Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1874-05-15
TEMPERANCE LEGINLA TTOy

~ WI VI VIC 1uUelnperaLc ten
perance women is abating, dying; all,
yet the world, it would seem, is IL
better off than when it was first kind]
ed. Saloons are as numerous: til,
number of drllnkartls about as grea
as when it began. The volume of ori
sons made Il momentary impression
Ola the air, excited the ridicule of til,
anti-religious world, awakening regre,
IN the breasts OF those whose religion
is not wholly irrational and sensation
al and these are the only results which
have been produced by the 'p1ayine
woman.' II prayer is cure for the
evils OF lntemperence, it is certainly as
effectual when offered up at home as
IN a saloon; when performed in a le-
gal manner.-that is, without 1niiins-
ing on others rights .-as in an illegal
and frantical way. With truly fcmi-
nine logic, however, tho ~--s---~-- :....e
ined their prayers more ef1icaciOus
Hd,an Y asn De,1otm0d in a saloon than at
r,aoo o' Not IN prayer itself, but in the
put fhMM.h! Where it was offered. did thew
prayer were more 1KeIy TO nafKen to
it when His aid was invoked i'll or in
front of q saloon, as if He were nearer
so holy a place than any other.
The good sense of the country, as a
general rule, allowed these women to
try their powers. They have failed,
and their failure is another fact that
no irrational treatment will cure the
evil of intemperance.
1t cannot be denied that there is
vast deal of drunkenness in the coun-
try. :. 1t cannot be denied that drunk
enness is an evil, la very great evil.
Nor does any one question that it is
an evil that demands remedy. The
only question is, What shall the RENE
dy be? The temperance legislation of
the country hitherto has done nothing
to diminish intempcrance. Ourlegisla-
tion Oh the matter thus far, has been
a failure. Prayer has been tried, and
the praying, too, has been failure.
Is all hope to discover q remedy, there
fore, lost! We think not.
In the drlinkarl there are two ele-
man and the drink. The
man without the drink will never be a
This is so clear a PROPOSE
ton that no philosopher will question
it. Another equally undeniable truth
is that drink Of itself, when not taken
by any one, does not make drunk
ard. 1t is only when the man and
the drink come together that we have
the compound known as the drunkard.
What name a chemist would give this
we do not know, nor does
it concern us here. But it is not every
kind OF beverage which, taken into
a man, will make him a drunkard. All
teaches that men will
drink stimulating drinks. To prevent
the formation Of an inebriate there
are, therefore, only two ways: either
so 70 change the constitution Of the
man that drink will not affect him, ex-
cept as water does, or so to change
che nature of his pOtiOns that they
will not make a beast of him. It is
an established fact that men can drink
certain liquors and not become sOts. It
is an established fact too, that certain
other liqurs, continued for any length
of time, do make bacchanals OF men.
If even the evils Of intemperance are
diminished in this country, it must be
in the light Of these facts. Hitherto
We have been legislating only for the
men who drink, forgetful that our
legislation cannot reach appetites or
change them. Is it not time that we
should begin to legislate concerning
the drink. the beer, the wine, which
we can reach! There may be abund-
ant OF wine in a country and its in-
habitants be sober. A great quantity
may be drank by them without their
becoming drunkards. Germany, Italy,
France and Spain are proofs of this.
There can be no question that those
countries in which stimulating drinks
are cheapest and most abundant are
the most temperate. The reason is
that the liquors are pure and do not
create an artificial appetite. Now, if
this is the case in southern climates,
why may it not be made so in north
ern climates? Why cannot We by
l0piSlation. cause pure and wholesome