The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-08-14
atheelina gegistsr.
"wednesday Morning. August IL.
Reform Movements.

being put in elegant trim for an lmpcnd
ing millennium. Every evil has now It's
organized remedy. Every crime has It's
antidote in some philanthropic assoeia'
lion, united in the cause of human ele'
walton. The only wonder is that we
are not the most thoroughly reformed
aud proper people eXtaRt, instead OF the
most naughty and iucorrigiOle.
We have societies to prevent cruelty
Ia animals. yet the evidences of "cruel
usage i'll stables aud barnyards and
ox-stallS and Pig-pens only show the ne
cessiry of amendment, without proving
that thiugS have neuded i'll the least.
We have Magdalen Association, and
Homes for the Fallen, and a multitude OF
oihpr institutions for the correction oi
ihr worst Of human frailties, yet that
irreprrs>ilhe terror. THE Social Evil,
continues Ia hr about aS social III ITS
rvi! aud a. evil i'll it's Sociality as here
Infnrr. Ave. worse! fOf it has attracted
the curiosity of feminine upper-tendOm
ami ..thn>e horrid creatures, you know,
al PANT. and plumPerS, and patent heav-
rrS, are Gui t frequently made the sub
irct of DISCUSSION, no: 10 say inspection,
bv the dainty danes and bellies the
,,rmr dc Ia crsme.
Then we are having another gush oi
temperance sentiment, another outburst
of intermittent pathos about 1.-The dead
IL bowl and 1.-The poisoned cup and
"thr trInptrr' and the syren ana the
diunkard'> grave aud all the balance
of the tcr-tntallers touching imagery
Dursiiou his sincerity We would not;
uiSpute the efficacy of his measures we
dare not. We cannot face the anath-
rmas that would follow Il hint that his
Jealous efforts are mislirected, 80 we
must watch in silence the repetition OF
the failure and the relapse which here
Iofore have followed the exercise of his
suddenly aroused and suddenly SubSid-
ing energies.
And 81 il is of most other institutions,
whose purpose is the immediate and
thorough renovation of this or that
corner of the moral heritage. They
brook no doubts of their ability 10 sue
cerd in the way they have chosen. 10
suggest any other way, is to oppose them
and ~ be abused by then. To point out
somr difficulty or impracticabiiity III
their system. is Ia show yourself their
enemy. You must either endorse their
remedy or You are deemed friendly TO
the evil they would remove; you must
drill in their camp, and keep step to
their music, aud fight on their line, OF
. straightway they move upon your
works.
Just here, it is probable, many OF our
reform associations make fatal mis-
fake. In some ardent philanthrOpic
ebnllition. they undertake the COM
mcmdahle enterprise of uproOting i'm
.n-diatcly some error or folly that is as
old as the race. They start ont to abol-
ish in twclvemonth, the evils that
are hnary With the frostS Of centuries.
They prefer the sudden to the gradual.
You don't agree with them, perhaps.
You saw this or that vice is too deeply
seated to he npiifted by the first stroke OF
The moral gruhbing hoe, and you advise
sthe slow and constant and steady effort,
in preference to the tearing, clustering,
exhaustive labor that raises great
dust, but reaches nothing below the
surface. You get "A scolding for your
pains. They call you "a man of sin,
inst AZ the Shaker called ARTEMUS
WARD, and like AETEMUS, you politely
retire, wishing them abundant success
in their hopeful enterprise for extermin-
,ating in a twinkling, or lifetime, the
passions or the practices that are as old
as history. and perhaps little older.
1t is probable that the author of the
Iiauor law, which we give in another
column, will find little support among
-uhe more prominent, if not the more
useful friends of temperance. As may
he seen, he does not propose TO hold the
liquor dealer solely responsible for the
cxcesses of drunkenness. He proceeds
upon the principle that the desire fol
run, precedes the sale of rum; that ii
there were no rum drinkers there would
he no rum-sellers, aud so he thinks 1t
fair to divide the responsibility, by
making the drinker take ont license
Just as well as the seller.
The author also proposes 90 prohibit
p the adulterat ton of liquors rather than
their sale. He, probably, argues that
good liquors will do loss harm than pOis.
on, and the substitution 81 pure for i'm.
pure spirits will be one step in the
right direction. He remembers the ex.
periences of Maine and Massachusetts
whose total prohiOiiioa laws have pro.
duced no perceptible effect upon the
quantity of liquor drank, and he thinks
it better to pass law that may
be enforced, than to enact q
sweeping prohibitory measure that vii
be mere dead letter. We doubt if the
measure finds much favor with the so
called temperance reformers. 1t is moi
sweeping emOugh for them il is moi
severe enongh for them. 1t is not suf
ficiently impraetieable and will, there
fore, not be very popular with the pro
hibitiOnists. y.... .zF
new daily postal service between
New Orleans and Houston, Texas, yis