The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-03-23
IHEEhPERANCE AAD LEGIsLGTION.
The Progress Of Pablie SenIimsni-Ihe
Work Remaining to be Done,

Chicago Intsrior.
It is evident that the temperance re
form Is rising tide, It's waters are widen
ing and deepeniHgin all the thought chan
nsls Of the age, The question 1t raises
will not down, for 1t is no less than thu
question whether society has right, and
can find q way, to project itself from
overwhelming disasters. The interests al
stake are too vital to no set aside, and
the sufferers from drunkenness in one
form or another, too numerous and intel
ligent to be always silenced, The tenn
perance movement, in its varying stages
and phases, has now history Of alty
years. During this period much has beer
done in the way Of public discussion, many
different agencies have been set to work,
social, moral, voluntary and ecclesiastical,
and various e1pedIents have been sug'
ges.ed and tried. Nor have these dis,
cussions and experiments been in vain,
They were all needful as q preliminary
preparation for that final discussion and
that matured remedy, and that settled re-
solve OF the public mind which sooner or
later are bound to come.
The fifty years OF discussion has been a
necessary period Of preparation, and
though great progress has been made, the
work Is only halt accomplished. The be-
ginning OF the conflict, fifty years ago, was
feeble, The whole people, with here aud
there an exception, were Oblivious to the
tremendous increase OF the evils OF intern
peranCe; but the work oil persuading the
drunkard TO reform went hand in hand
with the conversion OF the people to new
views OF the subject, In some Communi,
ties progress was made mora rapidly than
in others, and In about twenty years the
public sentiment In some oil the States was
ripe for o trial Of the final remedy, pro.
hibitory leRislation. For the most part the
attempt ended In disappointment, because
more was expected OF 1t than could be re-.
allied, While there was degree OF good
will toward the movement that gave to
the reformers the legislative power, there
was no such sentiment as would impel the
people to rally determinedly around the
law, and see to its enforcement. But the
legislation was not Q failure, for all
that. II had an educating influence,
It gave means Of protection to localities
as fast as the people OF the vicinage could
be brought up 10 the proper standard.
Mistakes were made and defeats enCount.
cred, and disCouragements Of all sorts lay
In the path Of success. But ell this time
public sentiment has been In process Of
enlightenment and elevation, and now
there Ia O general movement, which In the
end will demonstrate the immense gain
that has been made in fifty years, En-.
lightened legislators are considering the
form Of legislation best adapted 10 the
people oil their several States. Pennsyl.
vauia and Illinois have limited restriction
and local option. Indiana possesses a sys'
TEN oil guards and penalties Of severe
character. Maine was long since In al.
vance OF other States, and tried absolute
prohibition, and with more success than
could have been expected. Kansas feels
herself strong enough to try the same he.
role remedy. II she has educated her PEG
ple sufficiently on the subjeC the law will
be a success. Two or three years will teat
the solidity OF the foundations that have
been laid. It's probable that Iowa, Min.
nesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, and
perhaps some other States, will try the
same thorough policy, while 10 the other
States the existing legislation Is in process
Of improvement and amendment.
We do not here pretend to decide what
form or degree OF legal restriction Ia best
In each particular Stateand locality. That
must be left In every case to wise legisa
ton, consulting the will Of an enlightened
people, and the best interests Of the PEG.
pie. OF course In our country legisla ion
can not go In advance Of public opinion.
That measure OF law must be adopted
which rests on public Eentiment, and can
be sustained by public sentiment. But
our legislators may rest assured that the
tide OF public sentiment Ia everywhere ris.
Ing. That sentiment is even now demand.
Ing, and hereafter II will demand, louder
and louder, that the law oil the land 10
every town, city and village, shall afford
some adequate protection against the tire.
mendous wrongs and burdens and ruins
engendered by the sale Of intoxicating
drinks. Says one Of our influential con.
temporaries OF the east: ut Ia high time
that every State In the Union was employ.
ing oil its power. moral and legal, religious
and civil, 10 stay the sale of intoxicating
drinks" And says another, the New
York Herald: 1.-THE temperance question,
In whatever light regarded, 10 one Of the
most interesting and important OF the
many problems Of the day"
It ID about time that our law.making
powers and our executive officials should
emancipate themselves from that silly sen.
timentalism sometimes ventilated In pub.
lie lectures and In newspaper editorials,
which processes to hold that drunkenness
Ia In no way subject for legislation; but
must be left to moral suRsion and the pull.
pit. II the druukard stood alone In the
world, and had no connection whatever
with the life, property and right OF other
people, such talk might be well enough.
But unfortunately for him, and for the
logic which would hand him over 10 re.
liglous influence alone, his drunkenness
makes him . trsupaGseE on the rights OF
others and on the peace OF society. His
precious personal liberty, therefore, 10 do
evil aud commit crime when drunk can not
be pleaded 10 exempt him from o law
which would even restrict his liberty 10
eel drunk, when II Ia found that he can
not be restrained In any other way.
Yet one OF our leading dsiies quotes,
with approval, the following sentence,
calling II 0 powerful article against the
prohibitionists, and telling us that the
writer OF the precious sentiment was re.
warded with the pay OF 81 a word for II:
ave had rather see the whole world got