Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1895 — Bob Ingersoll on Whiskey. [ARTICLE]

Bob Ingersoll on Whiskey.

The following wonderful piece of word painting has been frequently published, but is so good as to be worth many repetitions Col. R. G. Ingersoll, in addressing a jury in a case which involved the man ufacture of alcohol, made the following terrible arraignment of the demon: “I am aware that there is a prejudice against any man who mans ufactures alcohol. I believe that from the time it issues from the coiled and poisonous worm in the distillery until it empties into the ■ aws of death, dishonor and crime, that it demoralizes everybody who touches it, from its source to where it ends. Ido not believe anybody can contemplate the object without being prejudiced against the liquor crime,

All ws have to do, gentlemen, is to think of the wrecks on either bank of the stream of death, of .the suicides, of the insanity of the ignorance, of the destitution, of the little children tugging at the faded and wittered breasts of weeping and despairing mothers, of wives asking for bread, of the men of genius it has wrecked, the m( n struggling with imaginary. serpents, produced by t'us devilish thing, a d when yon think ot the jails, the almshouses, of the asylums, of the prisons, if the scaffoi ls upon either bank, I do not wonder teat every thoughtful man is prejudiced apainst this damned stufF called alcohol. Intemperance cuts down youth in its vigor.mstbood in its strength, old age in its weaKnes*. It breaks the father’s heart, bereaves the doting moth r, extinguishes natural affectiqn, erases conjugal love, blots out Alia’ attachment, bligiits parental hope, brings down mourn* ing age in sorrow to tlie grave. J t or duces wpakness, not strength; sickness, not health; dea+h, not life, it makes wives widows, children orphans, fathers fiends, and all of them paupers. It feeds rheumatism, invites cholera, im ports pestilence and embraces consumption. It covers the land witli idleness, misery and crime. It fills your jails, supplies your almshouses and demands your asvlums. It erg( nders controversies, fosters quarrels and cherishes riots. It crowds your penitentiaries and furnishes victims for your scaffolds. It is the lifeblood of the gambler, the element of the burglar, the prop of the highwayman and support of the midnight incendiary. It countenances the liar, respects the thief, esteems the blasphemer. It violates obligation, reverences fraud and honors infamy. It defames benevolence, hates love, scorns virtue and slanders innocence. It incites the father to butcher his helpless offspring,