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i£l)c prison JUirrac. Yol. VII.— No. 7 For The Mii-rur. “The cup that cheers” and eke “inebriates,” Tiiat is not the cup for man when lie potates, For it surely o'ermasters him and never sates. All spirits addle pates And open wide the gates To Satan, who awaits With crafty baits Drink’s adept Down swept. Whose brains He chains. (Juick pass The glass; But stings It brings; Its joys Are cloys. And steal Your weal. Turn it down Ere it drown With sudden flood Your very life's blood. Beware the serpent’s tooth, It knows not any let nor ruth; 4t bites, and to assuage the pain / quick iuvites to try the bite again. Oli fatal bite! it’s poison dulls the brain And saps the juices that its thoughts sustain. A spirit, it broods o’er its nestlings of woe; A spirit that moves till you can not say no; A spirit that takes you afar from the ways That lead up to honor and merited praise: A spirit that reddens your eyes, cheeks and nose; A spirit that paints all things "couleurde rose:” A spirit whose wiles wife and children decrv; A spirit that quenches all hopes good and high. To conquer this spirit your spirit’s best shown As with voice and gesture you turn the cup down. Down! Turn it down! The now is your own, Down, firmly down, and earn victory’s crown. p THE LIQUOR QUESTION. Temperance is Universally Advocated. Prohibition has Many Enemies, And Some Friends. The manufacture of liquor in the form of a beverage containing alcohol, is one of the oldest of the arts. An art not to be despised in this century. Liquor in all its purity without being medicated or decocted is a beverage not to be despised. The only way to attack the liquor tratiic and be of any benefit to mankind, is to compel the manu facturers and dealers, under heavy penalities, to produce and sell only that which is chemically pure. Prohibitors and reformers could not attack liquor traffic in a more vulnerable point, or in a manner which would quicker do away with a large per centage of the miseries ■caused by alcoholic drink. Ossian. To-day America stands as the most powerful nation on the globe. Her in habitants are looked upon as the most enlightened people the world ever saw. And yet throughout it a traffic is carried on that is a blot on its bright and mag nificent history and a slur on the good name of the American people. In near ly every state and city in the Union the saloons are opened to the people of all classes and ages. The consequence is we find many a happy family is made misserable and poverty stricken, many a soul is languishing in hell, many a poor mortal is made to work behind prison walls. All these should prove to us that a great and more destructive danger is threatening the American people, than the Sherman law, or the silver question. R. E. T. Without a doubt intemperance is the greatest curse that the people of the nineteenth century have to contend with. The demoralizing intluence of this evil has been felt in every land, carrying with it sorrow, distress and even death. Like all evils not only the guilty suffer, but innocent women and children are also made to feel its sting. I would like to say a word in praise of those heroic women that have taken the field to fight this evil that threatens to de moralize all homes. In spite of the sneers and ridicule of the unthinking, they have fought and yet fight for the protection of their homes and children. That they will in the end be victorious there can be no doubt, for their cause is just and righteous, and righteousness will in the end prevail. Yon. . * . * * When used as a beverage or a mere pastime to fill up intervals caused by a temporary lull in the enjoyment of an TURN IT DOWN “ IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND.” STILLWATER, MINNESOTA, SEPTEMBER 21, 1893. evening, the evil effects of liquor are too well known to need comment. There comes an increased appetite for more frequent repetitions of the “bra cer/' and when this appetite assumes to control the will, it usually takes a manful struggle to overcome it. Be sides this mental conflict, there is a physical harm produced by over-indul gence. Why impose upon the stomach this unusual or unatural function, so foreign to the purpose for which it was created? Again there is a moral view of the question. Statistics tell us that drink and crime are closely related, and crime is only an abnormal out burst of immorality or ignorance. Yic. The prohibition of liquor by law is an absurd idea, not only because it has utterly failed to accomplish its ends but because it arouses an opposition of an aggravated kind to the restriction of the liquor traffic. The habit of stimu lating by liquor is so confirmed in our population that if the liquor traffic was suppressed, excitation would be ob tained by means of smuggled drugs more pernicious than liquor, which through their lesser bulk would more effectually defy control. If prohibition should temporarily conquer and be come law it would develope some sen sational modes of imbibition. I believe in freedom of will