The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-07-25
Sayings of Sages
WISDOM Accorded
the Nations Almost
Possible
President William HI. Taft.


| Nothing is more foolish, moth
ing more utterly at variance Will
sound policy than to enact a Law
(which, by reason of the conditions
surrounding the communities, is in
capable of enforcement. Such in
stances are sometimes presented by
sumptuary law by which the sale
of Intoxicating liquor is prohibited
under penalty in localities where
the public sentiment of the imme-
|diate community does not and will
not sustain the enforcement of the
law" s..
Thomas Jefferson Says:
Our legislators are not suffi-
GENTLY appraised of the rightful
limit of their power. That their
true Office is to declare and enforce
only our natural rights and duties
and take none Of them from us.
No man has a natural right to
commit aggression OH the equal
rights Of another, and this is all
from which the law ought to re-
strain him. The idea is quite I'M
founded that upon entering into
society we give up any natural
right
Abraham Llcoln's Wisdom:
Prohibition will work great in
jury to the cause of temperance.
1t is species of intemperance with
i'll itself, for it goes beyond the
bounds of reason in that it at
tempts to control a man s appetite
by legislation and in making crimes
out of things that are nou crime.
A prohibition law strikes a blow
1t the very principles on which
our government is founded" D
From speech in Illinois Legisla
ture.
Abraham Lincoln ran a tavern
in Salem, FL, where he sold liquor.
While a member of the Illinois
Legislature he voted, against both
local option and statewide prohibi-
ton.
Horatio Seymour.
Elected governor of New York
in 1852 and 1862, three times a
member Of the State Legislature
and candidate for President in
1868. While governor of New
York he vetoed a prohibition bill.
Il owe IT to the subject and to
| the friends of the measure to add
the expression of my belief that in
temperance cannot be extirpated by
prohibitory laws. They are not con-
sistent with sound principles of
Legislation. Like DEGREES to regu-
late religious forms or forms of
worship, they provoke resistance
where they are designed to enforce
obedience. The effort to suppress
intemperance by unusual and ar
bitrary measures proves that the
Legislature is attempting to do that
which is not within it's province tC
enact or power to enforce All ex,
perience shows that temperance like
other virtues is not reduced by law
making, but by the influence OF
education, morality and religion.
Theodore Roosevelt Says:
"The good citizen will demand
liberty for himself, and as a mat
ter Of pride he will see to it that
Iothers will receive the liberty which
he thus claims as his own. Probab
ly the best test Of true love Of lib
erty in any country is the manner
in which minorities are treated il
that country. Not only should
there be complete liberty in matter
of religion and opinion, but com
pIete liberty for each man to leac
his life as he desires, providing
only that in so doing he does no
wrong his neighbor. Wide differ
ence Of opinion in matters Of re
ligious, political and social belle
, must exist if conscience or intellec
alike are not to be stunted, if ther
is to be room for healthy growth
Bitter internecine hatreds, based Of
such differences, are signs not o
earnestness or belief, but of tina
fanaticism which, whether religion
or anti-religious, democratic or ar
ti-democratic, is itself but a man
festation Of the gloomy bigotr
, which has been the chief factor J
the downfall Of so many nations.
> Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, America
Statesman, Served Five Terms
:, in National Congress