Temperance by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Nov 9, 1882

Temperance.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Does It Pay?

SALOON men, and papers published in the interest of whisky, never tire of recounting the wondrous benefits which the country receives from the whisky revenue. Innumerable “charities” such as jails, poor-houses, insane asylums, etc., are supported by this benefactor of the race, and the wheels of government would certainly stop if there were no whisky revenue to rely on. In-deed, it is claimed that the country owes the most of its prosperity to this source, and it has been actually declared that utter financial ruin would follow the stoppage of the liquor traffic. Many persons not directly connected with the sale of the vile stuff, and even those who call themselves temperance men, have been deceived by these groundless assertions, and oppose prohibition. While they acknowledge that whisky is a great evil, and that it brings untold suffering upon the people, they feel so “public spirited” that they do not want to see the country deprived of the revenue which it brings.

Now this question of the benefit to be derived from whisky can be settled in few words. There is no doubt about the fact that the manufacture of liquor brings a great amount of revenue into the public treasury. But let us make a few inquiries. Who pays this revenue? The liquor dealers, of course; it is in this manner that they show themselves such good supporters of the government. Where does the money come from with which they pay this revenue? It comes from the sale of the liquor. Do they give the government all the money which they derive from the sale of liquor? Any child would know that they do not; no business could be carried on if the taxes exceeded the income; the money paid into the treasury as revenue is but a small portion of that received from the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. What do the liquor-dealers do with the vast sums which they receive as the profits of their business, and which they do not pay into the public treasury? They use it to buy handsome residences for themselves; in the purchase of silks and diamonds and gorgeous apparel; in maintaining elegant equipages; and in providing all the delicacies that the market affords, in order that they may fare sumptuously every day. They use it also in purchasing votes and controlling political conventions, so that the government is administered, not in the interest of right and justice, but to the advancement of their own personal interest. Again, Where does the money come from for all this? It comes from the people who purchase the liquor, most of whom depend on their daily labor for their support. Then all the liquor-dealers expend, including not only that which they lavish upon themselves, but also that which they grudgingly pay to the government, as revenue, comes from the people, from those who do not deal in liquor except to purchase and drink it, does it not? It certainly does. And if they did not pay this money into the liquor-dealers' till, they could afford to give for the support of government, twice as much as the whisky men give, and have a handsome sum left for themselves, could they not? Indeed they could. Then how does it appear that these whisky men are benefactors of the government? It does not appear at all; on the contrary, they are robbers of the people, and consequently robbers of the government, for this government is of, for, and by, the people.

The whole talk of the liquor traffic being a benefit to the country is mere cant. The man who systematically steals from his neighbors, and who, for every thousand dollars that he steals, pays ten dollars for foreign missions, may be called a generous man by those who do not know how he comes by his money; but others would call him by his true name, a thief. The law would soon put a stop to his generosity, and everybody would say that it was justified in so doing. Even so the strong arm of the law should be put forth to stop that gigantic system of robbery and murder—the accursed liquor traffic. I have considered it only from a money standpoint, and found that it doesn't pay. The vast amount of suffering—poverty, hunger, nakedness, insanity, and crimes too horrible to mention—that it causes, cannot be computed. How long will the people deceive themselves, and passively submit to such oppression?

E. J. W.