Newspaper Page Text
PAGE TWENTY
(Emtingtott Nftua
PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
Official Organ of Newton County and of the City of Covington
FRANK REAGAN, Editor and Publisher.
A. S. ADAMS, Superintendent.
.COVINGTON, GEORGIA, OCTOBER 20, 1915.
.
ROLL CALL OF EXTREMISTS
' We are called extremists. The big daily papers of Geor¬
gia so term the W. C. T. U., the Anti-Saloon League leaders,
and all who favor or are fighting the radical prohibition meas¬
ures passed by the Georgia Senate last summer.
In so naming us, you do distinguish us and place us in the
hall of fame along with the immortals of all times.
History and biography do not give the least space or at¬
tention to any deeds but the extreme deeds nor to any persons
but extremists
Every war was waged by extremists, and yet most na¬
tions have reached their highest destiny only through such
conflicts.
The physician does something very extreme when he lit¬
erally pours other poisons into the stomach of the man who
has already taken poison, to counteract tjie effect of the lat¬
ter which would otherwise be fatal.
It is an extreme measure resorted to when a person’s
limb is amputated, but the amputation saves the patient’s
life and the results justify the measure
Sometimes very desperate steps have to be taken by men
of medicine in their efforts to save life; even whole organs of
the body may have to be removed.
Desperate illness demands desperate remedies. When
the body’s blood has long been poisoned and been constantly
conveying its poisons to every nook and corner of the body,
the latter can never be healed and have the poison eradicated
without suffering much pain for a time. The body may grow
thin, the face become pail, and the muscles weak, but it is
all for the body’s ultimate good.
It is doubtless true that, when the whiskey has perme¬
ated our whole body politic and deposited its poisonous salts
into all the body’s joints and made them rheumatic, and
poisoned the life stream flowing through the arteries of al¬
most every calling—the eradication of this evil may make
the body politic temporarily appear more diseased than w T hen
the poison flowed freely on its way unimpeded. This, how¬
ever, is but the pain produced by the antidote which must be
administered.
But when the last traces of the poison have been driven
out, the body has blood bounding with life buoyant and ab¬
undant far beyond anything ever known in the whiskey days.
And history is filled with illustrations of this truth, and
the history now in the making is daily adding volumes to
such illustrations.
Vodka vanishes from Russia and a new Russia arises
and is aroused to the self-consciousness of her greatness and
her possibilities.
Absinthe absents itself from Paris very reluctantly and
the world awakes to see a nation, supposed to be the most
gay and fickle, show' itself the most stable and reliable
And a law forbidding public treating reduces the liquor
traffic in Britain.
Why do not these newspapers which oppose prohibition
place this question on the same plane with the question of
the suppression of the traffic in opium, cocaine, and other dead¬
ly habit-forming drugs?
There is but one answer; it is because there is no ques¬
tion of the suppression of the traffic in the drugs. There is
no disagreement about that
This much is admitted by even the most rabid hater of
prohibition, and the prohibitionist is in complete accord with
him in these respects:
1. That cocaine, opium and such substances enslave
their pitiful victims and often degrade them to the level of
beasts.
2. That the habitual use of intoxicating liquors so en¬
slaves its victims that they too are often degraded to the level
of beasts.
3. That the victims of drink so far outnumber the drug
victims that the difference is almost beyond the power of fig¬
ures to compute or the power of the imagination to fancy.
Allowing that a few of the very worst cases of the drug
victims may present a more revolting spectacle than the
worst cases of the drink victims, when the victim’s mere per¬
sonal appearance and the effect of his habits on him alone is
considered.
4. That the extreme legislation which has been enacted
against the sale of narcotics and opiates was proper and should
be rigidly enforced. We take it for granted that the daily
newspapers approve this law for the reason that we have
found nothing to the contrary in their columns.
Only this far will the fighters against prohibition
go with us. But, to the unprejudiced reasoner, as plainly as
night follows the day, just so surely and inescapably follows:
5. Extreme legislation suppressing the traffic in intox¬
icating liquors is proper and is demanded by the conditions
Here is the chain of reasoning in a nut shell:
1. “Dope’’ is a terrible evil; 2, Drink is an even more
deadly evil: 3, Destroy “Dope”; 4, Destroy Drink.
How strange, you ask, that even those opposing prohib¬
ition will take the first three steps with us and refuse to go
all the way and to take the fourth and most severely logical
step.
There is a reason why “Dope” has no friends and the
friends of Drink are legion; the number who indulge in drink
is almost infinitely greater than the number who are “Dope
fiends.” This greater number of consumers demands a great¬
er number of dispensers to supply them. And such a great
THE COVINGTON NEWS, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1915.
number of producers- and dealers consequently wield a great¬
er influence in an effort to create or combat a public opinion.
Such numbers represent much money and political pow r er,
but the latter is rapidly waning and:the former is not so rap
inly increasing as it once was. •
Attack the vilest evil in existence, and, if that evil is the
stock in trade of any large number of people, you will have a
desperate fight on your hands before you conquer it.
