The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1916-12-08
BAR THEM FROM THE MAIL.

emu OF ropes because of system
which yields the liquor mail-order
house about 81 per gallon profit on
whiskey and which yields the United
states. in addition to the revenue. the
price OF two-cent postage stamp.
Here is specific case:
Olaf Jacobson. tiler. WORKING
near Guckeen, Minnesota, was found
dead on the farm of John Gerry at 7
joclock on morning not ten days
gone by. jacobson had died from
exposure and alcohol. Beside the
body was jug full of welcome"
ibooze which had been ordered nv ex-
press in response to advertisements
conveyed to Jacobson by the federal
government at fee OF two pennies
Sometime ago the father OF a moor
family in the State of Alabama, be-
coming alarmed at the long absence
lof his eleven-year-old daugbter
started out to find her He found her
order house at fee Of two cents. had
spots on her clothing and her swol-
len tongue protruding from between
her teeth. few miles away the
, guilty man, mulatto negro. who
mad been known as a reliable and
hard-working fellow, was found
asleep on the hay in a barn. By his
, slde was an empty whiskey bottle.
, The United States government, act
ing as solicitor for a liquor mail
lorder house alta fee of two cents. had
induced this man to buy and con-
sumo the stuff which had brought in
us train such series Of fatal conse
Iquences. The Jacksonville LIQUOR
dealer got his few dollars of profit:
the little girl got shame and agony
and death; her father and mother
got humiliation, bitterness. and sor.
row unspeakable; the government
got the price of postage stamp.
i The board of temperance of the
Methodist church has a record of
scores of murders, suicides. deaths
from exposure, assaults. and minor
crimes, all committed in different
parts of the country during one week.
because Of beer and whiskey. A con,
siderable number of these crimes re-
suited from the drinking of whiskev
bought in response to solicitation
conveyed from the liquor dealer to
the customer by the federal govern
ment.
1t may not be said that the United
states is simply mechanical agent
OF conveyance in these cases. The
United States has recognized its re-
sponsibility in the matter of lottery
tickets, refusing to carry them
Through the mails or to convey ad,
Vertisements of them. Alcoholic Ii
quors themselves are excluded from
the parcel post, not because thew are
liquid, for the mails do not exclude
many other liquids, but because of
their inherent viciousness. The
moral responsibility of the United
States for the mails and interstate
commerce is as complete as its pow
Icrs. This principle was recently re-
cogniZed in the passage of law ex-
Guiding the products of child labor
from interstate commerce.
The time has come to put the thing
to the issue. Is it right for the Unit |
&c States to assist in creating and
Iintensifying an appetite for alcoholic |
drinks. by inducement and sugges-
Ition causing men to consume liquor
who would not consume il if they
were not induced? If il is right the
present practice should continue. If,
it. is wrong the coming session OF
congress, without any attempt to
shift responsibility upon the State.
should recognize the wrong and ex-
clude from the mails liquor adver-
tisements and solicitation.
Will congress sit still while muir
der and rape is being promoted for
profit by every device of modern
trade?
i VIII congress sit still while every
effort is being made to extend the
,!debauchery of the drink habit to
American womanhood?
i VIII congress sit still while liquor
dealers offer premiums to rural mail
carriers for lists of boys" who may
be induced to begin the drink habit?
Will congress sit still while liquor
dealers are using the mails to place
IL. H..