Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-03-16

| country must build two ships TO Ger
many's one, and that 1t cannot find
the money and still carry out the
governments pension program. The
cost OF an old age pension scheme is
estimated at from S54000,0 600 TO Sl40,-
100000 n year. according to it's liber-
atty The most liberal plan, which
goes far beyond anything now pro-
posed by the government, would cost
n little over ones sixth of the nation
drink bill. A seventh part of the re-
mainder would build 10 new battle
ships, which Is more than the most
enthusiastic advocates of naval expan-
sion have thought TO be necessary, BY
combining themselves to three hundred
million dollars worth of beer and two
hundred million dollars worth of spir-
its. without curtailing their consump
ton of wine or other liquors at all,
the British people could have their
old age pensions and their battleships,
too.
To check any tendency to moralize
at the expense of others, 1t may be
worth while to mention that in the same
year in which Great Britain was con-
Stunning 1,2S6,710,T29 gallons of liquor,
we We're consuming STAGES. 400 gall
Ions. We might say that even these
figures showed us to be drinking less
than the British in proportion to popu-
excess was all in beer We drank over
three times as much distilled spirits,
when in proportion to population we
should have had only twice as much.
Yet the British race is not particularly
noted for abstemousness in tho matter
of strong waters.
Leaves from the Diary of An Old
Lawyer" was literally quoted from by
Elder Grant, as depicting the curse of
intemperance. Some Of the excerpts
read as follows:
"INTEMPERANCE AND CRIME"
Il believe that it win require the
force OF the whole people, MEN and
WOMEN, applied at the ballot box, to
effectually blot out of existence the
great curse to the country, The Laws
that license and permit the sale OF
alcohol as beverage" i deny the
right of the government to sell to one
citizen the privilege to tempt another
TO commit crime. / doubt the policy
of those laws that seek to raise
revenue by the sale of that which de-
bases the people, is the prolific source
OF crime and pauperism. and costs the
country annually a thousand times
more than the revenue received there
from. | deny the justice of those laws
that on one page of the statute books
legalize that which promotes crime and
makes criminals, and ON the next
provide severe penalties to be admin
istered to those they have tempted to
transgress.
This little volume is presented to the
public to promulgate these views. They
may be thought radical, and perhaps
are so: but they are the result of
long years of experience in our Grim
inal courts, and are but feeble ex-
preston of my adherence of the vice
Of intempcrance and the laws that en-
courage and promote II.
Tell me hate the bowl
Hate is a feeble word;
/ loathe--abhor-my very soul
BY strong disgust is stirred
Wheneer j see. or hear, or tell
OF the dark beverage of He'll
My experience at the bar has salts
ned me that intemperance Is the direct
cause of nearly ali the crime that 10
committed in our country. ! have been
at the bar over thirty years, have been
engaged on over four thousand criminal
cases. and on mature reflection / am
satisfied that over three thousand OF
those cases have originated from
drunkenness alone. and / believe that
a great proportion of the remainer
could be traced either directly or in
directly to this great source OF crime
nine have been caused by the madden
ing influence of strong drink. ] have
seen upon the counsel table OF our court
room the SOUL of an aged father, who
was killed by a drunken son. My
brother and myself sat by his side as
his counsel, and / never shall forget
the look of that son when the ghastly
evidence of his guilt was laid upon the
stand before him. That silent but
witness! II was but an arch
of bone and was handled carelessly
by the jury in their investigation, yet
II had once been covered by n fathers
gray hairs: beneath it had throbbed a
brain full of pride and affection for
the son who was now on his trial for
and as 1t passed from hand to
hand the fearful expression on the face
Of the accused plainly told the terri
BILE feeling of remoyse that filled his
soul. 1t was IL wicked and most I'M
natural crime. and begot feelings OF
loathing and horror in the breasts of
all who Witnessed the trial. Yet 1t
was not in reality the son who had
the crime. but the demon
that turks In every cup of strong
drink. And that cup had been filled
and placed to the lips OF that son by
the hand OF u most respectable member ,
Of socioty--a man who had a license
from that very court to sell that which
hand To murder.
II saw upon that table the scull of
young B., who was killed by his
most intimate friend In n drunken
brawl at Hartstown, and the respect
able proprietor at whose hotel the
murder was perpetrated. and who sold
The maddening spirit that prompted the
deed, was a witness at the trial. He
said he had license from that re- |
spectacle court TO sell liquor; yes from |
Lhe very court then sitting In Judgment |
on that act. which was but the natural |
sequence of the license II had sold and |
granted.
IL have seen upon that table the scull |
" Il little child with the evidence upon
Il of u murderous blow, inflicted by |
The hand OF a drunken mother. Yet |
Il was not the mother who had COM |
nitted that most unnatural crime. All |
our knowledge of the promptings or the |
luman heart deny the charge, Who |
hat remembers his own mother and |
ler maternal love could believe IL? mol |
A demonioal spirit had violated tho |
sanctuary OF the mothers heart and |
,ast out the tender, loving tenant that |
)ncc resided there, and that was the |
spirit of strong drink, sold to Voc |
nan by a. man who held license TO sell |