The Indianapolis leader. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1879-1890, 1882-05-06
TEE TEMPERANCE STATESMAN AND SHIPPERS
COUNSELLOR.

TEE TEMPERANCE STATESMAN AND SHIPPERS
COUNSELLOR.
The most potent grave and reverend signoire,
who constitute that august body, the Senate of
the United States have among their number one
whose rank as a statesman is overshadowed by
his zeal as a social reformer. He is the acknowl-
edged leader of those who desire to summarize
the results of sporadic efforts In the direction of
temperance reform, in one grand effort to amend
the Constitution OF the United States that drunk
enness shall be an impossibility throughout the
whole broad land The attempt mostly regarded
as quixotic, though in one sense IL comes under
the head Of craftsmanship. seems to be outside
the province OF practicable LEGISLATION at present
and in the immediate future, but 1t has hap
pened.
Mr.. Blair's work is at once best represented and
considered as concentrated in his proposed
amendment to the Federal Constitution, which
has been briefly expressed by one of his admirers
In the following words That after the year 1900
the manufacture and sale of distilled alcoholic
liquors Except for medicinal, mechanical chemi.
cal and scientific purposes and for use in the arts
shall cease in the United States and Territories,
and their importation and expectation shall be
prohibited" The closing sections of the proposed
amendment are:
Sec. g. Should this article not be ratified by
three efourths of the States or before the last
day of December, 1890, then the first section here
of shall take effect and be in force at the expra-
ton of ten years from such ratifi alton; and the
of any State to this article shall not be
scinded nor reversed
Sec. A. Congress shall enforce this article by all
Mr. Blair's speeches on finance free schools.
absolute money and other subjects commanded
considerable attention at the time Of their deliv
cry, but said before, his principal distinction
Is his leadership in the ranks of the temperance
reformers. Within the last few days, however
on December 6. he Introduced bill which Is des-
tined to command great attention, and w hose
passage would give him an enviable prom;n ence
among American statesmen. Considered inde-
pendently of its chance of passage, it is great
conception, and its discussion, whether it be-
comes law not, can not but result in fixing the
attention of the civilized world upon the man
who made and submitted it to the judgment f
the Senate Mr.. Blairs bill is to aid in the estab
lishment and temporary support of Common
Schools in the United States It appro-
be expended as fellows: Fifteen million
dollars In the first year and thereafter this
be diminished 81. 600 COO yearly until ten annual
appropriations have been made The annual ap-
preparations are to be divided among the several
States and Territories in that proportion which
the whole number of persons in each State of ten
years OF age and upward who can not read bears
to the whole number OF such persons in the Unit
Senator Blair is under fifty years OF age. While
he was infant his father died, and eleven years
afterward, his mother died. From three wears
prior TO this SAD event, he was an inmate of the
house OF Mr. and Mrs Richard Bartlett Campton,
did not extend to the ability OF giving him an ed.
ucation. With exemplary purpose, however. the
| his way by his own unaided efforts, through a
| course of study at the New Hampshire Conference
| Seminary. He subsequently read law with Will
| liam Leverett, of Plymouth and was admitted 10
| the bar in 1859 His first public Office was as
Prosecuting Attorney for Grafton County, in 1860
| Upon the outbreak of the War he entered the
army, and was appointed Major of the Fifteenth
| New Hampshire Volunteers, of which regiment
| ne was soon afterward made Lieutenant Colonel
During the siege of Port Hudson, he was wound
ed severely twice and, as the result of sickness
continued incapable of active service during tn,
remainder of the War. In 1866. he was elected
a member of the State House of Representatives
and of the State Senate in 1S67-6S. He served iu
the Forty-fourth and Forty fifth Congress- and is
now United States Senator from his native State
| for a term expiring in 1888. He is tall man OF
| impressive presence, and commands ready atten.
| ton as public speaker