The semi-weekly messenger., 1908-03-03
POINT OUT DEFECTS
Favsttsrn..s han Voices His Sen.
limtHts S.1 Ssbject
Is Opposed 30 Prohibition for Moral
Physical, Practical and Financial
R.asoas-ii1s No Positical Aspera-
tious and - Sot Afraid 10 Speak Ills
Mind
Mr. Editor:
Fayetteville Observer


estly and sincerely opposed TO IL from
moral, physical, political and financial
reasons In ny opinion. based upon
experience, il Is the mCst unreasona
bic. imp. &C .icaole and impolitic meth
cd of decreasing, checking, control
ling Or regulating the liquor traffic.
Where Ii prevents few men from
buying a few drinks il compels many
man TO send their money out % the
state and buy thousands OF gallons.
Where il prevents the large number
OF men who will have liquor or some
description from getting pure and good
whisSay Pt home legally, it forces
them to buy illegally. from blind I'll
gers and thereby makes them criminal
yiolatorS OF state law.
Like every citizen, recognize the
evils that accrue from the abuse OF
Elio--c~ and IGok upon the low-down bar
800 SO >heap grCgsery Tith It's de-
nGLA',.r2.' S,tn abhorancc and disgust,
aRd an anxious TO 90 Tuy full share
Ias5 :, citizen to destrlr' them aid their
eyfis, They are relic OF q past age.
J hc.se 20 place in the Industrial
{ v7.zati0n- Of the present day. But
s may becauxa the system media re-
IL rIisa;ion and 30 have its abuses cor
TccteS, is no argument or reason why
Cne of The raOst valuable remsdial
AGENTS Of human suffering, and also
al arttcie of ainost universal luxury
Il So ,Eerw helIiBg = Ma ajcTity OF the
h: man race, (for whl.e S5 per cent. OF
ou: peI9ie use intoxicating liquors"
II 81 C-nes2 ceg"ea, not more than one
O. two ger cent. Of them are drunk
crds) should be autIawed by a stab
statute, aosolutely forbidding the "sal ?
G" manufacture OF Intoxicating Ii
o-ors" inywhere' within the state
S:":ply because a Jew old soaks will
gei drunk is no reason why the 90
other goods citizens, like myself, who
never abus s.the us3 OF liquor, should
be- deprived Of the use for home con-
sSnption o3 wine, beer or other Ii
o. Ts, so necessary to every we'll
regulated household that aspires to
So nething better than mere bread.
n1at and pst liquor for table and
II 1ily use
Ever since the earliest days of re-
cC rted events, humanity has demand
eo vlnOus or 5pirituous liquor in some
sb1Pe. Wherever and whenever such
a demand exists for anything, good or
eyT, there will be those who will sup
pr that demand. If it cannot be done
la.;aT1y It will surely De done illegally.
Z legislature statute cannot change
tf1 morals or desires Of a man any
more than 1t can change the color of
his skin, or the impulses OF his heart.
TIE man who has nsver taken or
yw"o does not take drink of some
kind Of an intoy1cant, IS an exception,
is freak of human monstrcsfty, and
is man, in whose veins flows a sub
stance more like ice water than the
rich. warm, generous hlbod OF a pa
rtriotfc, hberty-loving American. | am
quite sure that the facts will sub
stanriate my statement when say that
95 men out Of every 100 takes a drink
of: some kind of intoxicant whenever
they desire. U know that nearly all
OF my friends, who have, been voting
he prohibition ticket do sol, and
Sti11 not one per cent Of them are
drunkards or criminals.
|, TIE wornout argument that 1.-The
MAN who takes drink will eventual
~ fiji a drunkard's grave" proves it's
falslty, IN every phase OF human Fife.
Were there the slightest truth I'm I his
fayUrfte prohibition argument, the
world would have ceased to exist thou
sands OF years ago.
L have taken a drink OF whit ,key
with Governor Glenn. and he ap par
erfy enjoyed 1t. | do not think it
hurt him; | know it did not hurt me.
] have enjoyed a drink OF viii skey
wiah ex-Governor~A Aycock, and / know
ct, TO one who can take q bigger one
or GRITTY it bettCT thga he I have en-
jCEed Z sociaI drink or whiskey with
Sanat0z Simmons aRzi with scores of
ot5or fgzdinS md prominent men, tsssh
saints and sin1.eTs. Scnlc Of them f,.ye
attained the htghaa distinction. ard
zcR prominent IN the affairs OF the
state ana nasiOn. will any man DIRE
assert that taey VIII all eventually fill
gdrunkarus g=aYesc vii any man say
that they are undesirable citlzoas or
unworthy L OF the highest trusts. Does
not every r.san and woman know, aye
x ell know. that their nature AID de-
sires are the same today that they
were few short months ago? Does
not every man know that pSiities is
che cause and only reason for their
apparent change OF heart, and does
not every maa honestly believe that
cratic, and declare that tie nIndamen-
tai principle Of democracy, that Q,
local self-guvernment. shzii continue
10 prevail in North Carolina. that they
would tumble of OF the band wagon
faster than they climbed on. and would
hastily declare that their hearts were
always with the boys anyhow"
Now. Mr. Editor. were a polit lciaa
| or had any political aspiration Is, I
might not have nerve TO write this
communication, but being a plain.
practical and fairly successful busf-
mess man. whose ideas have not been
contracted by narrow and local en-
l'vironments, ard yhcse annual visits
| To the leading states and cities of this
great country OF ours. including prohi-
bition Maine and Kansas. has given me
opportunity TO personally see the
workings Of all kinds OF excise laws
and to have also lived In a so-called