Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-06-09
Does ProniDfflon Prohlbitl
BY THOMAS CALLAHAN.

/ BY THOMAS CALAHAN.
In considering this question. it may
not beeamiss to give q brief history Of
the rise and progress Of the prohibitory
movement Be
Some fancifuI writer's have asserted
that each quarter Of each century, is
introduced by the occurrence of some
of some remarkable event, or the set
ting on foot ofssome great work.
/ Without accepting this idea as gener.
/ ally true, it is certain that the second
quarter of the present century was in
augurated by a host of new forms of
agencies both for good and evil appear
| ing on the stage. A list of those agen-
cies, history of their progress and
pres ent status, and an analysis of their
moral character as shown by their de-
velopment, would be exceedingly inter-
estIng if time permitted them to be
given. ~ ~
But our attention must at this time
be confined to one phase of these agen-
cies, or one made by which they car
rietl on their work. About that time
there arose host of Voluntary Associ-
atlons, not only independent of both
Church and State, but avowedly set On
foot Tor the purpose Of revolutionizing
both. Some of these associations Sc
lected one objective point. and some an
nfh ant
those who preached crusades against
Slavery and Drunkenness.
DR.. Lyman Beecher led the assault
en- the last named sin, by. his "Seven
Sermons on Intemperance." They
were vigorous productions. At first
the movement only contemplated saw
ing those who had not yet formed the
habit of drinking. The drunkards be-
ing supposed to be Joined to their idols,
were to be left alone. Things ran
along under this idea for about fifteen
years, when the drunkards disguised
at being placed outside of the pale of
reformation, about 1S41 organized the
Washingtonian Movement, in which
no man was permitted membership
who had not been habitual drunk
ard.
To get even with the clergy for leav-
ing thenn out in the cold, they never
permitted minister to take any part
in their meetings; and the clergy re-
senting the idea that any man should
dare reform, without consulting them
denounced the Washingtonians, calling |
them Atheists, and Infdels, and what
was expected to scare people worse
than both the other names they called |
them Radicals.
But no matter what the assailants |
of the movement might say or do, it
gave proof that it was good tree, in
the fact that it bore good fruit, in TAX
ing out of the gutter, and restoring to
respeetability and usefulness many of
the most talented men of the country.
This NOV ,ment eliminated near the
close of 1912, many of the movers going
into the pri Or organizations.
In 1913 there was great eruption of |
diseases ari sing from a typhoid condi-
ton Of the human body. This brought
brandy to the aid of one party. and quiz
nine as an ally to the other, SO that
the question of their relative strength,
was notmaterially affected, and it has
SO continued to the present day.
Up to this present day, after fifty
years. probation prohibition has not
prohibited; will it in the future? The
answer is, No. The causes which have
defeated it in the past, will do worse in
the future. for they are increasingevery
day. The great secret of failure, is in
the fact that the proper remedy is not
applied at the right place.
The true objective point in all judi
cious prohibitory legislation. is not the
prevention of the manufacture and sale
of liquor, but to eradicate drukenness.
Alcoholism is not a radical or primi-
tive difficulty. 1t is a result of the de-
struction or arrangement of the equil- !
ibrium between the nervous and circu-
lating system in our organization. In
thesdestruction or arrangement of that
balance, no other agencies are more eff |
fective than hurry. worry, rush and ex-
element. Men call them enterprise,
but in the main they are merely. the
spirit of unrest. They exhaust our vi |
tality, and by mpelling us to dis
count the future heavily, render slim
ulation necessary to meet the demands |
of the present. To such an extent has
this gone, that within the period COW
cred by cur inquiry insanity among
Co. 4,