The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-08-18
NOT WISE" Are we going to be
FOOLS any longer?

NOT WISE" Are we going to be
FOOLS any longer?
From an economical standpoint it
constitutes the greatest drain upon
our nation. The money spent for
alcoholic liquors last year in the
United States would build six pana-
ma canals; it would educate every
child; it would nor than pay the
national debt and if / have the fig
ures correct it would more than pay
the capital stock of all the Nationl
Banks and have seven hundred mil
lion dollars left. We spent several
millions Il haven't the exact fgures)
last year for foreign missions but
when that amount IS compared with
what we spent for alcohol it pales
into insignifcance. 1t would build
a fine macadamized road around the
world twelve times.
From a humanitarian standpoint
it is painful to discuss. 1t brings
poverty, suffering, insanity, disease,
trouble, sorrow, h~eartaches, death,
destruction and HE'LL. What more
painful sight, ~heartrending in it's
nature can your imagination picture
than to see a mother on a cold win
ter night lowering over a few Goals
with her darling little children wait
ing for the return of a drunken hus-
band who is spending his substance
in riotous living while his dear wife,
whom he has sworn to love, protect
and cherish, is suffering for support
and companionship. Oh! how terri
BILE to think of, yet it is a common
sight. Oh, what will pay for a
mothers broken heart. Nothing can
ruin a wife's happiness more COM
pletely than her husbands debauch-
cry.
That old argument about prohibi-
ton taking away a mans personal
liberty, is the greatest farce / know.
1t does not take away personal lib
erty but on the other hand, restores
personal liberty. When as is too
often the case a man will make any
kind of promise, tell any kind of a
lie, spend his last dime yea, sell his
soul for a. drink, WHERE IS HIS
PERSONAL LIBERTY? Is he not
bound hand and foot in the letters of
King Alcohol? He has the same
right to drink as any other man has
to use morphine or cocaine. Other
peoples rights must be taken into
consideration also. A drunk man is
a menace to society, to his family,
to his friends and to the public gem
orally and to all who come into con-
tact with him. Who wants to ride
on a train with g. drunken engineer
or with a drunken dispatcher at the
wire! Not l, o you either, nor even
a drunk man. You may say that
that. does not occur, but let me tell
you, a drunkard is liable to get
drunk at any time, at any place, re-
gardless of what he has to do or to
face, if he a get the alcohol. He
has an insane delusion that with a
drink he a do most anything.
Drunkenness is insanity. Alcoholic
Milling our asylums, penitentiaries.
hospitals, almshouses and grave.
yards. Alcohol is the real cause of
hard times, not the low price of cot
ton. If the South had the money
she has spent for liqours in the last
ew'years she could buy her entire
cotton crop and burn it up and not
miss the money.
Think of the many young lives
that have been sacrificed to drink.
u Of the broken hearted mothers,
fathers, and wives in our land who
W their sad, unhappy condition
solely to the use of whiskey bv. their
loved ones. Tt did for Philip of
Macedon and Alexander the Great.
what n armies of the world could
not do. 1t has killed more men than
all the wars of the world The drum
kards are dying fast, their ranks must
be filled. Fathers are you willing
that your sons help fill the ranks?
No.! a thousand times No! Some
fathers and mothers and sons will do
1t and If you do not want it to be
yours you must work and work hard
and untlring for prohibition.
On September 18th let's see that
ADoeVllle county goes solid for pro-
hlbltion. Alcohol has for a long,
long time been emperor of Russia
and Germany, president of France.
king of England and Monarch of
the United States, but his throne is
tottering and will soon fall. Sue
cess will soon be ours but we must
work and work hard for the forces of
evil are pressing hard. "At the
last it biteth like a serpent and
stingeth like an adder"
Respectf11ly