Towanda daily review. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1879-1921, 1881-03-22
Practical Temperance Work.


temperance, but Mr.. Robert Graham, Sec
retary of the Church ofEngland Tomper-
ance Society, made an address in DR..
Potter's church--Grace, New YORK, on
Wednesday evening which was full of prac-
tical information and suggestions. After
reciting what his society had accomplish
ed in the first decade OF it's existance he
said:
81 believe we are on the eve of success
in our Sunday closing movement, and
one Of my missions to this country was
to observe the working Of your law pro-
hibiting the sale Of liquor on Sunday.
But as [ rode along on the elevated rail
way last Sunday could easily see above
the fan-light Of the doors of your public
houses that the business was being car
ried on as briskly as on any other day.
The policeman was standing at the cor
ner and knew that this selling was going
on and that it was contrary to law but
he did not seem to think that it was his
business to put stop to 1t. The fact is
you have prohibtory law but you have
not made the slightest pretense of carrys
ing it out. We.early saw that there were
two lines of work. line of rescue and
line of prevention-and from what I have
observed know that my arguments in
this direction will apply to this country
equally with England. Eight years ago
the Church of England Temperance Soci-
ETY. was organized, not on the narrow
platform Of total abstinance, but I, on
the one side, as total abstainer deter
mined to keep myself clean from all con-
tact with liquor; but holding my own
opinion [ was bound to give it to my
brother Christian man who had other
views. We knew that there were thou
sands of Christian men and women in
England who were not total abstaners
and never would be, but who had led So
Der, pure and Christian lives. SO we
said, 'We want the help Of this class, and
anybody who will help on our good work
shall be welcomed by us earnestly and
people said, 'Oil and water will not mix
They did not stop to enquire whether
these two classes fairly represented oil
and water. We saw that drunkenness
increased just as the facilities for it in
creased, and that so long as there was
gin palace on every corner there would
xbe great drunkenness, and our first step
was to diminish the number of these gin
palaces. The second was that we would
aim at closing them altogether on Sunday
and third that we would establish coffee
taverns. Forty-one of them have been
established in Liverpool alone and 300 in
London. [ do not suppose that those
who first invested their money in these
coffee-taverns expected any return from
the investment, but as matter of fact,
from the very first they have never yield
ed smaller percentage than 10 per cent.
| am astonished to hear that they have
not succeeded here, but | fear that YOU
have only tried them in small way and
In the lowest quarters Of the city. You
must make them as commodiouS, as
bright and as elegant as the gin palace or
they will not compete successfully with
it. A gentleman in small village just
out Of London, observing how much
drunkenness there was, spent $4,000 tn
establish coffee-tavern, and goes behind
his own bar in the evening and sees that
his coffee is of the very best character"
In conclusion, Mr.. Graham expressed
the hope that the Episcopal church in
this country would follow the example
of the church in Enplnnd eStahli Shino