The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-10-11
Is PROHIBITION RIGHT.

hurtful appearances, and when silence is GRIM
inal.
Prohibitionsts have been told repeatedly that
their plan for putting down intemperance is in
expedent and that by persistine in it they ara
simply defeating their own ends And again.
if they could bring about the result
desired in this or any other way,
all temperance people would be With
them heart and soul This talk of expediency
is simply like adding fuel to the flame; a moral
principle is Immediately declared at stake ar
guments are multiplied to show the rghtness of
the purpose, and the consequent rightness of the
most revolutionary means The only effective
opposition that can be made to the unwise ideas
of these radical temperance people is to treat the
subject as they do, from moral stand-p point.
The attitude of the Prohibitionists reminds
one of Cromwell in his conquest of Ireland He
was so strongly impressed with the necessity OF
quelling the Irish revolt and of
Furnishing the people for the cruel massacre of
the English that his sense Of justice was blind
ed The means became paramount in his mind,
and vengeance, not right, was satisfied when he
reentlessly put thousands to the sword He
quoted the revolt, but he furnished his own 9TH
erwise enviable reputation with blood and cruel
ty increased the hatred of the Irish towards
England, and doubtless retarded the progress of
Christian civilization in Ireland. Prohibition
lists see relatives and friends filling drunkardsh
graves, and young boys exposed to the eva in-
fuences of gilded rum-shops They naturally
deplors the existence Of these temptations;
they naturally see nothing but evil
in the manufacture and sale of Intoxicating
drinks, and they perhaps as naturally grasp att
what seems to them the surest means for the.
suppression of the evil. But, unfortunately,
they seem to forget that the 'end does not justify
the MEANS so they contract their view and
hurt the cause by overlooking justice entirely.
Yet history and experience teach US that no
permanently good results were attained
without regard to justice. And there can be no
doubt in the minds of intelligent Christian
moralists that the forcing of prohibition doc
trines upon some classes of people is as I'M
reasonable, unjust and sinful as FORMER attempts
to forcibly convert the heathens. Most of US have
read with indignation how the SpaniaEds, few
centuries ago, attempted to lake Christians of
the natives of Mexico. These were given the
choice of pretending to accept Christ and his sal
Walton, of being burned at the stake And
who help sympathzing with the brave old
heather chief who declared he did not desire to
go to heaven if his prosecutors were destined for
the same placer One can imagine much the
same effect being produced upon many Germans
and other honest people by prohibitory liquor
laws. As long as such people really believe that
beer and wine are good things, and
while they are upheld in their belief by
many good people the world over, they
are not shining against enlightened conseiences,
and they will naturally regard the efforts of the
PFohibitionsts as outrageous tyranny, which
they do well to resist.
Prohibitionsts foolishly and irreverently drag
int as mo
could be established forcibly or by law. They
should remember that LAWS always the growth Of
moral sentiment, and that morality never springs
from law Moreover, experience teaches us that
law is only strong and effective when upheld by
overwhelming public opinion, and this de-
cisive public opinion is the result of conviction
either of the inexpedieney or the sin IN
connection with the matter upon which il isl
called to pass judgment.
1t is somewhat strange that Christian temper
ance people do not, in their endeayer to over
come the evil of intemperance. follow simply the4
Instructions of the Divine Master and leave the
results with Him. We are told that 1.-The ser
want of the Lord must not strive but be gentle
unto all men, patient, in mee3ness instruetingi
those that oppose themselves if peradventure
God will give them repentance to the aeknowl-
edgement of the truth" Oh Timothy, liza, %
God himself never uses force; he sim
ply makes plain tho exceeding sinful
ness of sin, and the beauty of
holiness showing the inevitable consequence of
the one and the wonderful rewards Of the other;
yet ne permits all men to deliberately choose
the right or the wrong. In like manner should
not we, who so earnestly desire it, strive topper
suade men, both by precept and example; to
adopt tal-abstinence princlpless Prohibition
does not even appeal to any heroic feeling in hui
man nature, for IL does not mean the clHging to
principle at any and every personal cost, butt
rather the forcing of others to uphold their
neighbors principles. 1t has indeed, in view Of
the present stage of the worlds civilization a
somewhatselfsh look We would. without adoubt,
find it much easier to follow right courses if all
around us were endeavoPag to do the same, and
if all temptations were removed. But it is the
Lords way to make Christians perfect through
suffering, or to nullify theiftemptations by MAX
ing them strong to resist through repeated re-
sistance.
Temperance women, wives and mothers espe-
cially, seem in danger of forgetting their own
supreme part in confronting and putting down
this evil of intemperance 1t is not by coapen-
ing others to take away temptation that women
will be able to save their husbands and sons, but
by enabling or educating their dear ones to see
the evil, and encouraging them to Withstand it.
Children must be brought up in adherence of
the use of Intoxicating drinks, If the best re-
suits are expected or hoped for from their train
ing and it will not do to say that parents are
fallible God knew this when He said Bring
up child in the way he should go, and when he
is old he will not depart from it The Lord is
always ready to help right endeavor and it IS
little less than insult to Him to pretend that
Satan, with his saloons, counterfeit the pure
influences Of a home where true Christian prin-
ciples taught But perhaps the greatest
drawback to the temperance cause is
the refusal of its advocates to apply their re-
straining principles to themselves. Temperance
women, so-called, associate with and too often
marry with their eyes OPEN men who drink
moderately or immoderately. They paliate the
sin of a wealthy and liberal drunkard and they
accept the ill-gotton gains of liquor dealers to
promote their cause. And they encourage hypoc-
risy and deceit by exhibiting more esteem for
men several times reformed than for those who
have always abstained from drink.
1t is apparently failure to comprehend the
real sinfulness of the sin and hatred simply OF
its visible results that leads ultra temperance
people to regard prohibition as the panacea for
the curse of incompetence.