The Mt. Sterling advocate., 1904-09-14
Of ami crimes is first prohibited bY

OF all crimes is first prohibited by
by us as the embodiment of the
accumulated wisdom of the past !;
and then 1T is adjudged cause it is
legalized, protected and fostered
by US. Could two systems of law
or rather, one of law and one of
pretendedly legalized anarchy
be more antagonistic in character
or mutually at war in tendency?
In thus attempting to legalize the
liquor traffic we are reproducing
by our own act every class of
criminals we have for thousands
of years been legislating to sup
press. Add to this seemingly
idiotic Inconsistency the opportu-
mites the legalized and organized
business affords for the encourage
ment and commission of crime,
and the motherly sympathy and
fatherly protection 1t naturally
gives TO the seventy-five per cent.
of our criminals it creates, and
who but God can weigh our re-
sponsibility for its existence?
The almost universal sentiment
is that saloon men disregard their
oath to obey laws enacted for their
business-which shows that either
bad men mainly engage in it. or it
soon makes them bad. From this
end of the criminal chain thus
created by our vicious legislation,
do1 to the lowest stratum of
criminals linked together by it,
this seventy-five percent of the
nations outlaws are organized
around legalized wrong, with the
business that holds them together
and makes them powerful for evil
and protected and fostered by our
governments. None know this
startling truth any better than
men learned in the law, and none
are more responsible for its exist
ence. Hence your attitude of al
most universal indifference to, or
endorsement of, present condi-
tions places you in sad contrast
with your most illustrious prede-
cessors. l am not speaking of
personal habits, but of government
al emergencies as history develops
them-that patriotism that adapts
men to the requirements of the
age in which they live. Your pred
ecessors said government are in
stituted to secure to all men life,
liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness :" that our constitution was
made to establish justsce and in
sure domestic tranquility; that mo
legislature can barter away the
public health or the public morals ;"
that there are "few sources of
crime and misery to society equal
to the dramshop;" that "the sta
tistics of every state show il to be
such :" and that because it is such
''there is no inherent right" nor is
it "a privilege of citizen of the
United States" to engage in it.
And yet with the present genera
tion of your profession dominating
our lawmaking bodies, the attempt
has been made and is being made
to establish such rights in and
grant such privileges to the univer-
sally recognized outlaws of the
nation Does heathenism show a
darker picture9 Is there not
enough patriotism left in your pro-
fession to lift it from the position
of mere political trafficker in
human rights and human lifeS
Shall it not again be made to rise
in the majesty of its former great
ness and take the lead in legisla-
tion for the best interest of hu-
manity? One hundred lawyers in
the State of Kentucky willing to
risk or bear defeat for while, can
lift their profession from its pres
ent low political plane-change
the character of legislation in the
State, explunge from our statutes
every vestage of liquor licensing