PROHIBITION.
The principal arguments with which temper
ance reformers are confronted are :
First. That Prohibition does not prohibit,
Second. That under a license system the
law will have control of the traffic and a great
revenue will be derived from rum.
Third. “Sumptuary laws.”
Never in the world were there three more
untenable or absurd positions. Let us proceed
to see why.
First. No Prohibitionist, knowing fully the
nature of the subject which he is treating, claims
that Prohibition does away entirely with the use
of intoxicants. It would be a falsehood were I
to say that in the Prohibition states of Maine,
lowa, and Kansas there is no liquor drunk.
But may I inquire who are the persons
that drink it. Is it the class of old drinkers
which enlisted in the army of inebriates
long before Prohibition was established, or
is it the class of young men which are usually
enticed into a saloon ? I think the anti-prohibi
tionists will concede that it is the former class.
There is no legislation that will prevent a man
from drinking who will take the shoes from his
feet or the tools from his workshop and sell them
to satisfy the craving of his demon appetite.
But there is legislation that will protect the
boys and youth of our land from being victimi
zed by the gay allurements of intemperance.
A strict prohibitory law with penalties at
tached to it will remove the cause of intemperance,
and thus the young man who lays the foun
dation of his ruin by occasionally taking
a drink with his friend (?) because he is
invited, rather than because he wants it, will be
spared the temptation. It : s true there will be
liquor sold, to the ‘ rum-soaked” inebriate
regardless of any law, yet the dealer will not
risk the young man, who would not act so prud
ently in case of need. The objection that Pro
hibition does not prohibit is no argument against
THE FREE LANCE.
Prohibition. It does prohibit, and at the right
Second. Two things are sought for in li
censing the sale of liquor. In fact only one is
sought for, the other is only a pretension. The
thing that is actually sought for is the tax, the
thing pretended is to give the license to none
but respectable citizens.
I think, in fact I know, many persons are
led into the belief that a great tax is accumula
ted in this manner. Leaving out the fact that it
is a tax accumulated from a sinful thing and
from the blood of the innocent, we. have con
clusive proofs in our court registers, peniten
tiaries, insane asylums, and poorhouses, that
there is more money expended on trials and to'
keep these institutions up than there is derived
from this system of taxation, besides the misery
and tears that it costs.
High license will not stop the drinker, and
it does not effect the seller ; another bucket of
water to the barrel will make up for the extra
license. All the retailer has to do is to be a little
more enterprising in seducing weak men and
thoughtless boys into his den. He makes it up
by the ruin of a few more than he would have
been content with without it. High license gives
more life to the business. Makes the dealer
more enthusiastic.
I repeat. The manufacturers and dealers
have it their own way. The poor victim must
have it, and will have it, no matter what the
price may be. Price is nothing to him. Food
for himself, clothing, shelter, and fuel—when a
man can part with all these for rum—it makes no
difference to him what the price may be. He
will have it.
One should be ashamed to speak about the
pecuniary aspect of the trade with the degrada
tion it brings before him, but there are those
who cannot be reached in any other way but the
dollar and cent way.
When the people of this glorious country of
ours were fighting for their liberation from the