Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-10-08
ygrimging tho Changes on Tenn l.
perance -SOcE0fyT ne
sponsfbse.
Columbia Herald

i WFingiRg the Changes on Tenn
perance Notwithstanding 1Se-
t sponsibse.
Columbia Herald
Z At the Methodist Church last sun
! day morning, the Rev. Z. j. Dun
can announced that as the Sunday
School had been studying the sub
, jaet oiItemperance, he would contin-
| ue the discussion, taking the "Gol-
den Text for his theme.
He stated that intemperance, bru-
I tai and outrageous, confronted us
all over the land That it stalked
! with blatant bearing through the
streets, and into our houses, bring
ing In its train every conceivable
shame and SORROW, that none could
; fail to see, or be stirred to action by
the sight. The liquor traffic was
doing more harm than famine, woe,
or plague; with this curse each one
of US have kinship. Most families
sharing in the woe it brings. No
church was free from making, buy
ing, selling or using; society was a
unit, having a common interest in
this question, these relationships
created responsibility. 1t rested
upon the lrunkard, and he would
be responsible for his sin. " Let US
walk backward to him like the
sons of Noah, and drop the mantle
of charity over his fall" Some
blame the saloon keeper, and every
one knew that he was not his apol-
oggist. Heaven knows he had no
excuse to offer for a man whose
business was flooding the country
with tears, and shame, and blood.
i But pad as the business is it is liz
censed by the very society that it
corrupts.
He then charged society with be-
ing the guilty author of this mis-
chief; and every man who had not
4 exhausted every resource at his
command to put it down, with be-
ing an accomplice.
He then eXhorted as the initial
step in ridding the country of this
great evil that society abandon the
use of wines and liquors in public
or private, from their tables, and
public and private entertainments. |
| That everywhere, pulpit and press,
| judicial bench and schoOl-rOOm, the |
voice of condemnation should be
raised against it. This should be
followed by shutting up every whis-
ky hell in Tennessee. Society put |
them into existence and must put |
| them out, and would be responsible |
for the drunkenness and crime un-
| til it was done. The state govern
ment was but an expression OF pub
lie opinion, and public opinion had
expressed itself by sending men to
the public places of the state who
were favorable to the liquor traffic.
He then argued that state gov
ernment was a divine institution,
and that the author of the state
clothes it with authority to protect
itself against crime. That civil
government must necessarily re-
strain; that Paul said: " rulers are
not terror to good works, but to
evil" but that the principle he
enunciated originated before scOun-
drelism found its way into execu-
tive and legislative departments.
That the state had declared against
the publication and circulation of
obscene books, and the induldence
of many other wicked things, cal
culated to corrupt society, and that
she not only condemned but pun
ished the perpetrators. Everybody
admitted the traffic to be great
evil, yet many refused to tackle 1t,
and would damn a man who did.
The taxes imposed were really fines
showing that the state had conSci-
ence on the question, and wanted
to express their disapproval. II
they had the right to discriminate
they had the right to prohibit. The
supreme court of the United States
had decided time and again that
state had the right to prohibit. Then
the law of God, and tine law of the
land were agreed, and the state
ought to exercise this right, now,
henceforth, and forever. Our i'm
sane, paupers. murderers, criminals,
drunkards and waste of billions of
the country's energies and resources
all argued down with the traffic.
The state has no right to legislate
in the interest of one to the damage
of another, and in licensing one sa-
loon she damages hundreds. Ii the
state will not protect US against this
evil, then state government is a
farce. Shall these men fatten on
the blood of our country? Never?
The state must undo what she has
done, and give equal protection to
all. He declared the traffic an un-
mixed evil, and that the state by
beginning it, stripped it of the obi
um and honor that rightfully be-
longed to it.
He declared it to be q sin against
God and humanity, and that license
did not alter the fact. Society was
responsible for it because they up I
held the crime by protecting the
criminal. {
He asked ii this was a CHRISTIAN
country, and declared that if no true t
would sell, then no true I
christian could license the sale. q
He then charged that any saloon
keeper was an agent Of society or l
dained to the Office and work ruin q
ing young men, improverishing and '
them, making widows I
and orphans. That even license I
was failure; and hardly a court :
but found bill of indictment
one for the abuse of
his license. That white kerchiefed
listened to the rattle of
billiard balls over drinking saloons
on the holy Sabbath, and wished it y
were not so, but raised no voice TO 4
put it down. That it would pay the X
state to support these men in idle {
ness rather than license them to do }
this work of pauperising and degra-
ding our people, sending them to
poorhouses and asylums. :
He then denied the prohibition =
law passed in other states did not
prohibit. Showed the inconsistent Z
cy of liquor men by quoting deal y
or who said that he sold more liquor
in Kansas since than before the law u
was past, and yet declared that his
house would spend of its mOneyli lib :
orally to pehvent prohibition in u
Tennessee. That in any case it was
our duty to put it down if possible. = =
That we should stand by principle, y
and leave results with God.
He closed by reading an editorial q q
from the Chicago Brewer, in which u
it was admitted that the temperance
was the advance guard :
Of the church of God and urging =
brewers to meet them with solid y
on penalty of losing their y
trade. He closed with an appeal to u
society to aid in taking the bottle :
rom the lips Of our young men, : :