Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1884-02-28
The Heaviest Clog on Progress.
Many people who pride themselves


their practically are won't to sneer al
the opponents of the liquor traffic a.
mere "sentimentalists' No doubt there
is much sentiment in that opposition,
but it is sentiment based upon the hard
est of facts. The truth is that if all the
other evils that afflict society are put to.
gether they will not nearly equal in
weight and sinister effects the one enol'
nous and universal mischief of intem-
perarce. Mr.. Matthew Arnold holds
that Philistinism, as he calls it, is ram
pant in England and the United States
but the truly humiliating fact in regard
to these English speaking peoples is
their pIofuse expenditures upon intoxi-
| cants, and the place which the business
of selling and making intoxicants eccu-
pies in their national life. Americans
spend S3oO,OO0,000 a year in this way
and Englishmen even more in prepor-
ton. Yet all legislative hsdies in both
countries, and all journals, and hundreds
of societies and associations, are con-
stantly engaged in discussing re emedies
for evils not only of minor Importance,
but many if not most of them the direct
or indirect results Of this frightful waste
of capital upon degrading and demoral-
izing agents.
Here in New York, as the speakers at
Cooper Institute tie other evening one
and all admitted, We have actually ar
rived at a LEGAL government based upon
the worst and most perniciOus emana
tions of the liquor interest. We have
come to be ruled in accordance with the
views Of men who derive all their power
from their success In rum selling. and
whose following largely consists of
those whose intelligence is habitually
clouded by the same poison. And be-
cause the passion for rum is so strong
among arge proportion Of the masses.
every effort to shake off this corrupt and
shameful despotism has hitherto failed,
and drunkenness and dishonesty go hand
in hand, and laugh to scorn every re-
form movement.
Of what use is it to talk about power
ty, destitution, squalor, misery, here and
there, when it is notorious that tens of
thousands are 30 enslaved by vicious
appetite as to be incapable of helping
themselves, Indifferent to the nature of
their surroundings, dead to every pro-
gressiye aspiration. How can we reason
ably complain of any minor evils while
this gigantic one continues to hamper
the Nations advance at every step;
while this vast drain continues to carry
off a capital, one years application of
which would solve every social problem
that perplexes US? If this is not prac-
tical question, then there is no such
thing as practically. 1t is one over
shadowing evil whose existence of neces-
sity prevents the success of reform
efforts in all other. directions. 1t is said
that the condition of the working classes
is unsatisfactory, that they do not pros
per as they might; the answer must be
that they can never utilize their oppor-
tunities until they are freed from the
are corrupt, trivial, mean, it must be
assumed that our politics are too deeply
entangled with the liquor traffic to be
other than what they are. If sanitary
questions are concerned. rum still stands
in the way of improvement. If religious
progress is discussed the fact remains
that the saloons empty the churches. If
education is considered, it is notorious
that the same degrading agency seduces
Thousands Of our youth.
Wherever we turn, in short, we en-
counter this subtle and sinister agency.
1t is blight which lies heavy upon our
civilization, and which will have to be
cleared away before that civilization can
become an object of just prids and salts
faction. And the question at issue really
is whether the great evil shall be dealt
with summarily, or shall be approached
by slow degrees. All sensible men are
agreed as to the necessity for getting rid
of it, but opinions differ as to the best
method. Meantime, it proceeds without
the least misgivlng or compunction,
never checking itself, giving full play to
all its myriad influences. and opposing
to reform a solid and brazen front. Its
safety thus far has consisted in the want
of harmony among its opponents. This
has given it time to establish itself and
grow strong. But sooner or later it will
be necessary for the intelligent and pro-
gressive elements of society to drop all
lesser enterprises and combine in one
determined assault upon that vice which
is to-day the heaviest clog upon progress,
and the deepest disgrace of the nine
teenth century.-N. Y. Tribune, Febru
AIRY 18th.