The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-03-15
The Temperance MOvement-Persecut
ing tho Beersellers.

4
1t is not easy to separate the wheat from the
chaf in the temperance movement. The
methods of this new crusade wero in the be-
ginning entirely phenomenal and exceptional
Against law, and apparently against reason,
the women in q number of Ohio towns went
into the beerhouses and dramshops seeking
to sing and pray intemperance out of the
world. In the smaller towns few men can
withstand the concentrated public opinion of
the better part of the community. Accord
ingly the rumsellers found themselves as badly
off as the witches of Salem, and 80 far as their
fate. 1t was public scorn crushing them in
the name of religion. When the new method
came to be applied to the larger towns and
cities, where the effects Of intemperance are
most disastrous, it proved complete failure.
few men, like the keeper of notorious
den in this city, were willing to ad-
vertise their business by allowing a
prayer meeting to be held in one room
of their capacious establishments" while
they dealt out quick damnation in another
1t was discovered, too, that the inventor and
chief apostle of the movement was only help
be fed, not with mama as of DID, but with
fifty dollar greenbacks- All these things
help to bring the movement into utter dis
repute, to expose its sensational character, to
prove its inconsistencies and show its tyran-
nous folly. 1t is the prosecuting spirit of
he in, Iv
women treading ungodly men to the earth.
Its philosophy is that the wicked have no
rights which the good are bound to respect.
Who can tell where the ardor of the new
reformers may stop Already they have
taken an important step in advance, when
they assume the aggressive and pretend
to become, not moral force party,
but a sect appealing to penal laws to
compel compliance with their peculiar
views. The Grand Jury Of Pomeroy, Ohio,
have found two hundred indictments
against liquor dealers, and it is evident
that the crusaders in that district do not mean
to confne themselves to the comparatively
harmless tactics of psalm singing But if a
man can be indicted for selling beer or wine,
articles recognized as legal commodities of
traffic, why not for selling Eau de Cologne or
buttermilk2 If q mob OF temperance crusaders
can invade man 8 premises and interrupt his
business and, in case he refuses to be converted,
indict him, then the foundations Of personal
liberty are shaken and society is at the mercy
of fanatics just as much as it was in the Mid
die Ages. Who will say that the Ohio
reformers, in their ardor to suppress
the liquor traffic, may not propose to burn
the beersellers, if the indictments should fail
of their effect? History may repeat itself,
and, though this is q material age, there is no
reason why men should not be prepared to die
for beer, which, in its way, is q substantial,
comprehensive blessing to the poor. Men
have died for ideas they liked but did not
comprehend, and why should not martyrs be
found ready to suffer in the cause of beer,
which they both like and understand We
have it on good authority that
or all cOokeres most
The SAINTS love roast
and it is quite within the range of possibility
that Dio Lewis may yet preside at an aao-da-
fS for the conversion of beersellers
But the hosts of the Evil One are never over
come in this way, for no wrong was ever
righted by another wrong. The temperance
crusade in its original shape is failure; but
out of it has come another movement Chris
tan in character, which will do much good.
This is simply to reclaim the fallen, to reform
the drunkard and succor his family. One
drunkard restored to his wife and children
and put in the way of supporting them is
greater achievement than q hundred beer
shops closed for day or week or month.
The Merchant and the Traveller.
DR.. I. /. Hayes, the Arctic traveller, in one
of the most effective passages il recent plat
form oratory, has stated truth little known
or appreciated. 1t is fact, as he says, that
the merchant has been, and is, the pioneer in
geographical exploration. We cannot better
present the idea than by quoting the striking
paragraph itself
The merchant has, indeed, always been the
pioneer IN geographical exploration. 1t is some
times supposed that cOnquerlng armies have been
the leaders in civilized pr0gress but 1t Is not so.
The merchant mas invariably been the pioneer. 1t
is the spirit oil adventure inspired by the spirit or
desire OF gain that has throughout all time led
into untrOdden feds. Men VIII go further and
dare more in pursuit OF gain than III the chase Of
glOry-more even than Ia support OF their religion.
The merchant Is not one who merely buys and
sells. In ancient times he commanded ships and
fought battles; in later days he was the trusted
counsellor OF kings; Ia our own time he IL the
master of empires. He was In Persia and India
long before the conqueTing armies Of Alexander
the Great; ne was IN Iartary and China before the
priest. 1t was party OF merchants travelling
from the base OF Mount Ararat TO trade with the
Roman merchants at Antioch VINO, learning by the
way that King Of the Jews had been born in
Bethlehem OF Judea, turned aside IRON their course
to do Him homage and TO make Him rich present
of spices ard OF myrrh.
Long before Spoke and Grant looked over
the broad expanse of the Victoria Nyanza
for the first time the merchant traders from
Khartoom knew that in that basin was one of
the fountain-heads of the Nile. The Arabs
and Dongolawee of Aboo Sout famous
ula of tho SoI,dax, bod of4o.a