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GLEANINGS IN KEE CULTURE. 



June 1. 



THOSE UNDERDRAINS, ONCE MORE. 



On the 15th of May it began to rain steadily 

 at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and I am told 

 that it did not stop a " minute " for between 50 

 and 60 hours. It did not rain very hard any of 

 the time — that is, not as hard as it did a year 

 ago; but there was more or legs water falling 

 all the time. My heart went down as I saw 

 our cultivated fields getting more or less satu- 

 rated, and settling down like a brick. Our 

 creek bottom was flooded, and our strawberries 

 were under water, more or less of them, for 

 over 48 hours; but they seem to have stood it 

 pretty well. It was a comfort to me to watch 

 the underdrains as they steadily poured out 

 their surplus. The quantity of water was not 

 sufficient to wash out the fertility, as it did a 

 year ago, and the ground is drying up faster. I 

 was wondering how friend Terry managed to 

 get in his potatoes, and have every thing exact- 

 ly right, as he so strongly urges. I guess he is 

 having a little trouble too, for he says, in one 

 of his letters: 



We are having a terrible rain. It would be hard- 

 er to carry Huber across my potato-field to day than 

 it was in the swamp. T. B. Terry. 



Hudson, O., May 17. 



Our plant-beds come in quite beautifully just 

 now. The paths are all from four to eight 

 inches below the surface of the soil in the beds, 

 and so we have the most complete underdrain- 

 age and overdrainage. But I suspect it saps 

 the fertility of the soil to be leached so contin- 

 uously. Our onions that were started under 

 glass just seem to laugh at so much rain. The 

 temperature, too, was low, hardly varying from 

 45 to .50 degrees; but notwithstanding this, the 

 onions made about the biggest growth in 48 

 hours I ever noticed. Tomatoes, and all tender 

 vegetation, just about stood still— that is, the 

 tops did; but I rather think they were making 

 roots some. But many of the hardy plants, 

 especially those that love great quantities of 

 water, made a wonderful growth — such as 

 asparagus, rhubarb, onions, and some of the 

 most robust varieties of strawbenies. 



THE GOVERNMENT AND THE LIQUOR BUSI- 

 NESS. 



IS OUR GOVERNMENT A PARTNER IN IT? ARE 



■WE IN DANGER OF BEING DI.SLOYAL TO 



OUR GOVERNMENT? 



[After writing as I have in regard to the 

 course our government is taking in the matter 

 of spirituous liquors. I rather expected some- 

 body would supply some missing facts in the 

 case that I had not yet got hold of. I was dis- 

 appointed, however, in receivingnothing. or next 

 to nothing, in defense of the government. 

 Quite a few letters came, it is true, saying I had 

 not told half the truth, and I began to feel that 

 things were certainly getting desperately bad, 

 or else nobody who reads Gleanings, who 

 knew, cared to set us right. Recently, however, 

 I have received a very kind letter from one who 

 not only loves temperance, but who loves Christ 

 Jesus, as you may gather from his closing sen- 

 tences; and even though he has not told us all 

 the truth, I feel like saying, may God be praised 

 that so much can be truthfully said in defense 

 of our government, and in pointing out more 

 clearly the difficulties it has to encounter. Per- 

 mit me to say that I never meant to be disloy- 

 al, or to do or say any thing that might savor 

 of rebellion against our free institutions. I 

 want to straighten up and build up, rather than 

 to tear down. Here is the letter:] 



On page 233 of Gleanings we find some se- 

 vere comments by the editor on the relation of 

 the United States government to distillers; and 

 on page 296 G. M. Doolittle has also something 

 to say on the same subject. Both of those writ- 

 ers condemn in severe terms the course the gov- 

 ernment has taken in regard to distille^ries. 



Mr. Root maintains that 'governme'nt distill- 

 eries are outof Uncle Samuel's line of business," 

 and Mr. Doolittle asserts that the government 

 has entered into a bargain with the whisky in- 

 terests, by which, for funds furnished, it would 

 give a mortgage on its boys, and in very strong 

 terms maintains that this " Christian govern- 

 ment has nationalized the drink business and 

 inaugurated a system of partnership with the 

 accursed liquor-traffic." 



Now, I have no desire to cross swords with 

 two such notable men as A. I. Root and G. M. 

 Doolittle for the sake of controversy; but I sub- 

 mit that it's a very serious thing to impute evil 

 intent to the government, and the laws under 

 which we live. No good can come from such 

 intemperate language. The facts in the case 

 do not warrant it. It is one thing to condemn 

 the government for the course it has seen fit to 

 take in regard to the whisky interest, but quite 

 another thing to propose a different and better 

 way. On this latter point, both of these men 

 are silent. 



Let us consider a few facts. Many, very 

 many, men are born into the world with a pro- 

 pensity to evil ways, and the drink habit is one 

 of the strongest of these propensities. This 

 thirst for strong drink creates a demand for it. 

 There is no real demand for any thing, good or 

 bad, in this world, that some one or more do not 

 stand ready to supply. To supply the demand 

 for strong drink, distilleries are built for its 

 manufacture; and so long as this demand exists, 

 its manufacture will go on. It can not be stop- 

 ped. It never has been, and it never will be so 

 long as this insatiate appetite for strong drink 

 continues. 



Now. all governments must have a sufficient 

 and steady revenue, or they could not be main- 

 tained. I know of no civilized nation that does 

 not consider vinous and spirituous liquors as 

 proper objects of taxation. The United King- 

 dom, free trade as it is, yet collect? an immense 

 revenue from wines and spirits; and this gov- 

 ernment, as early as 1790, enacted excise laws 

 which taxed spirituous liquors; and the opposi- 

 tion to the collection of these taxes was so 

 great in Northern Pennsylvania that Washing- 

 ton deemed it necessary in 1794 to call out 15,000 

 militia to quell the disturbance. 



The right to make laws, to " levy and collect 

 taxes," must of necessity carry with it power to 

 enforce those laws; and if unusual means have 

 to be employed to collect the liquor tax, it is 

 only evidence of the unscrupulous nature of the 

 whisky interest. 



The situation, as I understand it, is this. The 

 government is trying to collect a legitimate tax. 

 There is no compact with Gambrinus, or the 

 " other fellow," and no " mortgage on its boys." 

 There is no sentiment in taxation. 



I am no advocate of the liquor-business. I 

 agree with Mr. Doolittle, that it stands in the 

 way of the advancement of God's kingdom on 

 earth, as do many other vices nearly if not 

 quite as ruinous. Now, what shall be done to 

 counteract the appetite for strong drink? I 

 know of no remedy that does not apply to all 

 vices and evil habits that afflict mankind. 

 Laws which tax and hamper the liquor-inter- 

 ests, doubtless do some good. The rules of many 

 business interests, which r 'fuse employment to 

 men addicted to the drink habit, has a salutary 

 effect; the efforts of temperance societies are 

 most potent means of reform; and the new gold 



