Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-08-07
SOME TEMPERANCE NOTES.

Accomac people have organized q
determined raid on illicit whiskey sellers.
The Georgia Court of Appeals rem
dered an opinion that the solicitation
of orders by mail in other States for
whisky or. other intoxicants, as well as
In that State by any Individual or cor
poration, is violation of the laws.
Why won'tthe law apply to local option
districts?
Massachusetts boasts of one town
which expelled the saloon by high
license. Through mistake in the local
option election the town voted wet, and
in order to keep saloons from coming in
through this technical error the Town
Council placed the license fee at
81, 1000. No one took out license.
Page Courier.
Waycross, Ca. with population of
5000, has no poorhouse, out Of 10 of
the white population own their homes
and SO per cent of the children attend
school. incidentally it may be stated
that the saloon license has annually for
the last l6 years been fixed at $50, 900
and no one has offered to pay the
amount for the privilege.
Sixty-two Federal licenses to sell
near beer" have been issued to per-
sons in Virginia. The state receives
no tax on such sales, but the Federal
Government receives fee of $50. The
near beer" is sold in the dry sections
of the State. The State laws make the
possession of Federal license to sell
liquor prima facie evidence of such sale.
On the last night of 1907 40,O en-
ployes of the Chicago and Northwest
ern Railroad, on 200 miles of tracks
reaching from the Great Lakes to the
Rocky Mountains, became absolute
"teetotalers" and signed pledge to
that effect. And each man pledged
himself TO use his influence towards Sc
curing the signatures of those other
thousands of employees of the same
railroad who have not yet agreed to
quit the use of intoxicating drink.
A wordy war goes on between the
Richmond News-Leader and the Nor
folk Virginian-Pilot on the relative
dangers of whiskey and tobacco. The
former enemy of man is thus described
by the Richmond editor: Zone of the
disadvantages under which John Barley
corn lives is that he is an open enemy
and fair fighter and the harm he does
is plain, frank and manifest. He ad-
vertises himself assiduously and makes
his presence known instantly. He
rides on the breath and announces that
he Is inside and active, no matter how
much chewing gum or cloves or burnt
coffee may be used in the effort to smug-
gle and smother and hide him. He may
be absorbed in secret moderation dur
ing many years, but presently he paints
the nose even of the most careful and
outwardly moral deacon and tells the
world of himself. He insists
that he shall not be hidden. He
declines to lurk in ambush.
Human ingenuity through countless
thousands of years has been unable to
devise methods for hiding John or
wrestling with him secretly. No man
ever has succeeded in getting drunk
without letting the fact be known to
all who came in contact with him; and
it is d known truth of bibulous human
nature that the more certain a man is
that he is carrying conviction of his
sobriety to all beholders the more dis
tinctly obvious is his inebriation. Crime
and sin and misery come from exces-
sive use of alcohol. while the evil con-
sequences from excess in tobacco are
less direct, less plainly discernable. We
know that tobacco unwisely used has
killed people, has put people in asylums
and jails, has made men trifiing, rob-
bed them of their vitality, ambition and
force. The same may be said of liquor.