Widnes Examiner. — 1887-12-24 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC.  Sir,—l have been much pleased in reading in your last issue the letter of our friend, • Mr. Butler, on "The National Prohibitive Party." Like many more Christian men, no doubt, his grieve(' feelings have been somewhat pent up; but here he bursts out at last through the organ. of the Press, and condemns the liquor traffic as an. "em brutalising and pauperising trade." It is very ratifyin g to temperance workers to see from time to time the principles of temperance brought to the front in your weekly issue, and also the prominent position taken up by the" Examiner" itself in this peat reform. It may seem to be, and is, the same ground that has been trod by many of our fellows when Mr. B. says that "it is the fruitful source of crime, insanity, pauperism, and untold misery; " but still the statements remain true; and lam inclined to think that by the constant repetition of the words and the everyday knowled„onand sight of the facts themselves, we are too apt to lose sight of their vast weight and importance. Surely there is no one who has witnessed a tine intelligent workman succumb to such a misfortune Ls that of intemperance, which may have led him to insanity, suicide, or crime, but what has felt downright sorry. It is an irreparable lose to lose one's reasoning power, and yet it is true that many have and are losing it, either temporarily or permanently. There is nothing whatever inviting about poverty and ruin both of constitution, and all future; prospects of happiness, and yet this is the position that the liquor traffic has brought many thousands of men and women to. What can be done, it might be asked, that has not already been done, in order that these things might be abolished? Again and again there have been appeals made to Parliament, both by prominent members of the House and by many petitions from the people. Many have been the efforts that have been put forthlay the United Kingdom Alliance, and the endeavours of the national prohibitive party, the objects of which, "to secure the suppression of the liquor traffic by the direct and drastic remedy of imperial enactment," arena to be overlooked: but still our efforts have been largely and almost coldly disregarded. We have begged and prayed them to close the public-houses on the Lord's day • but even the sanctity of that day has been laid aside—only barely acknowledging it by closing them for a few hours. You well remember only a few months ago how the people of Durham were treated when they made applicationfor it for their own county ? A large majority of their representatives were in favour of that bill (a fact sufficient in itself to prove the mind of the people). and accordingly it was brought into the House of Commons and passed right through to the "House of the Refiners "—the House of Lords, and even there passel the second reading ; but. when it came to the third, Lord Salisbury said, coldly enough, "that he did not think the people were ready for it. Lord Salisbury doesn't know the pain that those words sent to the hearts of righteous men neither is he aware of the disappointment they caused among the people of Durham, especially when they saw that it was also rejected. And this coldness has not only been manifest, Mr. Editor, among the Conservative party of that house; it tins even strikingly. been, marked in our friend, Mr. Gladstone. But more of this in my next letter.—Yours,