Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1933-11-17
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Salisbury, N. C.
Nov. IS, 1888.
Editor of the Carolina

Please allow me space for a few
observations on the ever present
problems that arise from the fact
that ''the love for money is the
root of all evil''. Y write with the
assurance of hearty support from
all these who believe in moral sua-
sion.
There are many fields in which
the love of money has deadened
mems moral convictions and among
these fields that of intemperance
is prominent. In this, as in all
matters of right or wrong, the
Bible is wi only guide and no.
where is it taught that the charac-
Ter of a deed inherently wrong can
be changed by the payment of
brides in the shape of revenue. If
a thing is wrong, it is wrong, and
no amoun of privilege tax can
make it right or profitable for peo-
pie to engage in it.
In the matter of beverage alco-
hol it is not a question of what the
law allows or doesn't allow; it is
not a question of whether the rich
or poor do the drinking; it is not
a question of whether'the drink is
beer or wine or hard liquor; but the
point is that alcohol is a habit
forming drug, a deadly poison. The
more one drinks the more he wants,
and the more the drinker and all his
dependents are handicapped for
life. 1t is a shame and a disgrace
for any government TO seek revenue
by the destruction Of its citizens.
What shall be said of the So
called ''bootlegger''? Has any man
who sells alcoholic poison contrary
to the expressed will of the people
stopped to think of the true nature
Of his deeds? Does he stop to think
of the distress hat he is bringing
to women and children. Has he
stopped to think of the hindrance
that he brings to Legitimate bust
ness? Has he stopped to think Of
the inefficiency that he inflicts up
on firms that are trying to serve
the public? Has he stopped tc
think On the fact that he is para
site on society, that he an undesir-
able,. and that nothing but the re-
deeming grace of God can evel
make his name an honorable name:
Has he ever stopped to think Of
the disgrace that he is bringing up
, on his family, if he has a family?
! By their votes the people OF
, North Carolina have said to all Of
: ficers, to judges and to juries, to
: magistrates, sheriffs and policemen
! that the laws of our state are to be
enforced. They have said to all
thes officers that the "bootlegger'
must go. They have said that
wherever proofs of this d~isgraceful
business are found that such proof
are to be lodged with the authori-
tics. This is no time for
twaddle about insufficient
enforcement laws by those who in
i, the same breath beg for the weak
ening of those laws. There are
twenty-nine states in the Union
that are against pouring poison
down the threats of their citizens.
demand is for the enforcement
of law against the b~ootlegger and
the call is going to be more and
mere insistent, just as the tendency
will be back to prohibition.
This country is no place for
special privilege. This country's
being and existence have been pur-
chased at the cost of too many
sacrificial lives to be made a field
of pilage on the part of thieves,
gamblers, and the purveyors of al
coholic poison.
GILBRETH L. KERR