The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-03
An Overwhelming Question.

1t has been said that the end and the
test of good government is the greatest
happiness to the greatest number. If
this be true it must be owned that no
Government eXtant is satisfactorily con-
Quoted. For observation shows that, as Il
rule, political energy is expended upon
secondary concerns, while politicians
employ ali their deXterity in avoiding
action upon the great problems which
most deeply involve the destinies of the
masses. There is to-day in the English
speaking countries no such tremendous,
far-reaching, vital question as that of
drunkenness. In its implications and
effects it overshadows everything else.
1t is impossible to examine any subject
connected with the progress, the civil
lization, the physical well-being, the re-
hgious condition OF the masses, with
out encountering the monstrous evil.
1t lies at the center of all social an d
political mischief. 1t paralyzes ener-
gies in every direction. 1t neutralzes
educational agencies. 1t silences the
voice of religion. 1t battles penal re-
form. 1t obstructs political reform. 1t
rears aloft n mass OF evilly inspired
power which at every salient point
threatens social and national advance;
which gives to Ignorance and Vice q
greater potency than Intelligence and
Virtue can command; which deprives
the poor of the advantages of modern
progress; which debauches and de-
grades millions, brutalizing and sad
dening them below the plane of healthy
savagerY, and filling the centers of pop
ulation with creatures whose condition
almost excuses the immortality which
renders them dangerous to their gener-
alton.
All these evils, all this mischief, all
this destruction of human souls and in
tellects, go on among us daily and
hourly. There are none SO ignorant
and inattentiVe as not to have personal
experience of some OF them; some
hearth darkencd; some family scat
tered some loving heart broken; some
promising career ruined; some deed of
shame done. Yet how hard it is to get
this gigantic evil attacked seriously.
Temperance organizations have indeed
been fighting it for years; get popular
inertia has resisted their utmost efforts.
But has all been done that might and
should have been done by the organized
agencies that represent the higher life?
What are dOctrinal points, for example,
compared to this ever-present, ever
active, insidiOuS influence? What are
sectarian differences by the side of this
National curse? Can the churches fold
their hands and hatter themselves that
their duties are all fulfilled, while the
+bo 10,
and while rum rules in politics and So
ciety? Are the higher educational
agencies doing all in their power to ad
vance civilization while they ignore this
obstacle to progress? Can any political
organization be said to represent the
best aspirations and the strongest needs
of the people, while this abiding source
of misery and crime and poverty is al
lowed to spread and flourish?
There is needed something of that
sacred fire which kindles into mex
tinguishable heat the zeal of the Adolf
tionists, which compelled the abandon
ment of human slavery, to rouse the
National Indignation and adherence
against this much greater evil. Nothing
short of this, it is to be feared, will i'm
| Pol IIihc-ooINlhS pohllcldnS W appIoach
in spirit of earnestness a subject
which is distasteful to them mainly be-
cause they think they can not afford to
do without the help and support of the
class who derive from the degradation
of the foolish and ignorant the means
whereby they continue to rule and
plumber those whose sagacity is proof
against their snares.-M Y. Tribune.