The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and ObservationNordhoff, Charles
History
The Communistic Societies of the United States: From Personal Visit and Observation
Nordhoff, Charles
Collective settlements -- United States
"I am in candor compelled to say that I did not introduce the
local-option principle into Vineland from any motives of philanthropy. I
am not a temperance man in the total-abstinence sense. I introduced the
principle because in cool, abstract thought I conceived it to be of
vital importance to the success of my colony. If in this thought I had
seen that liquor made men more industrious, more skillful, more
economical, and more aesthetic in their tastes, I certainly should then
have made liquor-selling one of the main principles of my project."
* * * * *
"The question then came up as to how I could give such direction to
public opinion as would regulate this difficulty. Many persons had the
idea that no place could prosper without taverns--that to attract
business and strangers taverns were necessary. I could not accomplish my
object by the influence of total-abstinence men, as they were too few in
numbers in proportion to the whole community. I had long perceived that
there was no such thing as reaching the result by the moral influence
brought to bear on single individuals--that to benefit an entire
community, the law or regulation would have to extend to the entire
community. In examining the evil, I found also that the moderate use of
liquor was not the difficulty to contend against, but it was the
immoderate use of it.
"The question, then, was to bring the reform to bear upon what led to
the immoderate use of it. I found that few or none ever became
intoxicated in their own families, in the presence of their wives and
children, but that the drunkards were made in the taverns and saloons.
After this conclusion was reached, the way appeared clear. It was not
necessary to make a temperance man of each individual--it was not
necessary to abridge the right or privilege that people might desire to
have of keeping liquor in their own houses, but to get their consent to
prevent the public sale of it by the small--that people in bartering
would not be subject to the custom of drinking--that they would not have
the opportunity of drinking in bar-rooms, away from all home restraint
or influence; in short, I believed that if the public sale of liquor was
stopped either in taverns or beer saloons, the knife would reach the
root of the evil. The next thing to do was to deal with settlers
personally as they bought land, and to counsel with them as to the best
thing to be done. In conversation with them I never treated it as a
moral question--I explained to them that I was not a total-abstinence
man myself, but that on account of the liability of liquor to abuse when
placed in seductive forms at every street corner, and as is the usual
custom that followed our barbarous law that it incited to crime, and
made men unfortunate who would otherwise succeed; that most of the
settlers had little money to begin with, sums varying from two hundred
to one thousand dollars, which, if added to a man's labor, would be
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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