An appeal to the people for the suppression of the liquor traffic : a prize essay / by H.D. Kitchel.

  • Kitchel, H. D. (Harvey Denison), 1812-1895.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An appeal to the people for the suppression of the liquor traffic : a prize essay / by H.D. Kitchel. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    argument, persuasion, personal influence, and legal restriction. They are the parts of an entift scheme of action. Let our onset be simultaneous on both wings of the foe, bringing Law to bear on the Traffic, and Moral Suasion on the Vice—Restric- tion for the vender and Persuasion for his victims. Who is Responsible for the Continuance of the Traffic ? Not those alone who cordially desire and directly sustain it. The responsibility rests also on those who detest it and desire its overthrow, from the moment it comes into their power to destroy it by any legitimate means, by any measure of exertion not tran- scending the demands of the case. So soon and so far as the friends of Temperance gain the power to wrest perverted Law from the grasp of Intemperance and turn it on the foe, they are bound to do it. Neglecting this, they too are chargeable with the continued Traffic. Restrictive legislation against this pernicious business has long since, as we shall presently see, received abundant warrant. Our duty lies in the same direction. It is to urge forward the plan of prohibition, long ago sanctioned and very partially ap- plied, just as fast and far as possible—to follow closely up every measure of change in the public sentiment with new measures of prohibition, and embody every degree of reformed opinion in new legal restrictions. If at any time the Traffic is so deeply entrenched in the popular infatuation that it cannot be wholly put down, let the Law stand at the utmost practicable advance, yielding the least that it may, and that only to necessity. We are bound to carry our restraints continually up to the point where the popular delusion meets us with superior force, and compels us to desist. There is but one position we can inno- cently occupy in relation to this Traffic, that of uncompromising hostility, of ceaseless, utmost opposition. It is a baleful and God-forbidden buisness, and we have no sanction, no permission, nor any such thing to give it. If others have the heart and the strength to sustain it, we must endure it—but only because we must, and only while we must—instantly as it becomes possible for us, we will push new and stringent restrictions, up, fully up, to our power, and prohibit it wholly the moment we are able. Only as we hold this position are we guiltless of the Traffic. While we hold any other relation to it than this, what con-