From Days Gone By Dec. 30, 1929

 December 30, 1929.

    The following was written by local Pastor, F. M. Gaines. This was during the time of Prohibition. He called it "Bed-Bugs And Bootleggers".

    To claim an intimate knowledge of the nature and habits of Bed-Bugs would carry with it a certain degree of odium. For this reason the writer is quoting Mr. Webster, and is placing all responsibility on him for the apparent familiarity of the writer with his subject. The "highbrow" name of the Bed-Bug is Climax Lectularius, and Mr. Webster says that he is "an offensive bug which infests beds". But there is in these latter times a more offensive bug of which Mr. Webster seemed to be ignorant. This bug is a veritable pest and plague on decent civilization, and more to be dreaded than the boll weevil, the bean beetle, and the Mediterranian fly. The "lowbrow" name of this bug is "Bootlegger". There is a very striking analogy between the Bed-Bug and the Bootlegger.

1. They do their most devilish work at night. "And this is condemnation that light is come into the world", and Bed-Bugs and Bootleggers "loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil".

2. They are parasitic and thrive best on the life-blood of the innocent.

3. They make no economic contribution to society, but embarass society.

4. They are not content to play their ably trade alone. Mrs. Bed-Bug helps and abets her husband in his task. So does Mrs. Bootlegger; she often accompanies her husband and acts as a smoke-screen to deceive the eyes of the suspicious.

5. They counteract the influence of worth-while institutions. The bed promotes sleep which refreshes and rehabilitates the weary body, but the Bed-Bug makes it a place of torture. The Bootlegger is willing to imperil life, to curse the laws of the land, to damn boys and girls for whom parents are praying, to laugh at temperance organizations, to tie the hands of Sunday School teachers, and to counteract the influence of the church.

6. They are heartless. The Bed-Bug would defile the bed of the new-born babe and commit infanticide. The Bootlegger is willing to prevent baby's milk bottle from being refilled; he would rob baby of food, fuel, clothing, and home; he would stifle baby's intellect and deprive it of the advantages of school, sending it out into a competitive world, unprepared for the duties of life; he would snatch the roses from the cheeks of baby's mother, and substitute premature gray in her hair; he would send baby's father home, not to implant a true father's kiss, but as a staggering, heartless brute.

7. The hostess would be embarrassed greatly if she should find a Bed-Bug in the guest-chamber, and she would use every possible insecticide to exterminate it. But how greatly is the average community embarrassed over its Bootlegger, and to what extent does it use bootleggicide?

8. If it seems imperitive that we must have pests, then give us more Bed-Bugs and less Bootleggers.