Mississippi (USA) did not lift Prohibition until 1966, though its citizens had
done so 'unofficially' many years prior. The state even collected a 'black
market tax' on illegal liquor sales.
Noah S. "Soggie" Sweat Jr. was a 28yo Mississippi state legislator
(1948-1952) when he delivered the following address:
"I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this
particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun
controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any
time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have
asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about
whiskey
"If, when you say whiskey, you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge,
the bloody monster that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the
home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the
mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the
Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous living into the
bottomless pit of degradation and despair and shame and helplessness and
hopelessness -- then, certainly, I am against it.
"But if, when you say whiskey, you mean the oil of converstion, the
philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together,
that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips and the warm
glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you
mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's
step on a frosty, crisp morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man
to magnify his joy and his happiness and to forget, if only for a little
while, life's great tragedies, heartaches and sorrows; if you mean that
drink the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of
dollars which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled
children, our blind, our deaf, our pitiful aged and infirm, to build
highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.
"That is my stand, and I will not compromise."
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