Year: 1874

little weight to experience and well
established facts It is q common
| thing for certain grades of mind to be
governed by desire and not by reason.
II Is from this class of PERSONS that
drunkards are made. The man who is
capable of reasoning from cause to
effect, and who is governed by reason
rather than impulse and desire, will
not be a drunkard. The road leading
to drunkenness and degradation is not
an unknown one. Every observing
person knows where it is located-its
starting point, its direction, and its
terminus. And yet thousands upon
thousands enter upon that road annu-
ally. Why? Because facts and expert
ence weigh nothing with them. They
baye seen the cup, they have tasted it,
| and they have been pleased with its
effects. The qualification of selfish
desire blinds their eyes to the terrible
results attending such gratifca-
ton. .Ez.- -.sf.


$50 it is with many who shun this
road toruin and who would have 9TH


ers shun it, Without stopping to


inquire as to what they can do. they
declare that they will compel men not


to travel on that road. They do not
consider their ability, or the means at


their disposal. They rush into the work


with zeal, but not with discretion.
Stern facts and convincing experience
| weigh nothing against blind zeal; and


the weak minded zealots are always
| proseriptive. The moment any one


calls halt for reflection, he is de-


nounced as '.whiskeyite, "rumsuck-


er," or something Of the sort. Igno-


rance and prescription are twins, aud


they are never separated. Now, why
| not reason and reflect as to the best
method to be adopted in the treatment
| of the liquor traffic? Does any sane


mind need additional or more conclu-
| sive evidence that the traffic cannot be
| suppressed by a single enactment of


that subject worth nothing? Why ig


have been tried and failed in every in


stance? Can any real good be gained by
by rushing madly into errors which


have been exposed by experience?


| Public sentiment is the source from


whence our laws are derived. and it is


we'll to consult that sentiment when


laws are made; for every one must
| know that statutes cannot be enforced
| against public sentiment. This has
been fully demonstrated in the enact


ment of laws by different States for the
| prohibition or regulation of the liquor


traffic. We have to-day in Ohio just


as good a prohibitory law as any legis-
| lature could frame and adopt; but it is


not, and cannot be enforced. Still,
there are many men in Ohio who are


clamoring for a ''prohlbitory law. !"
| They seem TO think that law upon


the statute book will close the saloons


whether there are any persons to en-


force that law or not.


| with knowledge of the fact that
prohibitory laws have everywhere
| failed to stop the traffic in Intoxicating
drinks; and with the additional fact
| that they have proved, and are proving


a de; dieter upon statute books, ope-
| rating as license for any and every


person to sell ardent-spirits when and


where they please, is it not time for
| sensible men and women to inquire as


to what can be done, and not continue


to waste their energies in efforts TO


accomplish impossibilities? fprohibi
| tory laws can not be enforced, and ex-
| perience demonstrates that such is the
fact, what can be done to restrain in-


temperance and finally eradicate the


evil? This is the practical question


for temperance men and women to


consider 1t is our belief that the best
results can be reached through rigid
| license system Such law can be en-
| forced, and it would result in very


materially reducing the number of pla-


ces where Intoxicating drinks could be
| had. 1t would reduce the saloons to
| about one tenth their present number
| it would insure responsible persons as
proprietors of those saloons; it would
| rob the traffic of its political power; it


would gradually stimulate the growth


of temperance sentiments and habits;
| and the result would be redemption
from the evils which now attend the
traffic. We do not claim that all these
benefits would flow from a license law
Immediately upon its adoption, but we
do believe that it would gradually aud
certainly carry public sentiment for


ward to the point where prohibition
| would be possible rsu