Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-03-15

eieties which FOIIOwed-Apathy of
the Last Twenty Years.
From the New York World, March IL.
The sixty years of temperance agitation
which this country has heretofore witness
ed may be divided into two nearly equal
periods. The first of these periods was
marked by the religious character of the
clergy, its success was followed by reac-
ton and the organization of temperance
societies commenced. Some were open
unions Of pledged men, and others were
secret with intricate mechanism, past
grands, grips, and passwords. They in
creased; numbered their members by
thousands, and passed away, so far as any
abiding effect was concerned, though part
of them still exist and claim charges,
chapters and lodges all over the coun-
try. RepreSsive legislation q one kind
and another had been employed in many of
the States to regulate traffic in liquors even
in the last century, but the laws were quite
as much for revenue purposes as for any
other ends. The first session of Congress
placed heavy tax on distilled spirits, and
most of the States required licenses for the
sale OF liquors, and some prohibited sales
to the Incorporate. The laws represented
TIC vi Tic
The usual preparation for an ordination in
the little State of Connecticut was a side
board loaded with liquors; (which" says
clergyman of the time, Stocked and
smelled like the bar of very active grog-
shop" ''and,7 continues the discriminating
chronicler, ''while none were drunk. there
was at times a considerable amount of ex-
hilaration.' 4 temperance tractate had
Ill
Rush, of Philadelphia, in 1904, but it had
as little direct influence as the temperance
society, the first organization of the kind
in Saratoga County, formed four years
later. In New York there was not the
faintest sign Of any change, and as late as
1914 the clergyman of the Wall Street
Presbyterian Church speaks of the i'm
minent danger he ran as a young minister
of getting drunk while he made his round
of morning calls. And the Wall
Street Presbyterian Church was no excep-
tiOnal case. The same temptation be-
set the popular young preacher every
where. The first movement in favor of
a change had been made at the time Just
alluded to. Two religious bodies, one in
Connecticut, and the other the General As
semble Of the Presbyterian Church, had
passed resolutions cOndemning the use of
ardent spirits, but great care was taken to
exclude from any disapprOval Intoxicating
liquors containing lesser percentage of al
cOhOl. 1t was not till 1887 that temper
ance came to mean total abstinence, and
the change in policy was only carried
against great opposition from the leaders Of
the old movement.
For twenty years the agitation remained
in the hands of clergymen. One religious
body after another came out in favor of
temperance, and a general proselytizing Of
the masses was carried on in all the States,
attempting not to abolish the trade in LIQUORS
but to regulate it, and to prevent drunken
ness by encouraging the use Of ales and
wines. Local societies were formed princ;
pally in the East, and the movement does
not seem to have made healing outside of
New England. The only legislation in New
York bearing at all on the subject was law
which required q license of from 50 to $50
in the city and Of s. to $50 in other parts Of
the State, at the discretion Of the Excise
Commissioners. A general temperance con-
yentiOn was held in Boston in 1926, but it
contained few delegates from the Middle
States. The movement had already accom-
plished much in checking the production of
ardent spirits. The total production of
distilled liquors in 1926 was placed at co.
100000 gallons annually, OF more than
three-fOurthS OF the present production,
with a population which has increased
nearly three fold. Five years later fifth
Of the distilleries in the country, over 1000,
have been closed from want of business,
and the production in this State Cat that
time ranking first in the manufacturer Is
said to have fallen off more than s., 000, 900
annually. In 1881 tho reform in use of
alcoholic stimulaRts had spread over the
country. Tho national organization in
Guided 5000 local societies, with a mem
bership Of 100000, and the society in this
State contained 1900 reformed drunkardS.
The movement had by this time acquired
enough Of q national character to warrant
meeting in the Hall of Representatives
at Washington, at which Lewis CaSs,
Secretary of War, presided, and Dan
lei Webster pronounced his adhesion
to the cause Of temperance and the disuse
OF alcoholic beverages. Besides MaSsachu-
sets, Georgia, Tennessee and New jersey
were represented by their Congressional
delegations in this meeting. IN the next
two years, which preceded national con-
veatiOn on the subject and the formation
Of Temperance union az Philadelphia, the
New \ Ork State society grew 10 bethe largest
of the country, numbering $4,000 mem
bers, and having branches in every town
and village. Fully iogFth of the pOpula-
tion of the Sta.e was at this time directly
interested in temperance reform" The
movement had reached its highest
point in 1887. The ANNUAL report
for that year gives as one result of the
agitation that the distillerieS of the State
had decreased in six years from 1,l49 10
337, and more than 100 towns had stOpped
the sale Of liquor. In this city 10000 per-
sons had signed the pledge Of total absti-
nence from the use, manufacture, or sale Of
ardent spirits. II was ct this time that the
movement changed its character and began
to oppose all alcoholic liquors indiscrimi-
nately. This principle was adopted by the
National Convention at Saratoga, New
York, in 1886, after three yeaIS OF bitter
discussion, and the next year the Society
in this State adopted the teetOtal
pledge, The discussions and differences
which sprans up in the discussions on
She subject alienated many of the old lead
ers, and many clergymen and churches
withdrew their adhesion from the cause.
be distinctively a religious reform and
passed into the hands ofthe societies which
controlled it for the next thirty years. Be
fore this change was entirely completed the
first great temperance demonstration in this
city was held in the Chatham Chapel in
1887. The American Temperance Union
met for its first anniversary at this time,
and soon after its offices were transferred to
this city, which has since been the official
centre.
The fsrSt OIthetenperance societies which
were TO carry On the work in the last period
Ofthis reform was the WashingtOnian, or
ganized by eight drunkards in a Baltimore
bar-rOOm in 1870. All were mechanics.
and they set on foot wild, Undisciplined,
popular agitation, Nobody but reformed
drunkaFtis were allowed TO speak at their
meetinss, lOafeIs and inebriates were
dragged out Of the streets, forced on the
platform, and their signatures Obtained to
the pledge, amid the widest enthusiasm in
the audience, and matter. generally were
carried on in an energetic manner, which
broOked no opposition and little interference,
The original eight went from place to place,
and carried their enthusiasm with them,
They were rough and ignorant, they toll!
stories from the platform .hai were scarcely
decent; they were Faqe and vulgar in dress
and action sGd speach, but in four years
halt a million persons had signed the
pledge and 10000 drunlIards had been
| s.raclaimed - The first meeting OF the