And those who oppose you will shout that they too des¬
pise the evil but fight for “the- principle.”
We extremists admit that “we like our company,” to
quote the words of one of the daily liquor advocates about its
friends among those professing to be prohibitionists
We would here mention a few of .the extremists who stalk
like giants through the pages of Holy Writ:
OUR SAVIOR HIMSELF; from the standpoint of the
world, who ever uttered a more extreme saying than this:
“Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.”
—John 2: 19.
ABRAHAM; to his son Isaac, when God had commanded
Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice:
“My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt
offering ”—Genesis 22: 8.
DAVID; when a mere child, to Goliah, the giant:
“This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and
I will smite thee and take thine head from thee; and I will
give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto
the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth.”—
I Samuel, 17: 46.
ISAIAH; thq seer, of grand imagery and sublime ideas,
accounts for his power of eloquent prophecy by telling that
a seraphim, bearing in his hand a live coal from off the altar,
flew to Isaiah.
‘And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath
touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin
is purged. - ’—Isaiah 6:7.
JOB:
“And, though, after my skin, worms destroy this body,
yet in my flesh 1 shall God.”—Job 19:26.
PAUL: ... -t
“I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necces
sities, in persecutions, in distress for Christ’s sake; for when I
am weak then I am strong.”—II Corinthians 12:10
SOLOMON:
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever
is decievved thereby is not wise.”—Proverbs 20:1.
And secular history is filled with the work of extremist*:
Newton, building the theory of the laws of gravitation
from observing the fall of an apple.
The foolish young man Franklin, flying a kite to catch
the lightning from the skies
We remember w'hen we ourselves thought with the world
of Marconi as a harmless but useless visionary. And now
the very winds waft wireless words over the world in tribute
to him for his service.
Pity the person whose principle and whose practice do not
so possess him that he is willing to pursue it’s consummation
to the utmost extreme.
State Senator John D. Walker so says. He says he is
sure that the majority of the people of Georgia want the Gen¬
eral Assembly in the coming extra session in November to
pass the most drastic prohibition measures.
Further on in his - card published in a Sunday paper
he says he thinks these new and drastic prohibition measures
should be passed with a proviso submitting them to a vote of
the people for ratification.
What for? What does he desire to learn from such a
vote that does not already know?
He who sincerely and genuinely wants a thing wants it
right now- If he wants it, why should he wish to wait for it
until the people tell him whether they want it?
For our part, if every other man in our community desir¬
ed to carry a pistol, we would be just as anxious for a law to
prevent his doing so as if every man wanted such a law.
We want intoxicants of every character kept from people
just as strongly, whether a majority of people desire it or
want to banish it. If we can secure our wishes for its banish¬
ment without a vote by all the people, we want it in that way.
The very men, so-called prohibitionists, who want a vote
of the people, all say they believe the majority vote would
favor prohibition.
Then why do they seek the vote? The only reason they
give is, that, when the p^4c^>^e j^^pstain a law, there will
be a better respect for th : ^’ law andenforcement of the law
When did these people come to have such a solicitous con¬
cern for the enforcement of the law ? The very papers which
voice such expressions have themselves been parties to the
violation of the spirit of the law 7 at least, in carrying in their
columns whiskey advertisements, inviting Georgia people to
buy whiskey of non-resident concerns to be shipped into
Georgia.
There can be but two sides to this question. The most
ingenious and side-stepping politician cannot find any middle
ground. A man is either for or against whiskey.
If he is against the stuff, he wants to see it eliminated
everywhere, and the very taste for it lost; he who does not
wish to see it disappear altogether, but would regulate the
traffic in it, must, .still have'either or both some regard or taste
for it; and so he cannot be a prohibitionist but belongs to the
beer band and is loyal to liquor.
Then there is he who says that he would keep liquor but
would abolish the saloon. Why does he want to keep it ? There
can be but one use, for .somebody to drink it. And, as long as
great quantities of liquor are consumed, the saloons or substi¬
tutes will be the places where the greatest portion of it is con¬
sumed
The student of the situation cannot escape the truth that
the very stuff itself degrades and debauches to its low!
level everthing it touches. °*n
Men engage in the business of dealing in it and i
they may never drink a drop of it, they th ° Ugl1 ’
soon come to ’ 'n parta ^
of of its its nature, nature, misbranding. misbranding, adulterating adulterating, cheating . i ke
bribing if possible to their bold, n yt^\
character if such secure in inconsiderate of lfe °
are their way to block their PU1 r '
break their power.
In its very death agony in Charleston it used violen
murder in the vain effort to perpetuate its power. i(eancl l
In Chicago it makes threats against those who mt
see that it no nonger shall defy the state statutes. ^ to
Its every touch is tainting. ___i
The liquor power knows practical politics, i t know.
many voters would stay away from the polls in a prohibV
election the same as in any other election. It knows m ]
its crowds will be sure to vote its full force, and its mon
vote others. ..... - v ’’^
many .
