The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1870-01-27
From the New York Independent.
A Plain Word with Our Tenn
perance Friends.
BY REV. THFo. cuYLRR.

ornamental cOrniCeS and lofty tOwers-tC
bring the topmost stones "with shoutings'
But without solid foundation where is
the superstructure
Many of our Jealous temperance breth.
rem are in danger of this very blunder.-
They earnestly long for prOhibitory egis.
latiOn; but do almost nothing to create the
temperance public sentiment. They want
prOhibitOry laws; but they do nothing to
make the UOteS which must enact the laws
They clamor for a political Temperance
parity" but they forget that successful
parties are made up of men concerted to q
moral idea. So, when you urge them to
call meetings, and TO organize local sOcie-
ties, and to circulate tracts, and procure
total abstinence pledges, and to spread
abroad solid temperance truth, and to ed
ucate the children, and to open their pur-
ses aud pay the bills for ali these needful
efforts, they sneeringly reply: "Pshawl
we got out of that slough of moral s1tdSion
ten years agO!'' 1t suits these brethren a
good deal better to hold conventions and
to pass good, strong resolutions against
rum shops, and to organize new parties on
paper. For dozen years the State tenn
perance conventions in New York have
been passing resolutions for "tOtal prohi-
bitiOn and nothing less" but we are no
nearer to a wholesome prOhibitOry law for
! L
for one, am as heartily in favor of shutting
up the rum-dens by law, as Neal Dow or
Gerritt Smith can be; yet am convinced
that we must change our tactics, or we
shall never secure prOhibitory legislation
or enforce it.
Let me frankly explain my views. A
Jealous company of friends of temperance
mostly from Illinois, Indiana, and Michi-
gan) met lately at Chicago, and resolved
that a national third party should be or
ganized at once on the single basis of Pro-
hibitiOH Of the dTdn-ShOp. The resolution
to organize such party met with stiff Op-
position in the convention, but it was car
ried by large majority. Now it is very
easy for US to marshal objections to the
formation of such a party, and to point
out prOdigious difficulties to he encsun-
tered. One objection to a natiOn0J third
party is that prohibition is really State
question, to be settled by the legislatures
of the respective States. The best method
of carrying the legislatures must be left to
to the temperance men in each State. An
other objection is, that in the past none of
the prOhibitOry laws ever enacted in
Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts or else
where, were passed by legislatures chosen
by third parties Third parties on the
prohibitory basis have heretofore come to
]
suited IN casting 900 votes for Mr.. Hich-
born, the "prOhibition" candidate. Zone
OF the leaders of the Hichborn movement
has since confessed that his only aim was to
"kill off Gen. Chamberlain ~ He used a
temperance bullet to, kill Republican
leader.
Another objection to national third
party is that it would tend to overthrow
the very party which has already enacted
prohibition in Maine, Vermont and Mas
sachusetts. Can honest prohibitionists de-
sert the party which has already passed
the anti-liquor laws in Massachusetts,
New York, and elsewhere without the inn
putatiOn of treachery? I do not answer
this question; I only PROFOUND it as one of
the difficulties in the way of forming a
third party against the dram-shnp.
There are many other hindrances in the
way of the proposed party which I furbear
to name. Its sanguiue advocates point to
the triumph of the free soil party in 1850,
and claim that there is a parallel between
an anti-slavery and an anti-dram-shop
party which fOrebOdes success to the Chi
cagO organization. But there is really no
parallel between the two cases. The man
who fOunds his expectation of the success /
of national prohibition party on the
election of President Lincoln in 1860,
] builds on mOonshine. ''Whosoever is de- |
ceived thereby is not WISE" In the year
1858 the cause of Prohibition was far more
! popular then the cause of Emancipation /
| But to-day slavery is dead-klled alike |
| by the folly of friends and by the pluck of
/ its enemies. And the rum-trafIic survives /
/ in growing strength-looming up is terri |
/ BILE as the "gates of hell!' The party /
which demOlishes it must be the most
| powerful party that has yet been organized /
on this continent.
But it is not the main object of this arti-
Gle to present huge difficulties in the path T.
of a national political party of prohibition
lists. Suppose we over-rule these difficult
ties. Suppose we admit that third party
policy is the best and wisest policy. What |
then?
Most assuredIy, if a successful third par
ty is created, it must be made up of con-
UertS to q great moral idea. These converts
must be made by dissemination of truth.
There must be thorough discussion of the
real nature of the alcoholic beverages
which we propose to prohibit. We must
convince the voters that alcoholic drinks
are pOisOns, and not food, warmth, or
strength. We must arouse the popular
conscience. We must enlist the pulpit Il
and the press, and the Sunday school. We ,
must organize thousands of societies, aud
pec10liGry cost. We must scatter widely
such volumes as DR.. Lees "Text Book of
Temperance we must arouse the minis
try by such startling home truths as are
presented in "Dr. WilIOughby and His ,
Wine"
We must secure the pledged abstinence
Of the l. jority of the people; (fOr we have '
no faith in the efforts of any man for pro- {
hibitiOn while he is secretly tippling over :
his wine-glass). We must revolUtionize ;
the drinking usages ofsOciety. For it is
absurd to suppose that while majority of {
the community really wish to offer and {
drink Intoxicating liquors, they will ever
vote to have the traffic in liquors utterly r
prohibited. In short, we must convert the
majority of society to total abstinence be-
fore prohibition can be triumphant. This I
can only be effected by con- I
stant, unintermitted, and expensive moral t
SUGSiOJI. The honest prohibitionist who r
opposes moral suasion opposes prohibition. ,
Is it not time that this silly and suicidal ;
slang against "moral suasiOn" was ban l
ished forever from the temperance ranks
The only places in which prohibition is t
to-day are those places in Illinois, f
Maine and Vermont, in :
which temperance efforts have produced a !
public sentiment in favor of total absti- I
nence. In all other places prohibitory l
laws are not really enforced; and for all q
practical purposes they are not worth Z
chew of tobacco.
Now, brethren and cO-workers, these be .
plain truths and worth your consideration !
If the coming years are to be spent in hold
ing conventions and passing empty resolu-
tiOns against grog-shOps, without doing
at home to cORUert people against {
grog drinking; if any more ''third party =
fOOleries like that in Maine are 10 be en-
acted as the settled policy of the temperance
reform, then ], for one, must be counted r
ont of any national prohibitOry party
Other people may build castles up in the I
air, if they admire such architecture.
prefer, in my humble way, to dig in the
mud on the foundations of a permanent
reform. prefer to use pulpit, pew, purse 7
and tongue to convert people to total alb 7
stinence. When they are thus converted,
they are saved from drunkenness; they t
will never give cent to support the ac-
cursed liquor traffic; they will oppose
customs; they will be likely to i