Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-05-05
Nv u,w,yr,y pBoBlry.

II is favorite postulate Of the devil that
coeroive laws destroy manly independence, r.
weaken the will power, and place society at
the meftS Of fallible human wisdom. On the
strength Of this benevolent assumption, his sa-
tanic highness would substitute free choice for
legal restraint, moral suasion for forcible pre-
vcntion Of crime and the liberty OF unbounded
license for the tyranny Of judicious control To
the practical student of affairs, who judges Of
creeds and results, the distinguishing feature Of
true religion is its common sense adaptablity
to the needs Of everyday life. Where there
have crept in no perversionS of the practical por.
ton Of Christian ethics, those ethics become so
efficient a code for the guidance Of man in all
his relations that no intelligent student of the
New Testament can do a mean, a cowardly, a
dirty or n dishonest act without woundng his
conscience and insulting his self.respect. Prac.
teal Christianity has long been unit on the
proposition that "wine is a mockcr" in all its
myriad guises; and that che who is deceived
thereby is not wise" For that reason thou.
sands ofsstrong.willed, self.contained men
and women, the world over, refrain from
wine even in its mildest forms, because of the
example to their weaker fellows. The strong
willed, temperate lover of wines, who refrains
from all intoNicants because he would not aid
another to "put an enemy into his mouth to
steal his brains," is worthy greater praise for
his sclf.denial than he is likely to receive in
this world. But many of those who say that
voluntary abstinence is good, deny the moral
right Of prohibition. "Man is a free moral
mistake irresponsible freedom for liberty Yet
society has enacted laws for the restraint of the
free moral agent who happens to be murderer,
adulterer or thief. But the man who sells that
to theft, is licensed by law in nine. .,enths of the
habitable globe, despite the protest Of practical
Christianity, and of the unselfish among differ.
ing religions and those who profess no religion.
There is no use quarrcling with those who sell
liquor under the law. Human nature is always
sufficiently warped to find excuse for that which
a majority in any community sees fit to sane.
ton. If it be right to license liquor.selers, it
is right to sell liquor. Tha, is an axiom which
many honest temperance folk lose sight Of,
sometimes. The only thing to be done is to
change the law. Slowly but surely it is com.
ing to that in America. State after State is
taking up the question. The distilers, the
brewers and the winemakers have been, for the
most part, successful But SO, for long years,
were the upholders Of that other slavery which
made the Southern rebellion inevitable. In
earlier times prohibition of liquor selling to
natives was found to work admirably. The
mistaken sense of justice which has succeeded
in repeating that law is responsible for great
deal OF family misery in these islands. 1t is
preventing efficient labor on the plantations,
increasing the immortality which early Christ
ian influence did so much to check, and doing
as much, if not more, than any other one
existing evil to blot out from the face of the
earth the once populous Hawaiian race. Un.
less "Hawaii for the Hawaiians" can be made
to mean more than unrestricted alcoholic
liquor, increased taxation and delusive promises
of agricultural loans, the good sense of the
race will begin to resent the meaningless slo-
gan, and ask where all this is to end