Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1867-05-08
TEMPERANCE JERKS.

| VertS were all maze through tue agony
OF certain physical eOntortions, which
the good people of the day. in their
homely language, called "the jerks. -
Women, for example, in the ferVOr of
devotional exercise and experience, threw
their heads backward and forward with
such violence, as to cause their long
hair to snap like the "craek Of whip.
The ''ierkers" created much excitement,
for a little time, and increased rapidly
in numbers. But the fanaticism soon
subsidized, and the jerks, as means of
grace, have long been discarded.
We confess to little faith in moral
spasmodics of any sort. The mills,
even of the gods, grind slowly, The
accomplishment of beneficial results,
which involve the habits and opinions
Of large bodies Of men, is not among the
achievements of moment, and is never
the product Of Jerks. 1t will require,
for example, something more than spasms
to eradicate intemperance, and substitute
for the ruinous love ofrum, a consuming
appetite for cold water. The patriaA ch
Noah, in the morning of the world, got
drunk and to this day, the Chinese
never drink water, save as a medicine,
and then It is hazarded in very small
doses. So it will be seen thata universal
temperance reform involves the change
of ancient habit as we'll as Of modern
prejudice. We are, therefore, safe in
assuming that so great work will not
be effected by sporadic jerks, nor by the
more respectable and imposing phenom-
ena known as spasms. --a ..
Good friends of the temperance order
we know that you mean well, in the
main, and we admit that your ultimate
purpose is mostpraiseworthy but your
experience will teach you, in time, that
the means you employ are inadequate
to the end you would attain.
Drunkenness is mOnstrOus evil,
YOU say. True, you can find no one to
take issue with you on that proposition
But in your praiseWorthy endeaVOr, you
encounter a practical, if not insuperable
difficulty, in the fact that comparative
" few of those who drink are drunkards
The majority of men, in some shape OF
another, and at one time OF another, use
spurious liquors. If none but drunk
ards bought whisky, it would be as easy
to extirpate the traffic in spirits as IL
counterfeit money. But while sober
men make the demand, the laws of trade
will inevitably furnish the supply. Thil
rule had most shocking illustration
during the war. when brokers in human
blood realized Immense profits by pan
dering to murderous demand.
The difficulty to overcome, is to stOI
the demand. Jerks and spasms will no
produce this effect The imposition Of
ruinous fines and long imprisonment OF
on our dealers will not be effective
Yourselves will soon realize the futility
of these methods, and sellers will again
enjoy a long period Of immunity from
prosecution, and the traffic will flourish
more vigorously than ever.
Drinking saloons are not the cause,
but the effect, Of widely diffused ap-
petite for ardent spirits. When you
have shut them up, or abated them as a
nuisance, you leave the distilleries in
active operation, and barrels of the poi
son are carried by every railroad and
unloaded at every depot. What have
you achieved? Not reformation. AT
the best you have only damned a chan
mel at one place, which will overflow at
another. - -
Let none mistake this article as a plea
either for drunkenness or for moderate
drinking. tits neither. Its simply
meant to point out the common mistakes
of Well-meaning men, in the means they
adopt to accomplish the most imperative
needed of all reforms.
Those who have thought most Of the
vice of intemperance, are those who de-
spair most of its eradication from sOcie-
| tY. It is a stupendous growth, with
deep and far-spreading roots. Much of
the pecuniary prosperity of the country
depends on the distilleries. They pur-
chase immense amounts of products,
and afford great and profitable markets.
The Governmental best Govern
ment the world ever saw"-seeks its
richest revenues from the manufacturers
of spirits; and three western cities,
Cincinnati, Chicago and Dayton, owe
their most superb edifoes to the NUM-
| fcence of dealers in whisky. .-
The primary cause of many of the
most deplorable examples of intemper-
ance in every community, exists in pa
rental neglect. Children run the streets,
find evil affiliations, contract the fatal
appetite, and are ruined. Too late, the
parent seeks to punish the seller. In
dictments, fines, imprisonments are ex-
hausted upon him but this does not
emancipate the profigate boy from the
habit which is fixed, and will relinquish
its hold only with the life of its victim.
Especially is this negligence of fami-
lies chargeable upon our public men,
We were once conversing with a near
neighbor and friend of one of the most
/ Iillustrious of American statesmen--the
one whom we ereverenced above all others.
The friend told us much of the great
man, whom he loved, as we did. "But, "
said he, after pause, "Mr.- is bad
father
The prevalence of intemperance, and
the fearful consequences so obvious
everywhere, should have this moral eff
feet. ifno other Itshould teach parents
to beever watohful of the habits of their
children. If the generation nov grow
ling up could be indoctrinated with the
abstinent creed, there would be a hope
of Temperance Reform, Of which at pre-