New Britain herald., 1919-08-02
A HCCOUGHLESS NATION ls ssaa Being the Random Reflectionso of
 FLANK LONG' 4g .... ON THE LIQUOR QUESTION ss2 a
(Contributed.l

Which some of sus belfeVe&the nation S l cursed, and which sooner or later is l sure to land us all in hell if we be- i fieVe what some say It is a question in ! my mind if, when they took away our rites as drinkers, they took anything l of vital importance that would help ! man to build character and manhood l Yet it is an undeniable fact that li- | quor Is in manI cases, a moral as well | as a social be1efactor in that it helps 1 many to better positions in life and society, to say nothing of providing an easy way of obtailfing restaof three, six or nine months, for sthos& who are so foolish as to prosecute the "booze game to strenuously. < think in the past we drunkards ovcrstepped manygl times 'our. privileges, held out to us by a free and loving nation, and when she saw we were Jikely to over crowd the asyIums and iails, thereby causing her mere and more expense year after year, why she just had to do some thing, with the big slipper of author ity. I think, it has been our fault largely. in that we did not take a tdm. ble before. It is all right to sing sotto Voce "The Old Oaken Bucket" and like songs when we congregate in the sa- loon, but when ii. comes to murdering our wives and fauilies with this same bucket because of that happy feeling superinduced by an inf1amed larnyX and brain, why, to say the least, the saloon in the abstract should be com pelled to wear Maxim Silencers In many cases in my WanderingS via freight cars and bumpers, I have found that the dryer a fellow is the Wetter he. is inside. This is why h1t I mn admit 1 myself have oftimes been
 moved to tears because of their tears, for to my mind I know of no Sadder sight than. that of a great red faced
 man in the throes of intoXication, with
 pair of shoes dangling from an in ert arm, while with the other hand he fishes for a "nose-Wiper" and another ten cent piece for his last drink be-
 fore crawling into the bosom of his family. Mind you, I am not speaking disparagingtG of the saloon ire Quenter, or the saloon man, whom the poor wretch is trying to help along so that his wife may appear in society
 or that the last installment on the Wringer or sewing machine may be paid! Not at all for of all people the
 saloon man is a hard working cuSs and always has been trying to enlarge | that he may be able to weigh out just the size drink to drop a customer at his own gate, as well as repleting memory as to who was the president in 1492. I say, all this is, more or less wearing and should, be taken in con- siderati, n when one begins com putting the interest on the money he (the sa- loon keeper) may have invested in d shebang where first class murderers and pickpockets and horse thieves and skalliwags of every texture are turn i ed out. I do not think that there is l any argument as to why the church 1 should go and the saloon stay.
 Some argue that the saloon should | stay, because it is an older institu- 1 tion than the rattlesnake, which is I 1 believe wrong. Some said that. the l Indian should have been unmolestd | because by right of preoccupancy, yet l the rattlesnake was here first, and up 1 to date have never heard of a fond ! father tearing around through the l woods before he could be induced to | go home, in quest of rattler to take ! to his baby boy, yet on the other hand, 1 I know of many who filled up their | bellies with a whole nest full just to
 see how they,d act when they arr 1 rived home And, yet, in spite of all i I have said derogatory to the use and 1 abuse Of whiskey, it has it's use in 1 pharmacopoia of life's ills, as doc
 tors can attest if they will who use it;
 then again, branded peaches are not worth a damn without it. Again, l 1 have seen cases of suspended ani1na- 1 tion where the life seemingly hung l like a wasps. head to it's body-~vno
 more cuticle between-and a little
 
 patients life was not only saved, but I at last was saved only to be lost in a i drunkard's grave. Now the question that naturally arises is, would it have
 been best in this case to retain the | whiskey for ones own purposes ot
 moderation thereby allowing that one l soul to go out into the great unknown 1 or give the drink that another mar
 might survive to first cause the state | expense and perhaps murder a grand | mother or, chop twenty cords ot
 wood CD only at last to nearly fil
 a drunkard s grave, for no drunkard
 I care not how drunk he Is, entirely fills a whole grave-siX or eight might
 without wooden overcoats It is {
 question worth the scientists thought Another argument used by some 1 why the saloon should stay IS on the | ground that it will interfere with rev 1 enue-that there will be higher
 rate of taxation. But on the other
 hand, more will be sober than have
 been in the past, and being keenel | witted, will just naturally kick at the
 tax which they will be compelled tc l pay as against the taxes they paid iT the past Again in this argument 1 find much fault, for how in the name
 of great Caesars Ghost can taxes be | any higher? How can anything be
 highert1nless it's New Britain s smoke,
 stacks and wages? It has been esti.
 mated that it costs the saloon about
 s12366 for each first class drunk il