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Evils of the Drug and Liquor Traffic
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fostered by the children of debauchery and crime infect the sons and
daughters of refined and cultured households.
There is no one whose interests the liquor traffic does not imperil.
There is no one who should not do everything possible to destroy it.
Above all other places having to do with secular interests only,
legislative halls and courts of justice should be free from the curse of
intemperance. Governors, senators, representatives, judges, people
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who enact and administer a nation’s laws, people who hold in their
hands the lives, the reputation, the possessions of other humans,
should be persons of strict temperance. Only thus can their minds be
clear to discriminate between right and wrong. Only thus can they
possess firmness of principle and wisdom to administer justice and
show mercy.
But how does the record stand? Many of these authority figures
have their minds beclouded, their sense of right and wrong confused,
by strong drink. Many are the oppressive laws enacted, many the
innocent persons condemned to death through the injustice of drink-
ing lawmakers, witnesses, jurors, lawyers, and even judges. Many
there are, “mighty at drinking wine,” and “men valiant for mixing
intoxicating drink,” “who call evil good, and good evil,” “who jus-
tify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous
man.” Of such God says:
“As the fire devours the stubble,
And the flame consumes the chaff,
So their root will be as rottenness,
And their blossom will ascend like dust;
Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 5:20-24.
The honor of God, the stability of the nation, the well-being of
the community, of the home, and of the individual, demand that
every possible effort be made to arouse the people to the evil of
intemperance. Soon we shall see the result of this terrible evil as
we do not see it now. Who will put forth a determined effort to halt
the work of destruction? As yet the contest has hardly begun. Let