Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-06-01
TEMPERANCE ADDRESS.
Delivered at indianapolis, May Sd, by
Mrs. Wallace, President of the
State Temperance Union.


State Temperance Union.
Mrs. Wallace was introduced to the
convention, and in trembling voice of
suppressed grief and emotion, read her
address. She said:
My CHRISTIAN FRIENDS:-I give
you greeting as the tried and true
friends of the Master whose we are and
and in whom we trust. | shall not at
tempt, at this advanced stage of the
temperance reform, to consume your
time by the repetition of arguments to
prove that we have a gigantic evil in
our land, the very embodiment of the
wicked one which opposes itself to in
dustry, progress, education, religion
and human life, which annually Stays
thousands of our sons, destroys ninety
million bushels of grain, and fills the
country with pauperism, sorrow, and
crime.
These are self-evident facts, and we
meet to-day not so much to dwell upon
these painful truths as to take counsel
together, to compare notes and see
what progress, if any, we have made,
and consider the best means of remov-
ing this terrible evil. l consider that
in view of our approaching elections,
and the fact that we shall have to fight
next winter, for a repeal o. our present
OdiOus license law, and for prohibition,
every lover of temperance is satisfied
that we will ask for nothing less; it be-
hOOves us to act wisely, and consider
what are the great obstacles to such a
measure. 1t seems TO me that our tenn
perance element is as so much waste
force, five are to have organization
after organization, hold convention af-
ter convention with no practical re-
suits beyond the passage of few high
sounding resolutions.
1 think the time has fully come when
the temperance men of this land should
either form themselves into a prohibit
ton party or bind themselves by the
most solemn obligations before God
and each other to vote for no man who
is not openly and avowedly committed
70 the most radical temperance legisla-
tion.
1 cannot but feel that the temperance
element is sufficiently strong to secure
prohibitory legislation if it were not
made a party issue; and as both of the
great parties have ignored our wishes
and treated us with silent contempt,
think we are under no obligations to
consider their success only as we may
best promote the advance of the tenn
perance cause.
/ am fully aware that we cannot by
penal codes or legal enactments make
men moral and upright; but we can use
all the power of the government for the
promotion of sobriety and virtue.
Paul tells us that the divine law was
school master to bring us to Christ,
and it should be the highest boast of
human law to so approximate to the
divine as to be an educator to make
men thoughtful, merciful and just; and
we have had sufficient evidence in the
last year, if we had not known it before
that the whole effect of the liquor traf-
fic is to demoralize everyone who has
anything to do with it.
1t is said the government needs the
revenue derived from the manufacture
and sale of intoxicants, but the fact of
revenue may well be doubled when we
know that for S61 200, 900 derived from
this traffic the government pays 81 900,
0OO, 900; and, my dear friends, when we
speak Of the government we do not
speak of an abstaction-the people in
this country are the government; and
the taxpayers of this country annually
pay this enormous sum to enrich bus
mess which for crime and vicious ten
denotes has no parallel in history; and
while l condemn all fraud and dishon-
esty / confess to have little sympathy
with government which is willing to
derive revenue from such source;
that is willing, for gold, to give $4,000
human sacrifices yearly; and it seems
to me but retributive justice that a
government which will rob wives CT
their husbands, parents of their sons,
and helpless children of education,
bread, home and parents, from such
motive, should in turn be robbed, and
that its sin would be visited on its own
head, especially when we reflect that
governments are ordained of God for
the protection and well-being of human
ity, for the suppression of crime and
the punishment of evil doors.
But when they fail to carry out the
purpose for which they are organized
and become parties to crime, and pros
titute their powers, not only for the
protection of vice, but to debauch and
corrupt their own citizens, the down
fall of those governments is only a
question of time. And | take it that
this subject of temperance and the
liquor traffic, is not alone a question of
religion and morals, but of State econo-
mics and national life. If you were to
meet man with corrupting, eating,
cancerous sore, which was preying up
on his very vitals, you would say it
must be removed, or the man will die.
And it is equally true of the body polit-
ic. This cancer must be removed, or
our life as free people will be destroy
ed. The ''Watchword" speaks so well to
this point, and expresses my thoughts
so cleerly, that l take the liberty of
transcribing them here: I'm the
science of political economy far too lit
tie attention has been paid to the rela-
tions of the drink traffic to dangerous
and oppressive legislation. If we mis-
take not the signs of the time, our
chief political dangers look toward the
rising liquor obligatory of our country.
We are republic. We have no auto
Gratis or aristocrats by title. Knights
and mobiles are not American. The
people rule here; but what if the peO-
pie themselves are vile and dangerous?
What cannot million of bad men do
in the working of American politics?
A majority of bad citizens are no bet
ter than harsh and cruel monarchy
We have in this country lust the inflII-