The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1874-04-06

The Street Movement 10 Wheeling.

This novel and peculiar feature Of tn
womsn's crusade against the liquor sellinl
business Wss seen in Wheeling Tor thl
first time last week. For two days
band Of ladies were upon the streets visit
Ing q number Of saloons, expostulatin.
with the prorrietors, appealing to then
10 give up the business, and finally hold.
ingrcllgious exercises either In the saloon.
or on the side walks in front Of them
The proceeding could not fail TO attracI
largo crowds and consequently every.
where the women went a large number o
men and boys, was sure to cougregate
Up 70 this time we have not heard Of any
unpleasant circumstances occurring. The
ladies' have generally been treated with
courtesy by the saloon keepers, who have
apparently made up their minds to be
civil and hrm-civil In receiving and
talking with their visitors and firm in re-
tusing them permission to sing and pray in
their.saloons. WesuppOse the experiences
ofthe ladies during last Friday and syatur.
day will be their experience all the, way
through. Whenever and wherever they
80 they will most likely be treated ust as
they have been. No doubt the saloon
men have consulted together as TO the
course they will pursue. Their true pol
icy is to be polite, even were they dspos.
ed to be otherwise.
As TO the results Of this street move
ment in Wheeling, and also as to the pro.
priety Of it, there Is wide variety Of
opinion among our temperance people,
and they are the majority of our popula.
tion. ltis generally conceded that it will
not result in closing the saloons. That is
= task that can not be accomplished in a
city the same as in q small town or vii.
lage. Public opinion can not be concen.
trated into focus in large community
by the same influences nor with the same
facility as in a small one. Hence, in
the cities Of Columbus, Dayton, Cleveland
and Cincinnati, there has been no pro-
gress made worth speaking about. In
Steubenville number of saloons were
closed in this way, but it was because Of
the apprehension perhaps that the City
Council would close them on the first Of
April that they apparently yielded to the
opportunities oi the women. The large
majority of the liquor sellers there only
yielded as a matter Of necessity, at last,
because the Council put them under such
pains and penalties as made the business
TOO precarlous and Improbable to pursue.
II is reasonable therefore, TO anticipate
40 other results in Wheeling than those
accomplished in similar large communi.
ties, There is, on the contrary, every
reason to suppose that our experience in
this respect will be substantially similar
TO the cities named. We do not mean
by this TO be understood as
Ssying that the street movement will ac-
complish no good. II may accomplish
considerable in the way Of influencing
public sentiment toward some steps now
or hereafter in regard to the enactment of
more stringent license laws, or the more
stringent enforcement OF the laws we
have, or it may influence them TO abolish
Il cense altogether. Its success in this
direction will depend no doubt on the way
1t Is conducted. We can not SEQ how it
Is to fall Of doing some good unless 1t is car
rled to length that may beget revulsion
and reaction in public feeling. In the
meanwhile however, and upon this danger
In part, here are some reflections from the
New York Nation, a very moderate,
calm and safe paper, that can perhaps be
read with profit by all friends of the
street movement. Speaking Of the prob
able result Of this movement it says.
ITO suppose that the present movement
is going TO last very long, and have any
very marked effects capable Of definition
in figures, as some oi our moral and re.
lIgions friends do, Is, as 1t seems 10 us, to
cherish chimera Of another kind. As
We have said before, the women have
owed good deal Of their success thus
far 10 the novelty Of their weapons. Pray.
ing and singing by ladies in front Nol low
tayerns has thus far been a spectacle suffi.
ciently odd TO dumhlounder the keepers.
and there is sufficient halo Of association
and feeling about prayer and praise to i'm.
pose respect on the bystanders, But
neither prayer nor praise can very long
stand the strain which this conflict ia i'm.
posing on them. In fact, we are surpriaed
they have stood 1t 80 long. They have
owed their efficacy thus far largely 10
the tradition which makes them The di.
rect address to the Deity by a human soul
Of lts inmost feelings They will re.
tain the benefit Of this tradition for limit
ed period only. After they have been
used for awhile In the streets lor weapon
Of mundane warfare against q semi. Grim
inal class, the popular reverence for
them must rapidly die out, and the theory
which gives them their sanctity perish In
the minds Of large numbers even Of those
who engage IN them, and then, Of course,
the end Is not far OF. That the move
ment has already reached its limit Is
shown IN Its failure in large cities, where
local opinion cannot be concentrated.
Inc very utmost that can be expected
rom II Is, In our opinion, the intensifica-
ton, more or less, ofthe feeling that bars
are disreputa6le resorts, and that drinking
at them Is degrading; but The value ol
this result even will depend on tho effori
not being pushed lar enough to make /,
ridiculous or futile, and thus insure a re-.