The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 424
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
grounds. He asked, "Is it God's Fight?" in an editorial, and
asserted that it was an outrage upon the Deity so to argue.
He that would oppress the poor and take away from
that which God in His wisdom has granted them and
the rights and liberties for which our forefathers
fought, bled and died, may console himself with the
pleasing thought that he is doing God's service, but if
he will read the Holy Bible he will learn that under the
very law which God Himself gave to Moses, a poor
farmer could manufacture his grapes into wine, drink
all he wanted himself and sell the rest to rich men,
like Lot, Noah, and other distinguished patriarchs to
get drunk on. The Times is not in favor of discriminat-
ing against the poor in favor of the rich.52
These arguments based upon class discriminations bear a
striking resemblance to the reasoning of other independent-think-
ing Southerners of that period.53 Like them, he said prohibition
as then proposed put a premium on the possession of money;
it gave special privilege to one group, not because it was peopled
by a superior class, but simply because it enjoyed financial
means of paying the proposed tax.
The merchants can order their wine from other states.
The farmers, nearly all of whom can make wine at
home if they want it, for their own use, or for sale,
under the present laws, and nearly all of whom are
too poor to order it from another state, would have
to be deprived of a luxury that their own soil will pro-
duce and made to feel their inferiority, by the tyranny
and oppression of a law known only to despotic and
paternal governments.54
Suspicion is indicated in his editorials that the prohibition
movement, which had its origin in the North, was but another
attempt of that section to encroach upon the domain of South-
ern independence. He denounces New England's infractions
upon these rights, ending on a whimsical note. After pointing
out that the Anti-Tobacco Clubs will be the next movement to
make its appearance from New England when anti-drinking has
been accomplished, he closes: "Up in that country, by the way,
52"Is it God's Fight?" an undated clipping from Mrs. Milner's Scrap-
book, p. 39.
53Horace Kephart, Our Southern Highlanders, 120-121.
54"A Reaction," undated clipping from Mrs. Milner's Scrapbook, p. 39.
As indicated from the context, it appears to have been written sometime
in 1887.424
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/475/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.