The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1905-04-14
.eighb'r's blood, or ri your own, You don't

OOS Jo"A '"As ~ W.
1 have a vivid recoll. t.on Of a morning last
November on which I " a group of men IN a
ueighbOring alley Ill this city, and drawn by
curiosity l joined them. What did l see? The
ground emeared aud SPOTTED with blood, at
though a swine had been slaughtered there, but
1T was not ewine's blood, 1T was The blood of a
fellow man. A hideous crime had been com.
mitted there which came near being murder.
You know the story or that blood shedding.
The simple working man with his hard earned
wages loaflng aud drinking in the saloon lie
watched by the desperate criminal who haunts the
saloon tor his Victims. They drink together.
The drink browns the mans caution. 1t poisons
the blood that feeds the Draiu so that he is not
alert to danger. 1t fires the blood o. him who
10 ready for crime. The criminal lntlamed with
with the liquor you licensed to be sold to him,
decoyel his victim, besotted with the drink you
licensed to be sold to him, to a secluded spot
and there the blood was shed. And had our
county Jail been as strong as the jail of a high
license county requires TO be it would doubtless
have cost the county all that its license fees tor
the year amounted to, TO place that whiskey
driven criminal where he belongs to be.
have also a vivid recollection of a Sunday
morning some time earlier Mllbank had had a
holiday, and OF course the licensed saloon had
done q large business. That night a passenger
train run down and killed IA man who was drunk
with Milbank liquor. And on the Sunday re-
ferred to a member of the coroner's jury related
to me how the mangled body, the crushed bones.
the blood and brains of the victim had been
found at the scene of the accident. And | doubt
if you can ride by train into Mlloank without
riding over such a victims blood. Why was
that life sacrificed? Why was that blood shed
1t was because that man bough and drank liquor
in a Milbank saloon. And il ycn charge the
saloon keeper with his blood he will rightly
my friend, we are partners n this thing. You
know az we'll az [ do that this is the expected
outcome of this drink business. yet you have
authorized me to carry it on. and | guess we're
in this thing together" and, l guess we are
and l think OF Him who spoke to one Of old say
ing 'The voice thy brothers blood crieth unto
me from the ground!'' And | remember how
futile it was for the one addressed to answer
Am l my brothers keeper
These Two cases are but specimens of one line
ri business that the saloons are bringing to Mil
bank. Do yOn want any responsibility In that
sort of business. Do yon want to I'LL your tiils
and your purses with money that lie the price OF
blood: That was more than Judas could stand.
His cupidity and avarice led him to sell his Lord.
but when he saw them leading his saviour to
Golgotha and with the blood drops upon his
thorn pierced brow. and the bloody burrows of
the ecourge upon his back-when he cav the
blood spnrt from the palms and the insteps of
his erstwhile friend, the sight was too much for
him and crazed at the thought of his crime. he
clutched his bag of blood money and rushed to
the temple court where with the of
remorse and revulsiOn he hurled it as one would
hurl a viper or a demon, and the clatter OF that
through the corridors Of history as they rang
that day in the temple courts. Can it be that the
men of MilCank are more remorseless than
Judas that they should vote to shed the blood
of friend and neighbor becanse, forsooth, 1t
brings business to town? Bueiness 30 brought
by your vote will not be transacted in a day
Though it brought you dollars by the hundred
every day-and made your emporiums great,
and enabled you to rear palaces as for kings.
there will come a day when YOU will die, and
these things will be possessed by another, but
your naked soul will pass INTO the presence
of Him who said ''Inasmuch as We did 1t I'M
to the least of these my brethren we did 1t unto
me-" What will you say then, when you come
into the presence of God where a lie cannot live
What will You say as to the wreckage of life and
blood shed that occurred by your vote to legiti.
Matte the saloon? Can you say II wanted tC
build up the town. You dare not say that. fol
The word of God spoken tonight will choke your
speech and you will utter instead the already
pronounced sentence of God: "Woe to him tina
bnildeth a town with blood and establisheth
city by iniquity.'
In the name of God let us rise up and make
record that we can face anywhere-here or II
eternity!
Now let me in a closing word recapitulate wha
l have said.
First:-You cannot engage in the act OF citizen
ship in this town without your action being
judged at the bar of God.
Second:-God has pronounced a cnrse that i
both explicit and reasonable against building NJ
a town at the expense of the blood of your fel
lows.
Third Ito vote to license the saloon is to pal
ticipate in the inevitable destruction OF huma1
character and human life which is specified Il
Gods curse.
! Therefore. know Won. men, the eolmen iseue
that are involved, and in the light OF eternal COZ
sequences. act az wise men and not as fools.