Individual liberty and the liquor traffic.

Date:
Between 1860 and 1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Individual liberty and the liquor traffic. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    when the use itself is not interfered with. More liberty than this they cannot claim, except such facilities for procuring the liquors as the interests of society will permit. II.—That the Liquor Traffic is inconsistent with Individual Liberty, and must be removed if that liberty is to be perfectly attained, is made evident by no closet speculations, or ingenious refinements, but by the demonstration of facts. Social liberty includes liberty of defence against known causes of social suffering, deterioration, and oppression; and in proportion as these causes are diminished, the benefits enjoyed socially are, in substance, so many additions to the enjoyments of the individuals composing society, and so much enlargement of that Individual Liberty which is justly prized. What happens where the Liquor Traffic prevails 1 This : that drinking is also prevalent in its worst forms and with its worst results of misery, disease, want, vice, and every evil work. These results are not confined to the persons drinking, but are visited upon families and districts, and become a heritage of weakness, disgrace, and expense to the community at large. The liberty of society to be sober, saving, prosperous, moral, and happy, is thus interfered with in a degree that is scarcely conceiv¬ able, and ought to be felt intolerable ; and this Joss of liberty signifies a loss of Individual Liberty ranging from the extortion of needless taxation to the sacrifice of life through the intemperance of others. If the Liquor Traffic did not exist what would happen'? This that every element of social wellbeing would be multiplied, and the progress of society towards a higher state of civilisation (in the widest sense) would be rapid and immense. With little or no drunkenness, and all that drunkenness entails, 'there wmuld be liberty to live, and to live happily—liberty to breathe a purer atmosphere, and to reap the full reward of honest work—liberty to train children more safely, and to give them a better start in life—liberty to save what now is wasted to pay the costs of the Liquor Traffic—liberty to do more good, and to do it without the risk of seeing much of it undone by the “ dreadful drink ”■—liberty to be the citizens of a more peaceful, prosperous, and Christian country than can exist while the Liquor Traffic is licensed in its midst; and this is Liberty, the attainment of which vindicates the demand for Prohibition, and justifies the Alliance in appealing for the immediate and whole-liearted support of all who believe that Personal Liberty, worthy of the name, can never thrive upon the calamities of the State. A MANCHESTER : UNITED KINGDOM ALLIANCE.