The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1913-07-04
ROBERT G. INGERSOL'S
DENUNCIATION OF ALCOHOL


This excerpt made from a speech
delivered by the great Ingersol to a
jury in liquor case, and printed at
the solicitation of the Rev. B. S.
Waggener:
81 am aware that there is a preju-
dice against any man who manufac-
lures alcohol. I believe that from the
time that it issues from the coiled
and poisonous worms in the distillery
until it empties into the jaws of death
dishonor and crime, it demoralizes
everybody that it touches, from its
source to where it ends. | do not
believe anybody can contemplate the
object without being prejudiced
against the liquor crime
"All we have to do gentlemen. is to
think of the wreck on either bank of
the stream of death, of the suicides,
of the insanity, of the ignorance of
the little children Juggling at the fad
ed and withered breast of weeping
and despairing mothers, of wives
asking for bread, of the men of gem
ius it has wrecked, the men struggling
with imaginary serpents, produced by
this devilish thing; and when you
think of THE jails, of the a1mshouses.
of the asylums, of the prisons, of the
scaffolds on either bank, l do not
wonder that every thoughtful man is
prejudiced against this damned stuff
called alcohol Intemperance cuts
down youth in its vigor, manhood in
its strength, old age in its weakness
It breaks the fathers heart bereaves
the doting mother, extinguishes nat
ural affection, grasses conjugal love,
blots out filial attachment blights pa
rental hopes, brings downing age in
sorrow to the grave 1t produces
weakness, not in life. It makes wives
widows, children orphans; fathers
fends, and all of them paupers and
beggars. 1t feeds rheumatism, invites
cholera, imports pestilence and en-
braces consumption. 1t covers the
land with idleness, misery and crime.
It fills your jails, supplies your aims
houses and demands your asylums.
It engenders controversies, fosters
quarrels and cherrishes riots.
1t crowds your penitentiaries and
furnishes victims for your scaffold
It is the life blood of the gambler,
the element of the burglar, the prop
OF the highwayman, and support of
the midnight incendiary. It counte-
nances the liar, respects the thief,
esteems the blasphemer. 1t violates
obligation, reverences fraud and hon
ors infamy. 1t defames benevolence,
hates love, scorns virtue and ISLANDERS
innocence. 1t incites the father to
butcher his helpless offspring, helps
the husband to massacre his wife and
the. child to grind the parricidal ak
1T burns up men, consumes women,
detests life, curses God, despises
heaven. 1t suborns witnesses, nurses
perjudy, defiles the jury box and
stains judicial ermine. 1t degrades
the citizen, debases the legislator,
dlshonors the salesman and disarms
the patriot. 1t brings shame, not
honor; misery, not safety; despair,
not hope; misery not happiness, and
with the malevolence of a fiend it
calmly surveys its frightful desolation
and insulated havoc. 1t poisons fe-
LEFTY, kills peace, ruins morals.
bllghts. confidence. Stays regulations,
and wipes out national honor. then
curses the world and laughts at its
ruin. 1t does all this and more. It
murders the soul. 1t is the sum of all
the father of all crime, the
mother of all denominations, the dew
ills best friends and Gods worst enc
N.Y."