The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1914-04-28
LAS THE TREE FALLS
1T MUST LIE"

personal knowledge Clyde Liller die
make a struggle, and a brave one, t(
stem the tide and free himself from
manacles that bound him hand anC
foot When he would go to wori
in the hope he was victor on his way
to the shop his nostrils were greeted
with the stencil of the foul poison
boon companions were ready to lure
him away from all his good resolu-
| tions; men were ready to take his
! last nickel and sell it to him regard
| less of the protests of his innocent
wife; every fibre of his being was
crying out for alcohol. He fell time
and again only to get up and make
brief struggle and fall again, until,
hopeless, helpless wanderer, away
from home and friends, the tired
body lay down to sleep the dreamless
sleep. Such is the picture, the awful
tragedy, of one human life. But we
make in this country 100000 drunk
ards graves a year, PIT each day.
During this funeral hour eleven other
of our fellow citizens will go in the
same way, and thus the miserable
work goes on from year to year.
Clyde sought the comfort and help
of religion. He had religious ma
ture I have prayed with him in my
own home, and witnessed with pro-
foundest pity his hopeless struggle.
My predecessor, Rev. Workman.
told me he never worked as hard
to save a man as he did to save Clyde
Liller But the miserable grog shop
with it's doors always open was sutti-
GENTLY powerful to oVerbalance any
influence for good, and thus the task
of, saving him under the present con-
ditions had to be abandoned. He
tried working in a dry town, but the
national government itself is in the
miserable liquor business, and for
the small pittance of $25 will give a
man federal license and shield him
from federal prosecution If he vio-
lates the law of the state in which he
sells. Then when a poor drunkard
wants to free himself from his slav-
ish chains he may go from Maine to
California, from the gulf to the lakes,
and on every foot of territory over
which Old Glory waves her proud
folds he is bounded and hunted by
this monster until at last, like poor
Clyde, he lies down to the sleep that
knows no waking.
Who can picture in all it's hideous-
ness the American liquor traffic? HUI
man words are inadequate. Figures
daze us. We are led in our desper-
alton to exclaim; 20 Lord, how
long?"
Gladstone said it has destroyed
more human life than war, pestilence
and famine combined.
Somebody is to blame. This poor
body is a murdered body and the
murderer goes scot free in this land
of freedom, this land of churches,
Boosting Of one hundred thousand
pastors; this land of colleges and uni
versities, this land that has been styl-
ed Goods last chance for the human
race" goes on numbering other
wives husbands, other children's
fathers, other mothers sons; goes on
ruling congress, dominating state
legislatures. intimidating town and
city councils; goes on throttling the
voice of the pulpit until God in His
righteous anger has sent our land
it's greatest spiritual drought. And
the pity of it all is, but few seem to
care.
Lincoln said: This nation can't
live half slave and half free" Meth
er can it live half drunk and half
SOBER"
Sin will down any of us; even in
the strongest of men it is too mighty
to contend against unaided. The
greatest delusion in this world is that
you can build yourself UP by tearing
yourself down; or that success can
be reaped out of the frailties and
misfortunes of others. Upon this false
principle the licensed liquor traffic
acts. BY this delusion the people OF
this fair town allow the cursed,
stenchful, blackening, damning instI-
tution-the licensed saloon-an in
stitution that fosters and perpetuates
an evil almost as sin itself; an evil
haggard, monstrous, furious and dia-
bolical. that for ages has walked and
crawled the earth, combining all that
is obnoxious in the races of men. II
has gored with it's horns, it has torn
with its tusks, it has crushed with its
hoofs, it has poisoned with its fangs
it has stung with its insectile jave-
line greater. numbers of the human
race than have persisted from all 9th
er causes combined. 1t brides, il
lures, decoys, charms, fascinates, Sc
duces and tempts; has the eye of an
eagle, the tooth of a rattlesnake, the
| jaw of a crocodile, the crushing coils
of a boa constructor, the slyness OF
the scorpion and 'the worm that bit
eth not" 1t has cheated and de,
ceived the nations. BY our false sys-
| tenn of regulation it Kisses, it lies
| it cheats, it debauches, it kills.
/ hate it with an eternal, uncom'
promising hatred, and l don't care
| who knows it.
1t puts its poison talons on the
| home and robs it of its furnishings
1t takes the clothes off the backs OF
innocent, helpless children and shoes
| from off their feet. 1t brings mothers
to the wash tub and scrub brush, and
straps burdens on their shoulders toe
heavy to be borne. 1t dashes out
brains and pulverizes the human
heart. 1t fills the poor houses, the
penitentiaries, the lunatic asylums
and peoples our graveyards with the
| flower of our manhood.
BY somebody's consent ten saloons
are fastened upon this fair town OF
Oakland. Were it not for them it
would be an ideal place in which to
live. We silently tolerate them, and