The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-07-22
I"NGERSOLL'S Big
ALCOHOL SPEECH

In a speech delivered before a jury
in a liquor case the late Robert G. Ing
ersoll said: l am aware that there is
a prejudice against n man who
manufactures alcohol. / believe thai
from the time it issues from the coiled
and poisonous worms in the distillery
until it empties into the jaws of death,
d~ishonor and crime, 1t demoralizes CIV
erybody that touches it, from it's
source to where 1t ends. l do not be-
lieve anybody can contemplate the OBJ
ject without being ~prejudiCed against
he liquor crime.
All we have to do, gentlemen, is to
think Of the wrecks on either bank Of
the stream of death, Of the suicides, of
the insanity, of the ignorance, If the
restitution, of the little children tug
ging at the faded and withered breast
Of weeping despairing mothers, of
wives asking for bread, of the men Of
genius 1t a wrecked, the men strug-
cling with imaginary serpents, pro-
duced by this devilish thing; and when
you think of jails, Of the alms-houses,
or the asylums, of the prisons, of the
scaffolds upon either bank, | do not
wonder that every thoughtful man is
~prejudiced against this damned stuff
called alcohol. Intemperance cuts down
= S1N' al ~ Na5OI iltdILIlOCu III 1lS
strength, old age in it's weakness. 1t
breaks the fathers heart, bereaves the
dotlng mother, e~Ntinguishes natural
affection, grasses conjugal love, blots
out filial attachment, blights parental
hopes, brings down mourning age in
sorrow to the grave. 1t produces weak
ness, not life. 1t makes wives widows:
children orphans; fathers ffends, and
all OF them paupers and beggars. 1t
feeds rheumatism, invites cholera, i'm
ports pestilence and embraces con-
sumption. It covers the land with idle
ness, misery, crime. 1t fills your iails,
supplies your a~lmshouses and de-
mands your asylums. 1t engenders
controversies, fosters quarrels and
cherishes riots.
1t crowds your penitentiaries and
furnishes victims for your scaffoIds.
1t is the life blood of the gambler,
the element of the burglar, the prop
OF the highwayman and support of
the midnight incendiary. 1t cot,n-
tenances the blasphemer. 1t violates
obligation, reverences fraud and
honors infamy. 1t defames benev-
olence, hates love, scorns virtue and
ISLANDERS innocence. 1t incites the
father to butcher his helpless off,
spring, helps the husband to mas
sacre his wife and the child to grind
the patricidal X It burns up men,
"NAASl1 NCLSSlS ll4Ss CURSES
God, despises heaven. It suborns
witnesses, nurses perjury, defles
the jury box and stains judicial err
mine. 1t degrades the citizen. de-
bases the legislator. dishonors the
statesman and disarms the patriot.
1t brings shame, not honor; misery.
not safety; despair, not hope; mis-
cry not happiness, and with the
~malevolence of a fiend it calmly sur
veys it's %frightful desoIation and UNI
satiated havoc. 1t .poisons felicity.
kills peace, ruins morals, blights con-
fidence, Stays regulations, and wipes
out national honor, then curses the
world and laughs at it's ruin. 1t does
all that and more. 1t murders the
soul. 1t is the sum of all vilIainies,
the father of all crimes, the mother
of all denominations, the devils best
friend and Gods worst enemy.