Why Should Christians Oppose the Liquor Traffic?
By C. P. Bollman
CHRISTIANS should themselves have nothing to do with the liquor traffic, because to engage in a traffic that can flourish only at the expense of its patrons, is morally wrong. The dealer in intoxicating liquors gives no valuable return for what he receives. That which he deals out to his customers is worse than useless to them; therefore the traffic is dishonest and immoral. As a citizen, the Christian should oppose the liquor traffic because it robs and destroys not only its immediate patrons, but their families. The slave to alcohol consumes upon himself that which should be spent upon his family. He impoverishes both himself and his wife and children, and in this way imposes a burden upon the community. The sober and industrious are taxed for the support of those who are brought to poverty through the saloon. Disease and crime are not only increased, but they are multiplied, because of the liquor traffic. Courts, prisons, asylums, hospitals, and orphanages must be established and maintained because of the terrible work of the liquor traffic. Therefore the individual citizen, whether he is a Christian or a non-Christian, for the good of the community, for the good of the poor victims of drink, for the sake of their families, and for the sake of his own peace of mind and the protection of his own home, ought to oppose, in every honorable and legitimate way, the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages. It is a mistake to urge that the civil law should deal with the liquor traffic because it is morally wrong. It is wrong, but so are many things of which the state cannot take cognizance. The state should deal with the liquor question from the purely civil standpoint; and there are abundant civil reasons demanding the legal suppression of the traffic. C. P. BOLLMAN.