The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1907-03-21

| and apples grew and fermeated tn
l nations have INDUCED in stron;
drink. Noah was a preacher O
1 righ teousness, but in world wher,
there wac at least no lack of waite,
! he got drunk upon wine. And th>
, whole human race has come stagger
ing aDd FEELING dawr the ages, in
, ebriation having introduced anothe;
J delCge Of alcohol.
:" The Bible is dr. matte with the
story of the evil effects Of drunken
ness as seen in the history of indi-
vidlai8, tribes And nations, and II
thunders its warnings against the
use of strong drink. So universal
has this plague become that multi
tudGs of children are born with an
appetite for liquor that they inherit
from a drunken ancestry. They arc
nursed on n black bottle. Their first
step out If the cfhdle is toward the
dram shop. They take to alcohol as
other children do to milk. They are
born drunkards. A great army Of
men and women is marching on in
all lands who have had beQueat- ed
to them by generations of ancestC IS,
evil habits, fiery appetites, destroyed
reputation, signed, sealed and dellv-
cred in the pres ence Of the harpie3
of hell
Society Furnishes such people with
pains and penalties, because it is i'm
possible for them to do what those
who have not had their inheritance
are able to do, avoid the temptation
to drink. Other men can totally abb
stain, or drink with moderation all
through life and never Become in
toXicated. Dut one taste of alcohol to
these victims Of hereditary appetite
is Ike SPAR. il = powder magazine.
There is no lower on earth to pre-
vent its blowing up. They will drink
though they are assured they will die
in five minutes. Though the cup be
beaded with the tears of wife and
children, though the froth of ever
lasting anguish floats on the brim,
they will drink. They will drink to
their Wife's shame, to their chill
drens rags, to their barren homes,
to their wind-swept, bramble-cov:
cred graves, to disgust of the world,
and eternal oblivion.
What does the ordinary person
know of appetite like this? Abso-
lutely nothing. Therefore we hurl
epIthets at Grunkards, and throw
them into vile places of detention
not fit for swine to inhabit in many
cases, and drag them before police
Judges and sentence them to Jail for
days and weeks and months,-and
license establishments in every city
and town to cater to that appetite and
fattcn on'the depravity which burns
in the breasts of these unfortunates.
Instead OF making it hard for
these victims Of ancestral sin to do
wrong and easy for them to do right,
we build for them tOboggan chute
TO hell and lubricate the way to ex-
peditc their passage. Society gets
nervous II there is a stagnant pool !
Of water in the neignborhood to /
breed a few mosquitoes, but DELHI !
erately permits alcoholic cesspools, .
Stcamlng with Hiasma, polluting the
air with a moral pestilence, and pois-
oning whole generations Of human
beings with worse than Egyptian
plague
We hear q great deal in these
lays about the enemies of the labor
ng man. Labor is vociferously cry
ng out against oppression from one
source or another, and some of it is
wise and some is otherwise But
when did labor organiza tons pass
resolutions against the working
mans worst enemy-strong drink.
n nine cases out of ten when great
alamities bcfall-rum is at the bot
on Of it. The mind is clouded, the .
yes are blurred, the hand trembles
md a disaster follows that shocks
he nation. What is the reason that
nd are obliged to wear shoddy, and
heir wives never have but one dress,
nd their children go barefooted and
aged? Look in the saloon keepers
i'll and you will see your answer.
Rum bills have to be paid, the gro
er. the baker, the clothier must
axe what is left.
Rum is the anarchist of the CEN
urics, and it has boycotted the body
nd soul of American labor 1t an
uaily SWindles industry out of q
lrse Per cent. of it's wages It halts
he mechanic and the operative on
is way to work in the morning, dur :
1g the noon intermission, and on
is return to his cherries home
t night. And in the evening the
ram shop is all aglitter with ra-
lance, vocal with music, seductive
It'll companiOnship, "the poor mans
uh.' 1t is indeed CLUB" pound
lG out his money, his character, his
7putation, his life. If the money
h'ch has gone across the saloon
eeper's bar in the last fifty years
ad been properly used by the toll
rs of this country, every working
ian could have had a house, and
very house could have had a gar
en-, and every garden could have
cen filled with fruits and flowers.
very workingman's wife and soDs
nd daughters could have been we'll
othed, well-fed, well-schooled, and =
ot only the necessities, but the lux
RES of life could have been theirs.
the workingmen of the country
i'll proclaim a strike against their
d and inveterate tenemy-rurr n
thin the next twenty years rros. II
Gritty will come to this country such
) the nation has never known.