The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1911-02-07
W. c. T. U.

A Brookville farmer recently
brought to our attention a copy of
the magazine, Good Health, for De-
cember of 1879, containing the fol-
lowing characteristic arrangement of
intemperance by Robert G.. Inger-
soil. the famous skeptic and orator,
which seems to cover the whole
ground:
Il do not wonder that every
thoughtful man is prejudiced against
this vile stuff called alcohol. Intem-
perance cuts down youth in its vigor
and age in its weakness. 1t breaks
the fathers heart. bereaves the dot
ing mother, extinguishes natural af-
lection, grasses conjugal love, blots>
out filial attachment, and blights
parental hope, and brings premature
age in sorrow to the grave. 1t pro-
duces weakness, not strength; sick
ness, not health; death, not life. 1t
makes wives widows, children or
phans. fathers fends, and all pau
pers. 1t feeds rheumatism, nurses
govt, welcomes epidemics, invites
cholera, imports pestilence, and en-
braces consumption. 1t covers the
land with misery, idleness and crime.
1t engenders controversies. fosters
quarrels and cherishes riots. 1t
crowds your penitentiaries and fur
nishes victims for the scaffold. 1t
is the blood Of the gambler, the ele-
ment Of the burglar, the prop Of the
highwayman and the support of the
midnight incendiary. It counte-
nances the liar, respects the thief,
esteems the blasphemer. Itviolates
obligations, reverences fraud, hon
ors infamy. 1t defames benevo-
lence, hates love, scorns virtue and
innocence. 1t incites the father to
butcher his offspring and the child
to grind the parent ak. 1t burns up
men, consumes women, detests life,
curses God and despises Heaven. 1t
suDorns witnesses, nurses perfidy,
defiles the jury box and stains the
judicial ermine. 1t brides voters.
disqualifies votes, corrupts elections,
pollutes our institutions and endan-
gers the government. 1t degrades
the citizen, debases the legislator,
dishonors the statesman and disarms
the patriot. 1t brings crime, not
honor; terror, not safety; despair,
not hope; misery, not happiness; and
with the malevolence of a fiend ],
calmly surveys its frightful desola-
ton, and unsated with havoc, it poi
sons felicity, kills peace, ruins NOR
ais, whips out national honor, curses
the world and then laughs at it's
ruin. It does that and more-it
murders the soul. It is the sum of
all yillainies, the father of crimes.
the mother of all denominations, the
deyil's best friend, and Gods worst
enemy"
President Taft. has decided that
the United States shall not interfere
with the enforcement of the temper
ance laws in prohibition territory,
says a Cincinnati paper. Liquor
men, with brazen affrontery, have
undertaken to sell their stuff in such
territory, haye paid their United
States tax, and have paraded this as
if it were a license and have defied
law enforcement. President Taft
says that this shall no longer be en-
ployed to block and impede prosecu-
lions for violating the liquor laws.
Instead. he says, the United States
authorities shall furnish state au-
thorities the names Of those who
have paid the federal tax that this
may be an aid in the prosecution of
liquor dealers who would violate
state laws. This has long been an
outrage. Complaint was made to
the President, and the matter refer
red to the Attorney General. In
letter to the President he upheld the
contention of the representatives of
dry states, and the Commissioner of
Internal Revenue has been ordered
to comply wit. the law in letter and
spirit.
ANSWERS EVERY CALL