The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-04-09
MORE TEMPERANCE TALK.

MORE TEMPERANCE TALK.
The Rev g. B. Barnes OF the Congregation
al Church, IN his last Sunday evenings dis
course on temperance, took exception to a re
mark of the FREE TRADER that the temper
ancc zcalo,s' forbade the use of alcohol,
liqHor as n medicine, and quoted the pledg,
at The Red Ribbon Clubs to show that it con
tanned no such intuition. the pledge being
against the Use of liquor only as y leverage
The FREE TRADER had not the Red Ribbon
pledge before ii. but remembered the elaborate
discussion of that point in the days Of The
Washing'onians, Sons of Temperance and
Good Templars, in which Edward Dcavan
DR.. Davis and others were lea 'ers, and at thai
time the decision certainly was that alcohO
under no circumstance, hss any virtue as &
medicine which ia not embodied in better
torn in other Ireparat on'.
Yet admitting lhal In terms the Red Rib
bouers permit lhe use OF alcoholic liquors as
medicine, the logic Of their method is all the
other way. 10 utterly forbid the manufacture
or importation of and trade in alcoholic drink,
Is certainly the same as forbddlng its use a.
mcdicine ar for any other purpose. Their
again this word mcdicis has wide signiti
canoe. A,cohOl AS u medicine may be TAX en-
either To arrest the waste Of tissue, or Ms
sllmulant, tonic or prophylactic. When, 81
years ago, John c. Fremont crossed the grea,
plAlns to California his party was at one time
nine days without food or drink save iew
bottles Of brandy they had been able to hide
from the Indians, and with few thimbeful.
day to each to arrest the waste of tissue the
party were able to make q march Of 80 miles
aud reach food and water In comparatively
good condition. Again, in case less extreme
u man may find his system failing and he
takes beer or ale "as medicine" to build him
up; or he may have had fever and takes ale
beer. wine, or even wnisky toddy as tonic
Oncdmine again to promote his Convalescencc
or he may he in malarial country, or coun
try of poor water, and take liquor as prophy
tactic (medicine again) to ward off disease
Does Red Ribbonsm allow this If so, Brother
Barnes does not, for the jist Of his argument
/ uuueT nCdu NO. IL u, tudt
have no virtue either as food or medicine.
But Red Ribbonism cannot allow 1t either
or 1t is sham, for there IS hardly aa imag
liable case in which the most lnveterate BIB.
her drinks liquor but he can plead that he
takes 1t under one or the other of the heads, to
arrest the waste Of TISSUE or as needed stim
ulant. or as tonic or Il prophylactic A party
of gentlemen get together for social converse
ami enjoyment. Nothing can impart such
life and zest to the meeting as q glass of cham.
payne. 1t serves exactly the same purpose,
and has the same effect, as cards, or music and
dancing have in other social gatherings, and ii
but single glass Is INDUCED in IL as harm
less ~ rubber of whist or moderate dancing
There are q thousand ways IN which most
men believe they can take glass of liquor as
innocently and with as little harm.
And here IS just the rock on which the pro.
hihltion craft goes to wreck The mass of
men know that they are temperate IN their
habits, have no morbid appetite for liquor,
don't take a glass perhaps once year on an
average, yet set great store by their liberty to
do so If they feel like 1t, and resent IS imperti-
nent and tyraAnical the law which says they
shall not do it. Most OF such men it may he
possible TO win to total abstinence by persua.
sion, reason aud argument, but not by force.
When you assa,l them with your bullying, de-
mandatory, prohibition talk, they talk back,
like the Rev. Washington GLADDEN. In late
number of the Independent. These temper.
auce people," he says, "coddle the drunkard
aud reserve their hard words for temperance
people who never get drunk, but who are not
teetotalers. Upon these they try to heap sus.
pic,on and opprobrium. The only value OF
sefdenial Is in its voluntariness, yet they
seek 70 make 1t compulsory. They employ
spies and talebearers; they add misrepresenta-
ton and SANDER to intolerance. They are
doing more to prevent the cure of the evils OF
intemperanco than any other class of persons
In the land"
But while the FEEE TRADER Is impelled to
make the above remarks rs to the inevitable
corallaries of the medicine" pretensions OF
Brother Barnes and his Red Ribboncrs, ii finds
no fault with, but endorses all he says gener
ally against the evil, OF dram drinking; and
rs in his Sunday evenings discourse he no
where avOws himself prehlbitionist it Is pos
sb!e We may DO mistaken Is to his position
on that point. Anyhow, for tho present, VT
pass ~ him the cue.
OUR GLORIOUS INHERITANCE,
/ A Washington ou0ths of the Chicago Time,
has been dplyinp IN the hook Of tho Trpasury