THE LIQUOR QUESTION. 



In casting about for a topic, the discussion of which might not be 

 unprofitable at this time, I decided to invite your attention to some 

 observations upon the liquor question, considered from a legal and 

 political standpoint. 



In approaching to a near view of this question we are brought to a 

 realizing sense that the present agitation presents very little that is 

 new, either as to the evils resulting from an immoderate use of intoxi- 

 cants or as to the remedies aimed to correct its abuses. Authentic 

 history scarcely goes back to a time when intoxication, resulting from 

 the immoderate use of spirituous liquors, was not a recognized vice, 

 which demanded and received the attention of those in authority to 

 limit or prevent the consequences resulting therefrom. The state- 

 ment in Genesis, "And Noah began to be an husbandman, and 

 planted a vineyard, and drank of the wine and was drunken/' etc., 

 is regarded by eminent critics as referring to the revival of general 

 husbandry, and not to some new thing in the way of the culture of 

 the vine, so that it seems reasonable to suppose that the vine was cul- 

 tivated before the flood, and that the experience recorded of Noah 

 does not take us back to its origin. 



The great Chinese philosopher, Confucius, and his eminent disciple 

 Mencius, were not only eminent as teachers of their nation, for which 

 they are greatly reverenced, but also rendered signal service by editing 

 and perfecting two great works of historic value: "The Shoo-King, 

 or History," and " The She-King, or Book of Ancient Poetry/' a series 

 of writings handed down through many generations, together with 

 the commentaries written thereon by the ancient wise men. From 

 these books we learn that intemperance was frequently putting the 

 empire in danger, and that stringent measures for its suppression were 

 often employed. The earliest account in the « Shoo-King" is the fol- 

 lowing, in the year 2187 B. 0.: "T'ae-K'ang occupied the throne like 

 I Pronator of the dead. By idleness and dissipation he extinguished 

 *"s virtue, till the black-haired people all began to waver in their 

 allegiance." 



