The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-03-08
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTsMPERANCE.
Horrible Cruelties That Would Cease to
Attract If the Stimulus Afforded by the
Traffic in Strong Drink Were With
drawn-Destroy This Business.

franc IN StrOnH Or1Hh "oro
drawn-Destroy This Business.
below is presented a remarkable
Dhilippic from the Rev. Walter Walsh,
Chairman Of the Prohibition party of
Scotland, and one of the most heroic
characters now in Scottish public life.J
The commonwealth Of God is NEIL
need by the trade in strong drink.
which, therefore, cannot be tolerated
by the Iew spirit growing up in the
modern world. The times are distin-
guished by their growing devotion to
the cause of reform and humanity.
Men are drawing nearer to the institu-
tions which are established amongst
them. asking why they exist, and what
they can contribute to the ommon
good. The times are audacious, not
afraid to challenge the most ancient
p%rerogatives, bold to defy privileges
which are not found to promote the
well-being of the human race. Bnt
the liquor trade has grown to be the
mightiest enemy that ever warred
against society and religion. 1t is the
centre of the horrible inferno that well
ters at the bottom of the civilized
world.
Round the drink trade. in conceDtric
! rings Of fame; revolves the whole hell
ish phantasmagoria OF gambling, bru"
tai sports, prostitution, as well as
! drunkenness. Besides being ar evil
jim itself, it is frequently the direct
| cause, and always the direct support,
of every other evil. The publican and
the book-maker are always fast friends
and are frequently the same person.
The bar is the great house OF parlia-
ment for the betting fraternity. When
the British Cato shall have abolished
the public-house. he will be found to
have abolished. in great part, the bet
ting and gambling interest, which IS
eating the heart of honor out Of the
country. Without the agency Of the
public-house, again, it would be i'm
| possible to organize those brutal sports
which disgrace such large numbers OF
our fellow-countrymen. In districts
where such sports are customary, it 1s
the publican who promotes rabbit
coursing, pigeon-shooting, sparrow
tournaments. The publican is the or
ganizer of boxing-matches, assaults
alarms, prize-fghts. Without its
agency and the stimulus afforded by
the traffic in strong drink, those hQr-
rible cruelties, which are eating the
honor and manhood out of large
masses of Il people, simply could not
exist. Do you ask proof of these
charges? Invest a few pence in the
press organs of the liquor trade. and
you will be Mortified at the depth Of
filth and slime in which this enemy Of
the human race is causing masses OF
our fellow-countrymen to wallow?
But as. in Millions hell, a lower deep
forever opened beneath the lowest. SO
beneath the foul circles Of the gambler
and the tormentor, gapes a. lower circle
! for the fallen N The harlotry
of the nation would be impossible but
for it's drink. Whisky fires the hell
of prostitution. Many bars, parlors
and licensed music-hal1s are places of
resort; poor, fallen sisters know
where to find their patrons. Let there
be no mistake about this thing. The
majority of these, our sisters. would
never have gone down without the
| seductions Of alcohol: and being down,
would not remain down but Tor It's
enlaving power. "We could not do
it without drink" is what they all say.
Can you reckon the misery, heart
break, shame, disease, infanticide, sui
eide represented by the two hundred
and fifty thousand abandoned women
in this United Kingdom of ours? Try!
And by so much as you are not able to
count it, lift your right hand to heaven
and vow with me, The drink traffic
must be destroyed!
A monopoly, the most gigantic, de-
termined and unconscionable that ever
dug its fangs into the yitals Of man
kind, is represented by the traffic in al
coholic liquors. 1t is bound up with
the selfish interests Of every class in
the community
But it's day of trial has come. In
greater numbers, and with terrible NJ
phasis, this generation, like q Cato
come to judgment. is demanding of the
drink trade a reason for its existence;
and in the absence Of a reason, has
made a holy VOW to take no rest till
this enemy of the human race is over
thrown. Let there be no mistake.
The case is plain. There is no room
or the same suD-lit, God-created planet
for the new reforming spirit and the
old drunkard-factory. There. on that
hand, towers a vast, firmly built, richly
endowed iniquity for the manufacture
Of d%runkards: here, on this hand, works
the new religious and humanitarian
spirit pledged to making the world
sweet and clean and right. Animated
by that spirit. the Prohibition Cato
marches up to the Drink-Cnrthage. and
says, You must come down! Strong
as you are; firmly rooted as you are
IN the deep soil of rapacity and greed;
fortified as you are by greedy priests
and mercenary ministers; propped as
YOU are by parliaments, and defended
by the most INSCRIPTIONS ring of mo-
nopolists the world has ever seen-l
tel you. you must fall! I am not afraid
of you! You stand between me and
ny purpose of mercy to mankind. You
are the pitiless foe Of purity. truth.
health. virtue, justice; and therefore |
Am your foe! You are running the peo-
pie | want to save!. You and l cannot
live in the same world! You are de-
stroying men, and therefore l will de-.
stroy you! l doom you. and will short
ly damn you! l am Cato come to judg-
ment.' The drink traffic must be de-
strOyed!-New Voice.
Al nrasant Statas and cities which