Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-04-22
Thoughts on the Temperance Cues
ton.

Mr.. EDITOR Though / am rot
a very radical toetotaIer, | do not
think you have exactly taken the
right ground in lscturing the tenn
perancs faction in Platteville, Your
advice is very good, parents must
teach their children habits of tenn
peranca, to keep out Of saloons, out
of the range of temptation, 60, as
if this was their whole duty end the
only means of bsuishing great
evil pervadipg all ranks and classes
OF society. You sometimes are in q
moralizing mood and | like your
precspts, bat trust you will never
see the day when the moral sense
of the community will rot stray it,
self In sons organized form agaiust
this perverted appetite and ito de-
plorabls consequences. In Repub.
lican government like ours, the first
mode of warfare is that Of voluntary,
aftiiieted eooisties for the suppress,
sion Of the evil. So slavery was
fra. asssiisd. bat ct the right no,
msnt and not before il ended in a
Proclamation of universal freedom.
You may tell your boys to keep
out of gambling bells and houses Of
bad repute and i'll fame; that is
well bat be aure you will not see
the day when large portion Of the
community a, least, will not be in
favor of putting down such inetitu-
tons by law. At least the entire
moral sentiment of the community
must sink to the level of these insti.
tutions or there will be 6 perpetual
war against them. Ii is true the
grocery and esloon are not held in
the community in the same odious
light SIS these nuissnces, but if the
time should ever como that they
shall share tho came disapprobation.
they will be treated ia the same
way.
The great reformers TO whom the
world owes so much have generally
been fanatical and impracIicabic as
legislators. Moral suasion is too
slow a process, and with bare and
accidental majority they sometimes
attempt to interdiet q great public
evil by positive law in which thous.
ands of dollars of capital, fortunes
and modes of livelihood are invest
ed. and these forces united, next
election, abolish the law; and its
advocates,or great mum bers of them,
lsave the cause in disgust and new
er endorse it again. When ques.
ton of this kind gets into politics
nc further real conversions are
made, and the efforts of years are
lost 10 premature attempt to make
ninety-nine votes exceed hundred.
a temperance law to bs permanent
presupposss o reliable and fixed
purposs in 6 large majority OF the
voters to forever abolish the traffic
10 intoxicating drinks wllhin their
jurisdiction, snd until pubic senti
ment bas reached this point, any at
tempt 20 enact prohibition will wo
fully disspp0iut it's advocates.
But lei no one imagine that any
number of thess failures will end the
strife. The gTssa law ST. 1eswean
the moral sense ard conscience on
the one side versus the sppelite for
alcoholic drink on the other will DO
tried over and over sgain till the
plaintiff or defendant wins the final
victory. Appetite lika gravitstion
is self acting force thai has ell the
tendencies Of human ma
ture in its favor, but opposed to "
there is Christianity, broad and en-
lightened philanthropy, love for our
fellow men, the increasing iEtslh
genoe of the sgs. Their sc.isn Is
periodical snd spasmodie. yer vital
aud immortal, aad ii Eae progress |
of society Is upward aud onward IS
I trust it is, they may yet take the