The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1874-04-23
Thr
remperanoe at the Polls.

Temperance at the Polls
At-6rst glance the returns o the NUM-
cipal elections of last Monday in Ohio do
not seem encouraging 70 friends of the
.Temperance movement. We look in vain
for evidence Of that wonderful change Of
public sentiment which was TO ~regeneIate
the treat West if Aot the whole country,
and hnally sweep all the dram shops from
the lace Of the earth. Not only the large
cities like Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Col
umbus are reported as declaring against
Temperance, but town after tSwn In the
rural districts registered the same verdict
Al the polIs. There were not 8 few tri-
nuphs for the Crusaders, but the drift Of
the tlde was in the opposite direction. A
friend Of the Temperance movement writ
ing to q Cincinnati paper from the home of
Mother Stewart, Dio Lewis'smost efficient
female coadiutor, saws that TO tell the plain
truth ssSpripg6eld, after full elaboration,
knowingly rejects the proposition to sup
press saloons; q clear majority want no
law deciding what shall be drunk" In
mat city the Common Council is evenly
divided on the Temperance question
More disappointing to the crusaders, and
surprising 70 everybody, Is the success OF
the anti emperance ticketin Washington
" IL. WuClQ lAQ ~ -
i~naupurated. and achieved, perhaps, its
greatest victories, and in Hillsboro. whence.
as from Washington C. H, missionaries
have gone into the surrounding country
10 show how the liquor traffic may be ex-
tirpated BY the womeE's method. The
DISPATCHES say that Franklin, so c%onspicus
Gus in the early history OF the crusade.
gave q majority for the opposition, and that
Wavnesville, Sidney, Pomeroy, and other
places equally celebrated in connection
With the women's movement, also voted
"anti-Tsmperance."
But a full knowledge Of facts in the
case throws a food of light on these appa-
emily disheartening return II anything
i demonstrated by the Ohio elections it
is that the Temperance sentiment awaken
ed by the women's movement is not a Pro-
hibition sentiment. The spirit Of that
movement. As manifested in its most sue
oessfnl form, is the law OF moral influence.
1t appears not in the use of prayer as a bat
terinS-ram to break down the doors OF a
dram-shop, bat in gentle though importu'
nate apps sal of wronged women TO the con-
science and heart Of the man at whose
hands abe has suffered. There is little
. trace of it in the preconcerted dramatic
accessories Of q PROCESSION Of singing wo-
men on the street; nor in DIGGING the
steps Of Thirsty topers; nor yet IN wearing
ouI the patience Of q sa~loon-keeper by an
eternal Woodworking ct his door.
These things may divert the rabble and
fJrd material for the pens Of emotional
correspondents: but, however ex:usable
thew may be when the Crusade fever Is AZ
its night, they are effective only IN excep-
tional cases. Still more foreign, then, to
the true spirit Of The women's movement
IA An appeal 10 the Law. When the wo-
men turn from prayer to God and pleading
with The sa~loOn-keepers TO invoke the
power OF the State, they abandon their
~slronQest position and God arrayed against
them. not only the liquor dealer and the
iouor drInker, but that great body of re-
spectacle and religious people who value
federation above Total Abstinence, and
who would bear even the Ills Of intemper
ance rather than give their assent to a
principle OF legislation which, II carried to
It's logical consequences, would cover the
statute books with laws which they believe
to be homogeneous upon individual rights.
The question in the Ohio towns was
virtually this: Shall we have Prohibl-
tion7 It arose in the form OF Incense OF
No License. The Prohibltionlsts saga
ciously attempted to turn the feeling In
lAVOI u ACuPCIAuCC AAbO bOsCo
Compulsory Total Abstinence. The wo-
men IDjudicIOusly lent themselves to the
scheme, and the resalt is an apparent re-
buke to them, while it is in reality a SIM
pie but emphatic negative to the question
which the ProhIbit.onists insisted upon
-propounding to the people of Ohlo- Ma
ny, 1t Is reported did not vote at all, be-
cause they feared q vote for license would
be m~isunderstood, and that a vote sgainst
license weuld be regarded as an indorse-
ment oil the extreme views of tha Prohi-
t~lonists. In either case the cause Of Temp
erance would suffer;-thus the women lost
for the time much of the moral support
which they have hitherto enjoyed. The
voice Of the towns voting for License was
not for Intemperance, but against what
they regarded as Intolerance. The lesson
for the good women engaged in the Tenn.
perance movement is that. if they would
have success, they must avoid political al
hanees.-N Y. Tribune, 10Th.