The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1911-01-05

territory over winch Ola glory waves
her proud folds he is bounded and
hunted bv this monster until at last like
poor Clyde he lies down to the sleep
that knows no waking.
Who can picture in all its hideousness
the American Liquor Traffic? Human
words are inadequate. Figures daze
US. We are led in our desperation to
eXclaim, 80 Lord how long,"
Gladstone said, it has destroyed more
human life than war, pestilence and
famine combined.
Somebody is to blame This poor
body is a murdered body and the muir
derer goes scott free in this great land
of freedom, this land of churches, boast
ing one hundred thousand pastors; this
land of colleges and universities; this
land that has been styled Goods last
chance for the human race" goes on
numbering other wives husbands, other
children S fathers, other mothers sons;
goes on ruling congress, dominating
state legislatures, intimidating town and
city councils; goes on throttling the
voice of the pulpit until God in His
righteous anger has sent our land its
greatest spiritual drought. And the
pity of it all is, but few seem to care.
Lincoln said: This nation can't live
half slave and half free" Neither can
it live half drunk and half sober.
Sin will down any of us; even in the
strongest of men it is too mighty to
contend against unaided. The greatest
delusion in this world is that you can
build yourself up by tearing somebody
else down, or that success can be reaped
out of the frailties and misfortunes of
others. Upon this false principle the
licensed liquor traffic acts. By this de-
fusion the people of this fair town allow
the accursed, stenchful, blackening,
damning Institution, the licensed saloon.
An institution that fosters and perpetu-
ates an evil almost as old as sin itself.
An evil haggard, monstrous, furious and
dlabollcal, that for ages has walked and
craWIed the earth combining all that is
obnoxious in the races of men. 1t ha
gOred with its horns, it has torn Withits
tusks, 1t has crushed with its hoofs, it
has poisoned withits fangs, it has stung
with its insectile javelins greater num-
bers of the human race than have per
ished from all other causes combined.
1t brides, it lures, decoys. charms, fas-
cinates, tempts and seduces; has the
eye Of an eagle, the tooth of a rattle
snake, the jaw of a crocodile, the
crushing coils of boa constructor, the
slyness of the scorpion and the folds of
the worm that dieth not" 1t has
cheated and deceived the nations. By
our false system of regulation, or at
tempted regulation, it Kisses, it lies, it
cheats, it debauches, it kills.
| hate it with an eternal, uncompro-
-, L,+ L.
knows it.
1t puts its poison talons on the home
and robs it Of its furnishings 1t takes
the clothes off the backs of innocent,
helpless children and shoes from off
their feet. 1t brings mothers to the
wash tub and scrub brush, and straps
burdens on their shoulders too heavy to
be borne. 1t dashes out brains and
pulyeriZes<h human heart. 1t fills the
poor houses, the penitentiaries, the lu-
matte asylums and peoples our grave
yards with the flower Of our manhood.
BY somebody 5 consent ten saloons are
fastened upon this fair town of Oak
land, which, were it not for them, would
be an ideal place in which to live We
silently tolerate them, and the authori-
ties grant the license for a very small
consideration in the way OF money.
Thus for less than TWO dollars apiece
the town is sold to the liquor traffic.
A county seat should be the best town
in the county. Here our professional
men live, here all the people must come
at times to transact business. We owe
it to the surrounding country to have
decent, moral town SO that a country boy
can leave his mother in the morning,
come here on business and return to her
sober IN the evening. But alas! How
many boys go home whooping and yell
ing and cursing, reeling and staggering
to their homes late at night because
Oakland thinks she must have little
revenue.
Is there not some way to elect a man
to represent US at Annapolis who will
say this thing shall stop?
Whose boy will now take the place of
Clyde Liller? Somebody's will.
10 you men who are before me: The
grlefs, the scalding tears, the deferred
hopes, the strangled aspirations of this
woman ought to lead every man of you
to lay the axe OF absolute prohibition at
the root of our license system and rest
not till the whole tree is burned up root
and branch in the fires of a holy and
righteous Indignation. AS you behold
the wound will you not bring the heal
ing balm? AS you witness the bondage
will you not seize the hammer and strike
off the manacles that bind at this very
hour so many citizens of Garrett county?
| know full well the criticism that
will De heaped on me for saying this to-
day. | have weighed every word and
am prepared for the consequences. But
| will not stand by and see a man cut
down by liquor and witness the wreck
and ruin OF home without raising my
voice in solemn protest against the
liquor traffic in Oakland, at whose door
lies the responsibility of Clyde Liller's
murder.
| am going to say something else: The
men who run saloons are not alone in
this. Others are responsible. When
we get to the judgment the man who
made the foul stuff, the man who sold
it, the man who gave it to him when he
could not buy it, the man who is bonds
man for the saloon keeper, the citizen
who by his silence or vote endorses the
liquor traffic will all come up with fng-
ers streaming red in the blood of poor
Clyde Liller who fell helpless victim
into the clutches Of the liquor traffic.
nd now q yyprd fo fbaco t,.ro ,,,.1cfr .,,r-