and the proper en forcement of all those restrictive laws we already have on our statute books. Prohibition will not give man willpow er to conquer, but will only tend to weaken man’s general respect for law. P. A. F. In my own mind I have often won dered why the anti-prohibition follow ers did not advocate the abolition of license upon intoxicating liquors and use as argument to sustain their posi tion, that “ moon shiners in the moun tains of Tennessee, Arkansas and Vir ginia plied their vocation regardless of the law.” Laws of all states are violated as “citizens” of this immediate locali ty can testify. Prohibition laws cer tainly fulfil their object as well as any on our statutes. The code of laws I think would be beneficial to the United States is: Any one making intoxicating liquors shall be hung by the neck until Any one handling intoxicating liquor, to be hung until dead: Any one intimating a desire to drink intoxi cating liquor, to be banished from the United States for life, and be compelled to serve as a Chinese missionary for ten years. Diamond Bessie. *** The desire for a stimulant at certain periods, is and has been universal throughout the world; the knowledge and means to satisfy this desire has been and is possessed by every race, savage, half-civilized, or civilized. The manufacture and consumption of liq uor as a stimulant has kept pace in a certain ratio, with the advancement and progress in civilization; whereas formerly this consumption or indul gence occurred only at certain inter vals, to-day it has grown into a habit and therein lies the great evil. That liquor has its beneficial uses is a well established fact; but, as in all other things, it should not be carried to ex tremes. The only feasible solution thus far adopted to counteract this growing evil has been the temperance movement; for prohibition will never accomplish it because its adherents deny anybody but themselves any voice or rights in the matter. Observer. From time immemorable the seething, burning, blighting; lava-tide of rum and its handmaid, corruption, has been belched forth from the crater of degra dation to overwhelm and destroy so ciety. It has been, is, and will be the curse of the individual, of society and the world. It ruins the body and soul and stultifies the mind; it debases those who use it and degrades those who as sociate with the users; it destroys the individual, his hopes, his aims, his am bition. It destroys his wealth, his repu- >' v. tation, his virtue and steeps him in a stagnant pool of vice and moral turpi tude. It - incites to debauchery and crime, creates more poverty and sup ports more social drones, (ills more jails and prisons, ruins more men and wo men, destroys more homes, more life and more property than any one other cause. It gives nothing in return. Look out upon the broad world and see poverty, distress and crime stalking gaunt and grim in its highways and by ways, trace their steps backward and you wiil find them leading to the grog shop or wine-glass. Leonardus. Liquor is a curse to mankind. A vampire that saps the blood and intel lect and leaves the body decayed before its prime. It has ruined thousands of men and made waste hundreds of homes. It is a necessary evil. The consumption of it cannot be* prevented. It has been tried but has never has its prohibition been sucessful. The stricter the laws against its sale the more eager men are to purchase it. They will resort to du plicity to secure the forbidden fruit juice. When men combat the prohibi tion of the sale of intoxicating liquors they are resisting an infringement made upon their rights. Any man has a right to do as he pleases with what is lawfully his. If he pleases to purchase liquor he has a right to do so. Laws will not prevent him from drinking it and getting drunk. The law has made drunkenness a crime, but it has not de creased the number of drunkards. In spite of the universal consumption of intoxicating liquors the world keeps progressing and mankind advancing along the path of progress does not seem one bit the worse for it. C. C. For the past year we have hacl noth ing but prohibition, and the evil effects of the liquor habit preached to us, and sung to us, and recited to us, by men, women and children; and it is a blessed relief to be able to send you a word “per contra.” The great and telling argument advanced by the prohibition ists is the sure and speedy death that will surely follow, and the short time it allows the victim to live. Men die of the liquor habit, to be sure, but as many more die of consumption. I assure you the large life insurance companies would rather have an inebriate on their roster, than one with a taint of consumption, even to the fourth generation. I hold that a person over 55 requires stimu lants occasionally; and in fact I know of an old gentleman in Philadelphia, 93 years of age, sits up far into the night occasionally and drinks his share of good old punch, and then attends to a large and prosperous business the fol lowing day. He has done this for over 50 years. Some day he