Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-02-19
The WOman's Temperance Cru
sade-tVhai Will Come of il.

The temperance cause has gone
through several different phases. The
first movement was by moral suasion
| through pubic lectures, and the sign
| ing of the pledge. 1t brought forth a
new and peculiar class Of orators, re-
sembiing In their stirring methods the
celebrated revival preachers. The
work extended over the country and
worked great revolution in the hab-
it's and ideas of the people. Drinking,
whicii before yyas Respectable an9 an
almost universal 0usto,p Of hospitality,
became disreputable, and the trade was
no longer followed by those who de-
sired to keep a place in society. Ihe
reform was great cue.
The next phase was legal coercion OK
sellers. Whether because OF this, nr
because of the natural reaction of hiGii
zeal, the moral suasion effort declined
under legal coercion, but the attempt
to suppress the sale by penalties has
nominally continued till this time, al
though in great degree these laws are
either dead letter, or the attempts TO
enforce them are Pickering and
abortive.
A peculiar phase of the temperance
CAUSE was t'idL vi tliO lSlOIulCo Oi uhh
ards, called the Washington move
ment. Reformed inebriates, some of
them bearing the marks of long dissi-
patton and deep degradation, Travelled
the country as lecturers, telling their
experience and exhOrting Others to be-
ware. This effort was but moderately
effective, and it was brief.
The woman's crusade, which began
=. 70
this and into other States, is the most
remarkable oi all in respect to the
| means used, and il is possible that it
will in its Results compare 18th the
| first TEN perancs rtioi ma, ion. The move
| ment se.-n,s to bc sliuu>t spontaneous
iii each place. aud 1t enlIStS 50 large
part of each community that 1t be-
| comes irresistible. We have placed
.cii,e correspondents Oh the track OF
his movement, and as our paper car
| rites iteiiigence ot il into other towns,
their women rise up spontaneously,
and thus it Is spreading ike nft iD a
\ vast prairie.
The universal question is, what viii
this crusade amount to, and the sener-
| al impression, outside the places where
4 it is in operation, is that its effective
neSS Will De DnIy temporary III any
4 place, and that the conditions of the
\ large cities make it impracticabie
\ there. To this the movers may an
4 swer that if they purify the small
towns Il great work will be accom-
plisheti, and that they will not give up
the country because the large cities are
abandoned. And will its effects be but
! temporary? 1t is true, liquor sellers
i who surrender to the besieging forces
can quickly start anew, and others can
take their places, but in other ways its
effects will be permanent.
1t raises upa public sentiment, zeal,
enthusiasm, and influence which unite
| the community in the cause, and
which will make drinking disrepntable
In this it seems to us will be its great
and permanent effects. 1t also has i'm.
mediate success in suppressing the
traffic, and in making that obnoxious
IL will be of little avail for traders tt
resist this crusade. They will find il
hard to contend at law against the
united women of the community; anC
besides their trade is itself illegal, anC
therefore has no standing ground {,
fight upon. Cincinnati Gazette.