would
form the blacklist record that language
can frame, and pen can write, and as
people who love humanity they were
there to plead for the estopment of so
fearful an evil. They were there rep
rescntng the very best elements of So
ciety and all grades of life. On the pc
titions presented gwere the names of
bankers, merchants, manufacturers,
farmers, lawyers, physicians, preachers,
teachers, of men who labored in facto-
ries and in the fields, and at the car
Icnters bench, and the draymen on the
street Some of these men are those
who manage our affairs, run our facto-
ries, control our great enterprises, who
are the steady promoters Of our wealth
and prosperity, the blood and bone of
the country. These are thoughtful
wise men, who know and seek the COM
mon good, and they ask you to pass the
London bill for the benefit of our peo-
pie
There gre mothers all over North Caro-
lima and some of them are your wives,
perhaps, your mothers, who cry plead
fng1y to YOU for relief from the anxiety
and dread that comes to them from the
drink saloons, because of their sons. And
oft on Bonded knees before God, they
cry out of the depth of their mother
hearts that YOU men who have in your
keeping the affairs of the land shall have
wisdom to see the right and moral
strength to do the right trusting God
with the results.
Who are you going to hear and heed