will die, and then will the crank affirm, “he would have lived to be 200 had it not been for liquor.’,’ R. Xo child of ten years of age but un derstands that intemperance robs a man of health, that it causes poverty and degradation, that it means rags, misery and a grave in the potter's-field. On the other hand it is well known that sobriety means health, friendship, re spectability and happiness. As long as our boasted liberty is what it is we must let man choose. If to wallow in the gutter he will, wallow he must. This country holds out all sorts of in ducements for men to lead sober and respectable lives. Our people are sup posed to be intelligent enough to realize that the gutter is not the best place for a dwelling place. Those who persist in so doing show they have neither force of character nor self-respect, and the sooner they drink themselves into obliv ion the better for all, themselves in cluded. It may be said that to prevent a man from making a hog of himself is not curtailing his liberty, but I say it would be. “The right to do as you piease, as long as you please to do right” is not true liberty, “ but one man’s liber ty only stops where another man’s liber ty begins,” is the true definition. Sustol. Tcd ,, c . ( SI.OO per year, In advance, i lrms. ) yj x Mouths 50 Cents. Seven hundred million dollars spent annually for intoxicating liquors! What degradation, sin and misery this produces! How many families does it leave on the brink of starvation ? How many wives, mothers and sisters have shed tears of sorrow through this cause ? How many are brought to an untimely grave? Ilow many weary years of toil are spent behind prison wall, either di rectly or indirectly, through drink? And still this goes on and is recognized by the government. Ten cents buys a pound of meat and the cost of two drinks would pay for a pound of butter. What joy and happiness this seven mil lions of hard earned dollars would give to all if it was spent in good food and clothing and proper enjoyment. How bright and cheerful the home will be—- how many prison would become ruins for the want of inmates ? May the day soon come that this evil wilf be eradi cated from the face of the earth. A contributor to The Mirror has said that men drink to get up the requisite courage to commit crime. Is a man filled with liquor a sane man? Would he commit the act if filled with water? Emphatically no. Brigham. Intemperance, coupled as it always is with lewdness, are the Siamese twins of the powers of darkness. Together they form a coalition that is next to omnipotent for evil. They drag down to the dust what is noblest and best in man and womankind and pollute even the babe in the cradle. Is it a wonder then that women, defenseless and unpro tected against the most abject humilia tion and degradation, should join in de manding the withdrawal of sanction by the law of the liquor traffic? Xor should the cause of temperance be ex clusively a woman's movement. For no home is secure against the inroads of this all-pervading evil. Xo man who truly loves his wife and children should refuse to lend his aid toward the sup pression of so much heartache, sorrow and want. The traditional respectability of old-time and old world hostelries has long ago departed and the liquor traffic has passed into hands altogether un principled and solely bent upon coining golden nuggets out of the tears and miseries of its most innocent victims. Hence there would be no injustice done were these panders to vice compelled to seek pastures new or change their vocation of dealing out liquid damna tion to something more honorable. St. Crispin. The worst foe we have in this day is strong drink that flutters the pulse and poisons the brain. Time was when a man might have wine on his table, and as good men as ever lived practiced that custom all their lives and have gone in to glory sitting down to drink new wine ixi our Father’s kingdom a wine that never intoxicates. But that day is passed. In this day the line is so throughly drawn that there are but too sides; the men who are for rum and the men who are against it. We cannot afford to sit on the fence for either this side or that side will pull us over. .Now let us not stop to discuss this question, for the liquor traffic is an evil that is against God, the aggresive enemy of his church and the greatest impediment to the triumph of right eousness in this world. Do not tempo rize with such a monster, nor seek to reform it. License gives it prestige and power. While it lives it will grow. Throw your wine flask out of the win dow and till your demijohns with kero sene oil and turpentine. Our only great hope for the salvation of the land from strong drink, and for the redemption of the nation from this evil habit, is to resolve to be firm teetotallers and on teetotal ground stand. Touch not, taste not, handle not. A. A. W. Jaggson: Drinking don’t do me any good. I feel as if I want a drink, ana I take it. Then I find 1 don’t want it. Dryer: Well, what do you want? Jaggson: Why, another one, of course! — World's Fair Puck.