Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-03-15

pafafively poverless to reduce that power
still more. But il leaves the front gate,
OF hell open. II sbandous New York
city and Brooklyn, snd ali the larpe
c1'ies, 70 the tender mefcies Of the great
moral monster. Ay, il does more than
tnis- " exposes the whole community
70 reaction whereby the little gained
Is soon lost. The wholesale dealers of
s1e cities maintain their trade by trav-
-eiihg agents. who circulate through the
country, presenting bills and soliciting
odsiiess, and with opportunities TO do a
great ceai more. The heart of this mis-
ehief Is In the city. but its arterie, ex-
tehd everywhere and Its veins lead back
10 the heart. Wien the whole head is
iaint and the whole heart Is sick, We
cannot cure the body Corporate 10y plas-
tering the eXtremiti.s
In nne, to return TO Mr.. Dow. There
are some of Us who do not see our way
TO adopt the extreme measures recon-
mended 10y him and by 50 many other
worthy gentlemen. Experience shows
how often
'auiting ambition doth o'erleap itself
And fall o the other side
Yet 1t would Rrieve us to be looked upon
AS less earnest and sincere than thev,
Our hearts are enlisted In this reform.
We are ready TO advance il even at the
cost, If necessary, of personal interest
and the sympathies Of private friend
mp. but We are not radicals. We are
conser vative and hate radicaiism. We
would not tire the corn crib as a short
way t. dispose of the rats. On the
other Laua, We do not feel like trifilnp
with great evil. or enduring it. We
would persist In setting the old traps
long alter 1t lis evident tnat the rats
only laugh at them. Neither do We pro-
pose to abandon both corn and crib to
rat rule.
We cannot believe that widespread
lntsmperance Is Inseparab1e from the
sale of alcoholic drinks. The evil arises
from circumstances which have per-
veried an innocent trade into fearful
occasion of sin. Oar conviction is that
these circumstances can be changed.
Yet not easily nor at once. Personal,
private effort, appeals from the pulpit,
and the example of societies can do
something to save individuals: but on
this vast aud bloated trade, as it exists
In our day, these Influences fall like a
dust of confetti thrown from the win
dows on riotous carnival below. 1t
calls for the giant powder of the State.
And the State is bound to protect Hs.
Weighed side by side with this intolera-
bic evil, the commercial interests of
liquor makers and liquor venders swing
like a feather in the scale. Ihe trade
must be SO dealt with that it sh II ne
longer exist as Ali ubiquitous man-trap.
1t must be 80 CONSTRUCTED that dealers
". o would be Conscientious can follow
It without sin. And since In this cOun-
try the lawmaking power Is vested in
the people, with the consequent respon-
siSility, let every citizen take his con-
science in his hand when he goes to the
polls. Let him ask himself if this cause
does not lift itself high above every
question of party politics. Let him soc
that he helps put into office no hireling
of the trade, nor any one that cannot
be counted on to sustain wholesome laws
restraining it. Aud, finally, let not the
friends of sobriety lose courage from
past failures or mistakes.
REV. T.. A. WALwoRTH.