Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-02-15

ment regarding manliness is not SO far as
Ne lave zone. so much charge dgdtiaa
he svsteyn as a statement OF what very
large portion OF respectable and virtu-
Gus thinkers think OF it."
Then the arguments ana acts cohi
blamed OF are admitted TO De those oi
only some OF the advocates otthe system,
vet the system as such is attacked anu
onnosed. and the prediction made that
!, can never prevail on the ground Oh
what these few advocates have SAID.
Everybody ought TO know that the per-
sons who compose the army, that seeks
20 secnre the universal acceptance oil
total abstinence principles anu OF pro
bibitorv legislation, represent ali s,s-
tions and characters, young ana oiu,
learned and ignorant, prudent ana rasn,
and IL is worth no earnest mans whiie
10 be noting every strange ASSERTION
that may be made. , lii;
cal speaker who should argue that DEM
ocracy cannot prevail in this country,
because some persons use the word In
sense il did not originally have, and
some of its stump speakers use argu-
ments that no classical scholar can ac-
cent and some over-zealous advocates
have used intimidation somewhere IL
would be as COOL and fair reasoning rs
that presented in this elaborate lecture.
The success Of the total abstinence cause
depends on considerations entirely Ia,
dependent of the comparatively trivial
ones dwelt on, and the probability oil
success is TO be determined IN way en-
tirely different from that here relied on.
The progress that has been made, the
fact that the people OF Maine have Tor
wears accepted the general principles,
that the same have for years been &C
cepted by the people oil about thirty OF
the counties Of our own State, that bv
rood majority the people OF Kansas
adopted their constitutional amenoment'
that the people of Missouri and Iowa
seen likely to follow their example, that
in Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, North and
South Carolina, the people are awaken
ING. AM these principles are receiving
a respectful and earnest consideration
never before given them-thess are bet
ter indications as p what the people
will do, than their supposed relection OF
a few false arguments ola few advocates
OF total abstinence.
In the second part OF the lecture I'M
der review six reasons are gwen why
the total abstinence system ought not 10
be adopted.
The lecturer has not drawn any clear
distinction between prohibition by law
of the sale OF liquors, and the efforts
made to persuade men to voluntarily
abstain from the use OF liquors as bever-
ages. Sometimes his reasoning seems
10 have reference to one and sometimes
TO the other. Generally he seems TO
have in view those radical advocates OF
total abstinence who maintain that 1t Is
every mans duty to abstain that any
drinking Of that which can intoxlcate,
however small the amount, is sin, per
sand who on this ground advocate
also legal prohibition. So far as what Is
said applies only 10 this class we have
nothing TO say, not belonging to that
class. But he nowhere recognizes the
fact that we may on entirely other
grounds, try to persuade men to prac'
tice abstinence and advocate prohibition
of sale. Here again that whole system
of dealing with intemperance, which
asks total abstinence and legal prohibi.
ton, is opposed on the ground OF the
Objectionable reasons urged by a tew. L
think this will appear if We pass in rap
id review the six reasons why, what the
lecturer indefinitely calls the total alb
stinence system" ought not to be adopt
ed.
l. "The first moral error OF the total
abstinence system isin turning medic
inal prescription into bill OF fare for all
mankind" That is, arguing that what
is the duty OF the drunkard is for the
same reason the duty OF the man that
never was drunk-regulating the needs
of the sober by the needs OF the drunk
putting q we'll man on sick regimen
to keep him from becoming sick.
Now. we readily admit the difference
between drunkard and the temperate
man and if We were called on to per-
suade both to the practice of total All
stinence we should pursue them with
different lines of argument. No tenn
perance lecturer would think for a mo-
ment OF saving to the temperate man,
aft you admit that it is this drunken
mans duty 10 totally abstain, you must
also admit it to be your duty-what H.
duty for him is duty for you." Nor is
it at all likely that he would use the
same reasons in the two cases. Ii any
body does reason in this way, saying,
"If total abstinence is necessary for tine
man OF incorporate habits, it is neces-
sary for the same reasons for the man
of temperate habits" then he deserves
the rebuke OF this lecture. Let me be
clearly understood here. Total abstin-
ence NAV be the duty OF both classes,
but fer different reasons. 1t may be the
duty of two persons to abstain from cof-
fee, one because il affects his stomach,
and the other because it affects his
nerves, il q third objects that coffee af-
fects neither his stomach nor his nerves,
il may still be his duty to abstain be-
cause it affects his head or for some other
reason. III then We urge the sober and
the Incorporate alike to abstain totally,
our reasons in the two cases differing, 1t
does not follow that we treat the sober
msn as il he were an incorporate man.
2. "The second moral error" he con-
tinues, "of the total abstinence theory
is its assumption that moderate drink
ing leads to drunkenness. Surely no
man in his senses assumes any such
thing, that Is, that Notwithstanding
Invariably leads to drunkenness, on the
other hand, it cannot be doubted that
the most of drunkards at the beginning
OF their career considered themselves
only moderate drinkers and never ex-
pected to become anything worse.
3. "The third moral error is the want
OF discrimination between things that
differ" That is between distilled and
fermented drinks. We may reply to
this that there is an opposite error of
making altogether foo much OF this
chemical distinction. Many good PEG.
pie are content to recognize the only
practical distinction between the two
kinds, viz: that it takes more OF fer.
mented than OF the distilled liquor to
make a man drunk. It is mainly
question OF quantity. There are, to be
sure. some differences in their effects
on the system, but as far as these differ
ences OF origin and physical effects are
concerned, they do not have a very in
innate relation to the general problem