The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-06-27
THE PASSING OF BOOZE.

The official demise of bacteriolo'
gicaI bug-juice, better known as
booze, will take place June 80. But
as long as there is a ferment, which
acting IN vegetable matter produces
alcohol, there will be Intoxicating
drinks of sorts. There are certain
sections of these United States where
every mountain hollow has its still
there are certain communities where
the inhabitants hold firmly to the
outworn fact and theory of booze in
its moonshine form. Revenue Off
GERS are taken as a matter of course
and are dealt with as one would
deal with measles and the whooping-
cough. Alcohol is so easy to make
and the remuneration is so attrac-
tive.
Then there are other ways of max
ing alcohol. Wine can be made by
the simple method of letting nature
take it's course. Rich red wine, light
wine, dark wine, sweet wine, sour
wine, dry wine-any kind of wine.
Whiskey can be made on a kitchen
range with a tea kettle and a piece
of rubber hose, or gas range can
be utilized. It can be safely said
that if man wants his liquor he can
get It.
The death of alcohol in America is
due to the saloon, the bartenders
and the obvious evils of the system
and finally to that innate American
characteristic which makes him an
eager, morbid sort of brothers
keeper of the Jonathan Edwards
type. Jonathan Edwards was Puri-
tan preacher, who believed indiscrim-
inately in witches, hellfre and a
ticket to heaven only for the elect.
From physical standpoint the
counts against alcohol are legion and
for every physical action there is a
reaction on the moral and spiritual
makeup of man. Countless numbers
Of men have been debauched, ruined
by liquor, and it can be safely said
that 80 percent of the crimes in the
past have been directly or indirectly
caused by drinking. .-..,., ...
There are many theories about in
ebriety. Some scientists say it is
habit; some that it is a disease; some
that it is but a manifestation of the
innate depravity of man and that the
.dsprayity cannot be cured by taking
away one of the emanations.
But we are we'll rid of the saloon,
which has always been an evil and a
curse, in some respects worse than
liquor itself, for it made itself a part
of politics. But we still have the
moonshiner and the bootlegger in
pur midst. We will have these two
"cute" scoundrels as long as public
opinion is favorable or Indifferent
or gives any sort of material nour-
ishment. We have both kinds
many of them, it is said-in this
county. The illegal manufacture
and sale of alcoholic beverages are
facts which we have to deal with and
which will cause trouble for many
years.
We are glad that alcohol in it's le-
gal form, is going, but there. is one
fact we would like to bring out in re-
gard to it's passing. We are rather
dubious of reformer who has no
sense of humor and a reform that
doesn't occasionally crease itself in
smiles. There is not single laugh
IN the whole prohibition platform.
Whoever saw a prohibition orator
with twinkle in his eye. They are
all too confounded serious and the
fountain of spring Of their humor is
as dry as their cause. They all be-
lieve that "wine can their wits the
wise beguile," but none of them
hpld to the view that 1t also can