they are re-
located, they are removed again. Intoxicating- drink is an enormous public injury, and private wrong; its effects, in every way, shape, and form, are evil, and therefore should be restrained within proper limits by law. It deprives the wife and children of the inebriate, of the support and protection they have a right to expect from him ; it deprives community of the labor which constitutes a nation's wealth, for it is a well-known fact that a nation's wealth is made up of individual labor ; and every day, therefore, lost by the laborer, caused by the effects of alco- holic drink, is a loss to the community at large. Persons who have become habit- ually addicted to ardent spirits, hearing that we had excluded that poison from our land, and, believing they never could be free if they remained near its influ- ences, have left their homes and crossed the Rocky Mountains to escape the ruin that threatened them. Shall they be disappointed? During the last year, persons, taking advantage of the defect in our law, have manufactured and sold ardent spirits. We have seen the effects (although the manufacture was on a small scale) in the midnight carousals among the Indians in our neighborhood during their fishing season while they had property to dispose of. And, let me ask, what would be the consequences if the use of it should become general in the country, and among the different tribes of Indians in the territory ? History may hereafter, write the page in letters of blood ! And, what are the consequences, as presented to us in the history of older countries, of an indiscriminate use of ardent spirits? Almshouses, hospitals, prisons, and the gallov/s. I v/ould therefore recommend that but one person, and that person a physician, be authorized to import or manu- facture, a sufficient quantity to supply the wants of the community for medicinal purposes ; to dispose of no liquor, except when he knows it to be necessary, or on an order from a regular physician, stating that the person applying stands in need of it for medicinal purposes, and to physicians to be used in their practice. The person so empowered to import, manufacture, and sell, to keep a record of the quantity manufactured, or imported; also a record of the quantity sold, or dis- posed of, and to whom, and name of physician, on whose certificate given. This would be attended with but little trouble, and might be required to be given under oath. Many articles require alcohol to dissolve them ; this could be done by taking the article to the person appointed, and having the alcohol put into the ingredients in his presence. Section 5th, I would recommend to be altered, so that the fines should go one half to the informer, and the other half into the treasury. I would recommend that the penalties be increased. If the indiscriminate sale of liquor be admitted an evil, no good citizen can wish to be engaged in it. Why should the majority suffer, to benefit a few individuals?
I have said more on this subject than I should have done, did I not fear an attempt will be made to break down the barriers raised by the early settlers of this land. Much of our prosperity and happiness as a community depend upon your action in this matter.
There will be several proposals laid before you, in regard to locating the seat of government ; but under the present aspect of affairs, I think it best to postpone the subject for the present.
A subject of great importance to us, as a people, presents itself in our com- mercial regulations. That this will be a commercial nation there can he no doubt in the mind of any person acquainted with our location ; it, therefore, is our duty to commence preparing the way for shipping to enter our harbors.
The first requisite for the mouth of the Columbia river, is a good pilot or pilots. Many ships employed in the whale fishery would, no doubt, enter our river, and remain with us during the winter, if they were sure of obtaining a good pilot to bring them in safely over the bar, and conduct them out when ready for sea. Vessels can, without doubt, enter and depart from the mouth of the Columbia river, with as much safety as they can the majority of the seaports in the United States ; and it needs only a careful pilot, well acquainted with the currents, land- marks, and shoals, to make it perfectly safe for vessels to enter our port. I, therefore, recommend that a branch be established at the mouth of the Columbia
