Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1881-04-09
TEMPERANCE COLUMN


EDITOR CHRONICLE I'll have
been itching to write you a letter.
thanking you for the temperance
column Of the CHRONICLES. III YOU
would give two or three, with an
occasional leader, urging upon an
enlightened country the importance
of prohibiting a traffic that il send
Ing to poverty and wretchedness
more helpless women and children
than war W. did, / would toss up
my beaver and shout huzzar! The
question will be agitated until
this state l. freed from the curse.
The press and the pulpit must and
VIII lead the van. 1T is a time that
will try the nerves of men, and il is
now, as 1t ever has been and ever
will be, we have men so COM
pletely devoted to their own per-
sOnal interests, regardless of their
cOuntry's veal, that they will Crap
pie with nothing that threatens
their popularity, purse, or place.
But there are enough self-sacrificing
men to do this work, and it will be
done. This temperance question
ought, and will, get into the politics
of our country. We must have re-
lief. The party that comes out two
years from now with a prohibition
plank in its platform will strike the
popular heart and vote. The ques-
ton is beginning to rise up in the
minds Of honest yeomen. How
long must we suffer for the sake Of
party name? How long must We
vote, contrary to our private con-
victions, for men who, by reason of
their intemperance and u%nfaithful-
ness, are untitled for making or ex-
ecuting good and wholesome laws,
just to prove our loyalty tot party?
The time has come when party
shackles will not bind the honest
sons of Tennessee, and when men
know what the country needs, and
the party that will supply those
needs will dare TO vote with that
party. am glad at this juncture
TO say that the men we need are de-
veloping. Judge Mcconnell, of the
eighth judicial district, has come to
the front on this question, and
proved that a man may disqualified
for the legislative, judicial, or exec
utive department of the state, and
still be a firm advocate of sobriety
and wholesome legislation.
Let us utilize and hold up the
hands of such men. We want men
who, beyond all doubt, know some
thing, and have the courage to tell
it. Men who can stand up with
their views running red hot with
human sympathy, and looking the
question squarely in the face, de-
clare that saloons and their keepers
are sending a curse to more homes
than any other evil that exists in
society.
/ believe the day is upon us when
county, senatorial, congressional
and state conventions will press
this matter upon the legislature.
The man who dares to argue reve-
nue. in a canvass of this question
will only be the butt of ridicule,
for the facts everywhere developed
prove that the revenue from the
traffic is not comparable with the
loss to the country by reason of the
use of alcOhOlic liquor.
am not in trouble here on this
question, and Ingram will have no
occasion to wipe his lachrymals or
tax his obituary powers. True, /
have preached a series of sermons
on this question, and delivered
some lectures, so that it is known
and read of all Columbians that the
Methodist pulpit gives no uncertain
sound on this question; but there is
no personal trouble between me and
any liquor man in the town, nor
shall there be. / have only done
my duty, and am in an intelligent
community. l dined with one sa-
loon keeper a few days ago, visited
and prayed with another, who liter
ally baptized his chair with his
tears, and has since sold out and
gone to the country. l have had
kindly conversation with nearly
every saloon man in the town on
the question, and while they con
denim the traffic, they claim that
they are in it for the money.
1 have been labOring for some
time in a revival in Pulaski. A
whisky dealer poured out his whis-
ky in the street, and a drummer
poured out his liquor samples. But
where am 1 drifting? 1 only want
ed to thank you for the temperance
column and shout Oh CHRONI-
Gle! Live forever!
Mel %, 81. T. ]. DUNCAN.