Temperance by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 14, 1881

Temperance.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

WHISKY REVENUE.

Not long ago a paragraph appeared in a morning paper as follows: "The municipal authorities of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, have refused to grant licenses to any tavern or saloon-keepers, hoping thus, by one bold stroke, to finish liquor drinking. Now, however, the serious question arises how to meet the expenses of the local government, which heretofore have been defrayed in large part by the fees and taxes paid by the liquor business."

We hope that the first part of the paragraph is true. As for the last part, the writer evidently evolved it from his inner consciousness, stimulated, doubtless, by an extra quantity of the proscribed article. No disinterested person would soberly make such an assertion.

Let us see what portion of a community usually derives benefit from the liquor traffic. Certainly it is not the class who spend all their earnings in saloons. No one will contend but that they would be better off if no liquor were sold. Their wives and children receive none of the revenue. This class, then, and it is a large one, must be counted out. The merchants, and real estate owners are not benefited, for, be it known, from this dram-drinking class comes a large army of paupers, insane persons, and criminals, to provide for which their property must be taxed. A pint of whisky, for which the government may derive a few cents' revenue, will often cause the commission of a crime which involves a loss to the State of a useful citizen, and several thousand dollars spent in prosecuting. The only ones who are benefited pecuniarily are the liquor sellers themselves. How can that benefit the municipal or State government which does not benefit the people themselves? Some folks seem to imagine that there is an entity called "the government," and that this is entirely distinct from the people. The facts, in brief, are these: The liquor traffic makes insane asylums, jails, and poor-houses necessary. Without it these could be almost entirely dispensed with. The government has to build and maintain these institutions, and does it with the revenue derived from the liquor traffic and the taxes of law-abiding citizens. That is, whisky partially pays its own expenses.

But facts are more convincing than theory, and the following from "a plea for prohibition," by Pres. A. G. Haygood, D. D., is to the point:—

"No county in Georgia had more still-houses and bar-rooms to the number of inhabitants than Carroll twenty years ago. Drinking places were not only to be found in the little towns, but also at the cross-roads and county places throughout the county. No more unfavorable place for the success of prohibition could have been selected than this country. It was settled by a class of citizens who regarded plenty of corn whisky and peach brandy essential to good living. Liquor was sold without scruple and drank without stint. Many of the people spent all their means, beyond a bare living, for strong drink. Education and churches were neglected. Ignorance and vice prevailed to such an alarming extent, that the very name of the county became a byword and reproach in the State. *

"In Carrollton the temperance men worked twelve years without success. In 1875 a bill was passed by the Legislature prohibiting the sale of liquor in the town.

"In spite of all opposition and abuse, the temperance men succeeded, and with results that are marvelous.

"The trade of the town has been more than doubled. Before the liquor traffic was abolished the trade of the place was about $200,000 a year, now it is $500,000 a year. There are thirty stores in town, and I do not know of a single merchant among them who would not vote against the liquor traffic on purely business grounds. Mr. John W. Stewart, who has made a fortune here, says, as a business man, that he would not have liquor back for any consideration. Some of our leading merchants were opposed to prohibition at first, because they feared that it would injure their trade. They are unanimously in favor of it now. The $30,000 that was spent here for whisky prior to 1875 is now spent in building houses, improving stock, draining lands, and paying taxes. The farmers are nearly all out of debt. Many of the men who were spending all their money for whisky have quit drinking and are making a support for their families."

The above is sufficient proof of the value of prohibition. No one need fear disastrous consequences from the suppression of the liquor traffic. "What has been done, can be done." If the statement in regard to Cedar Rapids be true, we predict for that city a career of unexampled prosperity. E. J. WAGGONER.