Devils Lake weekly world. (Devils Lake, N.D.) 1911-1914, 1913-07-25
EVILS OF THE
LIQUOR TRAF FIG

; In speech delivered before jury
in a liquor case the late Robert G. H.
gersoll said: I am aware that there is
a prejudice against any man who manu-
features alcohol. I believe that from
the time it issues from the coiled and
poisonous worms in the distillery until
it empties into the jaws of death, dis
honor ad crime, it demoralzes every
body that touches it, from its source
to where it ends. do not believe any
body can contemplate the object with
out being prejudices against the liquor
crime.
All we have to do, gentlemen, is to
think Of the wrecks on ether bank of
the stream of death, of the suicides,
of the insanity, Of the ignorance, of the
restitution, Of the little children tug
ging at the faded and withered brest
of weeping and desparing mothers. of
wives asking for bread, of the men OF
genius it has wrecked, the men strug-
Cling with imaginary serpents, proluc
ed by this devilish thing; and when
you think of jails, of the alms-houses
of the asylums, of the prisons, of the
scaffolds upon either bank, 7 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. 1t
breaks the fathers heart, bereaves the
doting mother, extinguishes natural at
lection, grasses conjugale love, blots out
filial attachment blights parental
hopes, brings down mourning age in
sorrow to the grave. It produces weak
ness, not life. 1t makes wives widows;
children orphans; fathers fiends, and
ali Of them paupers and beggars. 1t
feeds rheumatism, invites cholera. i'm
ports pestilence and embraces consump-
tion. It covers the land with idleness,
misery and crime. 1t fills your jails,
supplies your a1ms-houses and demands
your asylumns. It engenders contro-
versies, fosters quarrels AID cherishes
riots.
1t crowds your penitentiaries and
furnishes victims for your scaffo]ds. It
is the life blood Of the gambler the
element of the burglar, the prop Of the
highwayman and support Of the mid.
night incendiary. It countenances the
liar, respects the thief, esteems the
blasphemer. It violates obligation,
reverences fraud and honors infamy. 1t
defames benevolence hates love, scorns
virtue and ISLANDERS innocence. It in
cites the father to butcher his helpless
offspring, helps the husband to mas
sacre his wife and the child to grind
the patricidal AK. It burns up men,
consumes women, detests life curses
God, despises heaven. It suborns wit
nesses, nurses perjury, defles the jury
box and stains judicial ermine. It de
grades the citizen, debases the legis-
ldbOT, N1SHUuOIs lHc StftCCSludu huu Nlo-
arms the patriot. It brings shame. not
honor; misery, not safety; dispare, not
hope; misery, not happiness, and with
the malevolence Of fend it camly sur
veys its frightful desolation and un.
satiated havoc It poisons felicity.
kills peace, ruins morals, blights con-
Adencs, Stays regulations, and wipes out
natioal honor, curses the world and
laughs at its ruin 1t does all that and
more. It murders the soul It is the
sum Of all villaniss, the father Of al
crimes, the mother Of all denominations.
the devils best friend and God s worst
enemy