West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1881-07-13
Temperance Meeting at Morgan
town.

Oet . dCCoult III ia enthusiastic
Temperance Mass Meeting, held in
Morgantown, just before the Con-
vention, of which Judge John A.
Ollie was President, G. B. Foster,
Secretary, and in which Hon. w. T.
Wiley took prominent part.
The only speech reported has
some points too good to be lost. The
account says:
Then Prof. A. Il, purinton, the
vigorous, live, efficient Superinten-
dent of City Schools, of Parkers-
burg, was called for. He, in an
earnest, fearless, positive speech,
said: There are two popular er-
rors of thought, to which, at the
outset, | wish to pay my respects
First, the idea that a political eau
Gus, composed of statesmen and pa
triots, or of tricksters and dema-
gogues, as the case may be, is the
supreme, ultimate authority in
human belief and human action !;
that the great principles of justice,
mercy, generosity, and humanity,
at the door which encloses this
mystic, sacred CAUCUS, must lay
down their scepter and say, by
your leave, gentlemen
Secondly, that the Devil is, nat
urally and Of right, the author and
autocrat of every political deliver
ance.
"As to the first, ] submit, that
politics are for men, and not men
for politics, Political caucuses
must voice my sentiments if they
want my vote. As to the second,
the Devil has too long controlled
the affairs Of politics. 1t is time
that christian men rose in their
might and with strong arms re-
deemed their share Of political pow
err. / mention these things be-
cause some may gafrom this house
tonight growing because a 'polit-
ical meeting has been held in God
house and on the Sabbath. These
GROWERS will be either first, whin-
ing hypocrites who love their bot
ties better than either Sabbath or
sanctuary, or second, anti
quated fog-horns of by-gone
generation, or third, possibly a few
honest conservatives To the last
let me say, if anything shall be
said or done here tonight which
shall hush one human groan, strike
the CALLING shackles from one bleed
ing human wrist, or lift one throb-
bling human heart to higher
plane of happiness and blessedness,
then surely Gods day has not been
dishonored nor His temple desecra-
ted. adi l3 t-t q ~ ,a9IUaJ : II
aThis meeting is in the interest
of prohibition. 5l3 gs va 5L
e. 'Prohibition is, first, right If
society has right to exist, it has
right to protect itself. There is no
other SO eatdestroyer of American
society, girdles the continent, and
stretches it's arms through every
State. $3.50 1921 cH slsa. n
"Prohibition is, second, expedi-
ent. 1t is not a failure, as some
would have you think. Its success
has always been more than COM
mensurate with it's opportunities.
"Prohibition is, third, desired by
the people of this State Thirty
nine out of ffty-four counties in
W. Va. already prohibit the sale
of intoxicating liquors within
their limits. True, many leading
mem stand off from this movement
but they are chiefly cringing, fawn-
ing hypocritical towards, who are
looking for an office, dare not be
men. There are such men in this
town tonight and some of them as
pire to be leaders of the people.
They will find very soon we are
not only on the right side, but on
the winning side.
"We should do three things here
tonight. First. elect wise and suit
able delegates to the State Temper
ance Convention at Wheeling. Sc
cond, provide for the complete or
ganization of the county for tenn
perance work. Third, undertake to
the West Virginia FREE
NAM the State temnerance paper.