And, if it but reflects, it also knows that, no mutter ’ >
the would vote be would a result, long time there would ripening. be evil eff orts whose bitten!*!^ f r T
Personal
would be engenderd, families possibly estranged, and
aroused never yet which been the election years might this only intensify; for thZ'T'*
an on question which did n ' i 1,1
duee these fruits.
DELAY THE DAY OF WRATH'
Prohibitionist Senator Walker also says that the
laws to be enacted should new
not go into effect for several
months, so the brewers and dealers may prepare for thnir
going into effect. UI
This cannot but mean, so that they may have that much
longer to make and sell their concoction.
This means he same thing as to say to the man who has
his gun drawn on the burglar, until he can gu through
latter also has in hand: your
a gun
“Delay shooting the burglar, until he can go through your
house and see what he wants, or maybe he can shoot
Don’t have little regard for you.
so him at to shoot him. He’s
human just like you.”
Ilere s an institution daily destroying character and lives
and homes and all values, robbing us of things of such high
value that a mere burglar of the ordinary kind has no use for
them, robbing an infinitely more valuable home, the temple
and abiding place of the Holy Spirit himself; with his gun
ready to slay the very keeper of the house himself, the hu¬
man brain; and there steps to his lawless side a lawmaker
himself, pleading that we allow this outlaw to shoot or rob
this one more house before we destroy him.
The Macon Telegraph says that it is untrue that the in¬
vestment in these breweries, etc., represents an illegal bus¬
iness, that the state by its law 7 recognized them in providing
a tax for them.
i he state has never legalized a single brewery now op¬
erating in Georgia by laying a tax on it since the enactment
of the present prohibition laws.
The State provided a tax on “near beer.” The Telegraph
knows the prohibition act intended to prevent the manufac
tuie and sale of any beverage whose use would intoxicate, and
taxing “near beer’ was taxing a drink which was not an in¬
toxicant.
There is now no such thing as “near beer” and nobody
makes it. At first, when the general prohibition law was
passed, these breweries were never dismantled or ceased long
to opeiate. For a brief time they weakened their beer in a
pi (Tended compliance with the law, and beer drinkers were
not satisfied w r ith the resulting drink.
So the out-of-the-State breweries began to stock the
jh ai beei saloons with real beer, and “near beer” ceased
to be, and Georgia breweries faced the alternative of being
loiced to quit or meet the oiff-of-Georgia competition by de
lying the lav. and making real beer. They did the latter and
returned to their old business so briefly interrupted by be¬
ing merely outlawed.
So that now all, those made in our state and elesevvhere,
aie sc much alike that some established brands have to dis¬
tinguish theirs in advertising it by calling attention to its
colored bottles.
Outlaws are never warned by the officers when they in
‘ in to raid them and their rendezvous. Neither may the
^lawless breweries, etc., expet to be given any days of grace.
HERE it is.
A1manv ‘‘ays and nights of
la, ’ or - OUr Foiiveiition Edition is out.
"e shall not offer apologies for its
■’aolts, though it is not what ««■ wool 1
oke to ha\e it
1: " ! ' ve enjoyed tin- work of
I it lulling for il. Vn-.l a ’letsoii never
laid more inspiring co-workers than
tlie noble women with whom we have
toiled in this enterprise.
It leads us to the conclusion that
even toil most exacting and involving
tlie most severe strain becomes a pleas¬
ure when the toil is in some worthy
cause which we allow to take pos¬
session of our very selves, excluding
everything less worthy and so elevat¬
ing tis to rare heights.
Rut that this edition has as many
good features as it 1ms and that they
are made to present as attractive ap¬
pearance as they do is due to tlie men
who have worked in tlie office early
and late to this end.
There is Mr. Adams, tlie Superinten¬
dent. who knows tin* art of making
tilings look pretty in print and of do¬
ing many other tilings. There is no
sham about his make-ups.
And Mr Wellborn’s is “the hand
(hat keeps (he world informed,' at
tlie Linotype machine. The vast
amount of matter was set by him on
the machine.
And Mr. Ningquefleld has French ia
his name, but says lie is neutral. I* 11 '
press has been feeding out of his
hour after hour.
No finer team ever pinyul the g- ia)e
played it better, and our H,ll ' er
or
owe them a great debt.
And grateful also to a *
we are ,l1
contributors and advertisers "
.
generously aided in pioduiing
paper.
METIIOuIST WEEK NOVEMBER OF pR * U ^“
WILL BE •
Week of prayer will b<‘
Methodist church o» • *
the „
the 7th to the 13th, at »
afternoon. d help
aid All are furtherance requested t0 of “V-hrisf*
the tg!s
dom in Japan and among
on our western shores.
“(Jo ye into all the w°i 1 •
the gospel to every 11,1
16:15.
