New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-08-10
4 FFSJIVF " FdTHER.'

Has the reader, gentle or simple, ever no"i"
of Mr.. Thomas Purcell. Councilman Tor inc
Fifth Ward of the City of Clevelandf ii not
let not the reader too passiOnately Dewali DIS
ignorance of him. for even we. whose business
il is to hear of everybody, did not know OF
his existence until to-day, and now make MS
acquaintance with somewhat melancholy emo
tons, for the first thrilling fact which we are
told of him is that she got on another bender
Yesterday Thus elevated, this official pre-
server of the peace did mt preserve 1t to any
fastidious and Quakerish extent. On the con-
trary, he fell afOul of the nearest policeman,
and did so heap disrespectful language upon
the head of that functionary that it was con-
sidered necessary to take the City Parent to
the lookup. He was too great character to
be long confined but so morally shattered,
intellectually disheveed, and physically de-
ranged was Mr.. Purcell that it was impossible
for him TO be in his curule chair at the meet
ing of the Council that night. Nothing could be
more unfortunate. Because, as the fates would
have it. that very evening the Council was to
take up the all-importaut and importunate
question of Sunday liquor selling. They did
not take it up, however They left the cti-
zens of Cleveland exposed for one more blessed
Sabbath to the danger of perishing from thirst.
Purcell was a Councilman who understood the
great drink question in all its ramiticati0ns,
or, as we may say. dramiications. Purcell,
better perhaps than any man in Cleve-
land, knows from personal experience whether
lager will or will not cause the human feet
to become ertangled. Besides, the repealers
of tho Sunday Liquor Law now existing
needed every vote to carry that joyous meas
ure. They could do nothing without Purcell.
and he was either at home writing with the
headache or he was abroad seeking some
HGuld relief from his cerebral anguish So
they did not take up the Sunday Liquor
Question in the Cleveland Council that night.
They waited for the Majority of One to get
sober. Possibly they voted him unlimited
saltwater at the public expense. This Is a
point upon which we are not informed
1t is certainly pretty state of things when
a great temperance measure hangs upon The
vote of public servant who gets drunk and
into the locl<-up! Here in Cleveland, matters
have so arranged themselves that it Is for
Mr.. Purcell to say whether on the Lords Day
at least, the beer and spirit shops shall put up
their shutters and cut off the supply of intOXl-
cants. Somehow, we cannot feel that the mu-
nicipality of Cleveland is in a healthy state
when Mr.. Purcell can by his single vote de-
termine such an important question. Some
NAV believe that the groggeries should be
shut on Sunday. Others may believe that they
should be kept open on that sacred day. But
everybody will agree that it is not for Mr.. Pur-
cell to say /" Shut up!' or "Openw And yet
half the so-called temperance legislation
of the country is controlled and deter
mined if not by Purcels, at least by those
who are no better qualified than he is to
shane the laws in such cases made ond pro-
vided. We want a Temperance Reform which
shall be Independent Of such characters We
want a steady, intelligent and honest policy.
We want to get this "Rum Question freed
from politics. And, above all, we want men
who talk temperance and vote temperance to
be temperance men. When a representative
votes tor a prohbitory law, and then goes to
his hotel and drinks deeply to its confusion,
we are not surprised that drinkers-be they
hard or moderate-feel little unkindly to-
wards such double faced refOrmers.