The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1883-08-22
A New Temperance Movement.

4 Il
| III Is twenty or thirty years since any In.
terest IN the temperance movement was
SHOWN IN Germany. The silver wedding
OF 'ie Crown Prince, however, marked the
commencement OF a great revival which
even the militant teetotalers OF this coun-
Try have almost entirely ignored. When
once aroused from indifference the Ger
mans are apt to become almost enthusias-
tlcally sympathetic, and one Is, therefore,
not surprised TO learn that the new
temperance cause, headed by Count
Moltke, swelled by nearly all reli-
gious parties, and supported by CON-
mittees In every part OF the country,
Is growing into national movement. OF
which very interesting account appears
| In the current No. Of the De,ltSche Runds-
chou. The temperance agitation OF former
years sprang up suddenly and vanished as
quickly as it had appeared. The. new
movement is Of different character. The
term temperance is no longer con-
founded by the Germans with teetotaism.
1t does not now Imply a total abstinence
from all alcoholic drinks, nor do its adj
vocates condemn the harmless meetings at
which the City Fathers, leisurely smoking
their pipes, assemble at night to
drink their beer and talk politics.
Neither does it find fault with joyial stu.
dents, when, full OF life and spirits. they as
semble TO sing the well-known songs over
their Rhine wine. The founders'and sup
porters OF the old temperance societies,
who, perhaps because OF their gloomy ap-
pearance, were regarded as martyrs, are
now replaced by cheerful pbilantbropsts,
whose sole object is to prevent the abuse
OF alcohol and to diminish the number OF
those who from time immemorial have been
victims OF intemperance. The chief reason,
says the reviewer. why former attempts TO
interest the Germans in temperance move
ment have been such entire failures is
that while in other countries the same
cause was in the bands OF we'll
organized associations, and those countries
enjoyed peace and political stability, Ger
many was swayed to and fro by the waves
OF war and revolution. Every attempt at
systematic operations was bafiled by the
uncertainty OF those troubled times, and
the deeply-r0Oted evil could not be COM
batted successfully. To-day, however, the
whole nation, we are told, is taking up
arms against intemperance. Men OF SCI
ence, physicians, and clergymen are reveal
ing TO the world the suilerings OF the many
victims OF intemperance with whom they
are brought in contact; and, what Is
more to the point. they not only speak, but
are listened TO with an interes. not ephe-
neral. as it has proved on former occa-
siOns, but with an active sympathy which
it is expected will show substantial results.
They need all the help they can get, for as
yet the enemy is IN possession Of the field,
and it is not unusual 10 find forty-seyen
public houses in high road three miles
long. To convert these tayerns into coi-
fee-hOuses is favorite plan in Germany rs
in this country; but, says the writer in the
RundSchaa, whatever plan may he
adopted, something mnst be done, and it
must be something different from the
form" agitation, which knew only one
narrow method for the removal OF the
eyil--namely, TO persuade each person in
diyidually TO abstain totally from the use
OF strong drinks" The temperance re-
formers Of Germany, in short, have ar
rived in their own fashion at the truth
which our temperance men are gradually
discovering for themselves by the lessons
OF bitter experience. The mere propa-
ganda OF total abstinence has failed, and is
certain to fail as long as the causes which
render it easy to drink and difficult TO alb
stain from drinking flourish untouched on
every side.