The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-05-02

ulSCllCl III every StCp'
But this answer only neccssitates an
other question, viz. Why are men per
mitted thus to crafty their love of gain9
Everybody knows that whatever the
light thrown upon the business of dram
selling, however plainly you demonstrate
its wickedness and responsiveness to hon
orable minds, the result is not to with
draw all men from entering upon it, and
so annihilate it; but the ranks of dram
sellers are kept full by recruits from
classes more and more depraved and out
cast. Only last week one of my relig-
ious newspapers had the following state
ment. can Irish priest over perhaps the
largest Roman church in Northern New
England said, the other day: There is
not decent man in my whole parish who
is now selling liquor. Those who are
now in the trade are the very oifscour-
ings of my whole people, and so dis
reputable is this business becoming, that
only the most absolutely worthless class
is now engaged in it" The simple fact
is this: whatever the wickedncss or de
structivcness of any business, there are,
in every community, beings in the human
form ready to enter upon it if money can
be coined cut of it. 1t is said that eight
cents, out of every ten received for
glass of liquor, are clear profit.
now DRAM-sEILERs CAN BE REACHED.
Nothing is palmer than that ram-sellers
of our time can be reached only through
their fears We understand this thor
oughly in dealing with offenders such as
burglars, horse thieves and assassins, but
in this matter Of dram selling we have
not been equally wise. DO not misun-
derstand me- do not say that dram
sellers are burglars horse thieves and as
sassins-though | might say, and you
would agree with me, think, that dram
shops are manufactures of these crimi-
nals-but this is my point; and it is my
answer to the question before us: w
hare not gicea due coejght to the teachHg Of
oar telt. orr lulotS haze not been terror
to egU ,corks, and zee hare not paid suN-
cicnt attention IL their neglect.
How shall our neglect be explained
Partly by confusion of ideas. Adj
hitting the necessary agency of moral
suasion, we have been too ready to stop
there. Moral suasion must always per-
form an important part in the work Of
temperance reform ; and it is
easy for those unable or unwilling
to look the whole subject in the face,
to think it will do the whole work 4;
but no mistake could be greater. In
other directions affecting the welfare of
society we do not make this mistake.
At public expense we educate all chill
dren in our common schools. not at all
as a benevolence, but as an absolute
necessity for our preservation as a repub-
| lican government The ballot-boX, I'M
less in an atmosphere of intelligence
brings destruction worse than the modern
communists dynamite, because it de
stroys while pretending to protect. Let
| us study this matter of moral suasiOn a
| little-what ii can and what it cannot do.
TIE NATURE AND LIMITS OF MORAL sUA-
| SION.
The church, the press, the parlor, the
PLATFORM the family all join hands in
| shaping character by moral influences 4;
i. e., by using motives that appeal to the
reason and conscience But is this sutii-
cicnt by itsefl 1t never has been, and
never will be until the millennium. No
State has ever been foolish enough to
I stop here in its.provisions for self preser-
walton. In addition to school houses,
homes, churches, printing houses and all
the agencies of instruction and moral
suasion, the State promptly provides and
maintains a formidable enginery that
means compulsion, FORCE. Handouts,
grated bars and gibbets are as indispcn-
sable as spelling books and Bibles. Pro-
vision must be made, every statesman
understands this as he does his alphabet, -
for the few upon whom the light of in
struction by family, school, pulpit, etc,
however abundant, and moral influence,
| however earnest, are all wasted. Some,
| hardened against every appeal, will re-
main incorrlL iblc and war against society
to crafty their wicked lusts or love of
gain. For such, what remedy is there
but memorable force! For no class of
wrong doors is this final resort more APP
plicable or Indispensable than for dram
sellers. As things now are, they ale i'm
pervious to all moral appeal as the rock
to water or clay to sunshine, and they
will remorsciessly ply their trade until
compelled to loosen their grip upon
wicked gains.
OUR WEAK AND MISTAKEN COURSE.
But, like the surgeon yielding to false
humanity and mistaken views, we have
drawn back from heroic measures, hoping
something would come to the rescue so
that the keen katie and cautery might
innocently rest in their closed case.
Meanwhile the offenders have been
shrewd to strengthen themselves by every
possible alliance; by appeals to our fears
or selfish interests; by busy dissemina-
ton of false ideas; by sundry generosi-
ties intcded to purchase toleration-sim-
lpy another .to,m Of license tar-Jut quit
Meir business ! : : Not Hey' until lce see
10 10 that our luiorS are 4 terror TO eca
tc0rkS-theirS inclmied.
| FALSE AND DELUDING IDEAS.
AT this point let us consider some of
the false ideas by which many are CON
sciously, or unconsciously, dcluded in
their thoughts and comments about the
cause of our lamentable condition.
BY some it is said that it is because of
"A lack of public sentiment in favor of
legal prohibition. This must be a mis-