Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1880-08-18
TEMPERANCE
A TEMPERANCE ADDR ESS DE.
LIVERED BEFORE THE
GREEN WILLIE TEN
PERANCE SOCIETY.
SUNDAY, JULY ith, IssO.
BY ROLAND D. swooPE, ESQ, OF CUR
wENsvILLE.

Ladies and Gentlemen Year after
year, as time with never ceasing stride
moves onward toward eternity, more
than forty millions OF people assemble
together in their respective communi.
ties to celebrate with song and eulogy
the annual recurrence OF this anniver.
sary of Freedoms natal day, when
our foreiathers proclaimed TO an as
founded world the great doctrines of
universal liberty, and political and so.
cial equality.
Yet while we heartily join with all
true patriots in the celebration of onr
National Anniversary, and view with
pardonable pride our countrys great.
ness and power, we come here to-day
not to exto the wonderful progress Of
the Nation, but to consider the best
means of preserving our priceless in
stitutions amidst the dangers and
perils with which they are now en-.
vironed.
Need remind you of the history OF
the Nations that have hourished and
fallen in the long ages of the past, to
prove that the increase of wealth, lux
ury, population and commerce, and all
the indicid Of the highest civilization,
are so far from being the foundations
OF security that they are and ever
have been the certain precursors
OF ruin, unless accompanied by n
corresponding increase and elevation
Of the moral habits of the people.
The increase Of wealth, population,
commerce and territory, instead of
sustaining imaginary theories OF pro-
gress and perlectibIity, lead us back
ward in the light of history and ex.
perience to the uniform causes Of Ma
tonal corruption and ruin.
Do | speak without proofs2 Go,
visit the marsh where Babylon once
sat the glory of Nations Go, read
tho lessons recorded on the broken
arches of the hundred gate sol Thebes
Visit Marius-like the ruins of Garth
age Gaze upon the fishers nets
hung out to dry, where tho Merchant
Princes OF Tyre once trafIiced with
the world Let Persepolis or Pal
myra, Alexander or Athens utter
their testimony orifyou wanta crown.
ing demonstration visit Rome, once
mistress Of the world and gaze upon
the stricken spectre that now haunts
the places of her departed glory. The
fact that the greatest danger of our
country is just approaching has not
escaped the attention OF our wiser and
more rejecting statesmen. These
warning are founded upon the admis-
sion of tho corruption of human nature,
the tendency Of great prosperity and
the results Of extended power, vast
population, constant immigration from
foreign countries and increasing wealth
and also upon tho experience of all
those Nations whose wrecks lie scat.
tered along the shores OF time. There
can be no safety in such a Government
US ours, except that which has its
foundation in the moral tone and senti.
ment of its people, and therefore every
thing that aids in any way to elevate
the morals of the population should
meet with hearty encouragement and
support from all good citizens. If the
people are pure and free from vice and
profligacy, then tho Government, as
by the popularity OF our laws and in.
stitutions II emanates from the people
themselves will be pure also. But on
the contrary If the people are debased
profligate and vicious, so will be their
rulers, and the result will be as 1t ever
has been in the past, and this young
Republic like its eagle emblem spread
ing its wingsfor conquest shall fall like
those that have gone before.
There can be no doubt that intem.
perance is one of the most terrible
evils of the age. Its effects are felt
on every hand. Like the crafty saw.
age it has regard for neither age, sex
or condition, but enters the fairesl
homes and snatches as its victims the
dear ones of the household and hurries
them downward to q drunkards end
1t fills our penitentiarics, our jails and
almshouses, all theabodes Of crime and
misery, full to overhowing with its
victims. 1t is the cause of more than
half the suffering in the world. Thou.
sands mourn and deplore its direfuI
effects. In hundreds of once happy
homes its fell presence has been felt
and the fair and effulgent beams of love
which had frightened the hearthstonc
have fed forever and passion and
crime have entered in its place.
Such a condition OF affairs in the
moral statues of the people, when
taken in connection with the Other