Litchfield enquirer., 1878-04-18
Premature l?

much divided on the expediency of conining the action of their local society to moral sua sion. A clause wasssadopted in the constitution of this society, providing that it twill allow nc political or sectarian discussion, nor shall it un. dertake any political or legal action in regard to the liquor traffic, leaving these to the indi- vidual action of its members" The Ray now moves to strike out this clause, leaving it open to the society to commence legal measures for the suppression of the rum traffic. at any time when they may deem it expedient. If there is no present intention of attempting thesuppres. sion of that traffic, why not postpone the de- cision of such question till a decision is need ed? 8
 No doubt the time will come when this mat ter will be vital issue in our local politics. Hitherto, ''no license" has been made effective in but few towns in this part of the state but, with the increased interest of the community in the question of temperance, the area of practical prohibition ought to be largely ex- tended. Whether, even now, it would be possible to effectually check the sale of spirit
 
 Milford, and Winsted, is very doubtful mat ter. Were all those who do not habitually use alcoholic liquors to make the further step in advance of taking the pledge of total absti- hence, the proportion of our population that would still be interested in favor of the traffic would be so small that prohibition would be- come entirely practicable in places where it is now entirely impracticable. The difficulty is that prohibition is a political matter, and that the Blue Ribbon movement gathers three quar- ters of it's support from women and children who have no political power. We cannot but see that even in these times of great temper ance enthusiasm there are many dissentients that these dissentients are mainly adult males and every man a voter.
 What sensible temperance men hope most from such revival as is now sweeping over the country, is that it may plant permanently in the minds of the young such a distrust of habits of indulgence in the use of intoxicating drinks as will bear fruit in general habits of total abstinence. If the boys who now wear the blue ribbon, and who have as yet no love of strong drink, can be kept true to their pledge the next generation will be a temper ance generation. The danger is that the adult males of our time, continuing their practice of indulgence, will eventually find imitators in their sons, and that thus another generation will produce it's full crop of drunkards to fill the land with crime and misery
 Can the nail driven by Murphy's moral sua- sion be clenched by the legal suasion of Prohi- bition In other words, is Total Abstinence strong enough politically to say to the habitual drinker If we cannot persuade you into ab stinence, we canforce you to it !" Temperance people greatly underrate the power necessary to carry prohibition into thorough execution. Total abstinence needs notonly an overwhelm- ing public opinion at it's back, but an over- whelming preponderance of total abstinence practice, before it can successfully resort to such an extreme measure Given strong ma- jority of voters who themselves practice total abstinence, and they may perhaps impose.their views ofprohibition upon the minority but no voter who indulges himself, can consistently in- terfere with the indulgence of others. Let any Litchfield or New Milford or Winsted prohibi- tionist look over the voting list of his town and see whether even in this season of temperance enthusiasm the Blue Ribbon men are in a ma- jority? Let him count up his leading local politicians and see how many are reliable total abstinence men?
 Is not any present talk of Prohibition pre- mature for at least two reasons? In the first place because the methods of compulsion and persuasion do net work we'll together. Alter nate threatnings and persuasions simply neu- tralize each other. Nothing should be said to the drunkard about compulsion till persuasion has utterly failed. When we have persuaded ey- ryone we can into total abstinence, it will be time to consider whether we are strong enough to force the rest.
 The second reason is that it will be most absurd blunder to force the question of prohi- bition to political issue so long as much the the stronger wing of the temperance army remains disfranchised. It would have been as fool-hardy in Christian to have fought Ap- polyon with his right arm dashed to his side, as for Temperance to fight Rum at the polls without the woman vote The bat tle when it comes, will be doubtful enough at best. Not that votes of ''No License" can- not be carried That is but a small part of Prohibition. To back up such vote is need ed earnest prosecuting officers and above ali, such feeling among the mass of voters as will make it the politicians while to become a Temperance man. Heretofore Rum has been so much stronger at the polls than Temperance that the furthest advance the politician has vet made, at least here in Connecticut, has been to the famous position of the candidate who was ''in favor of the Maine law, but agin' it's enforcement"
 Mrs. Gaines is said to have recently remark ed to an advocate of woman's suffrage
 "You think, she said, 'the ballot will cure every evil. It will not. You ask too much at once. Educate women to it let them be given thorough training, and then knock at the doors of national legislation, and you will not be denied admittence. You will not ele vate your own sex by dragging men down, and calling them names, and splitting and tramp ling on them. It is too foolish. The methods you employ make the very thought of suffrage obnoxious to men, and women, too." No doubt too much immediate help is ex- pected. by those who are striving to enlarge woman's sphere, from their admission to the suffrage. The change that would surely re- suit, would start very slowly at first. Wives and daughters would vote with husbands and fathers. Women would not at once act in. dependently at the polls. Stin the history of extensions of the suffrage shows that voters are not usually educated to. but by the ballot. Few women will now spend much time in learning about the conduct of public affairs in which they are allowed no voice. Is it not very natural, too, that the intelligent women who have looked into the matter, and who know how dirty. selfish, and disreputable pol itics have become. are very indignant that they should be allowed no voice in their re-