The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-03-12
The Question Of The Age.

1t has been said that the end and the
test of good government is the greatest hap
piness of the greatest number. If this be
true it must be owned that no government
extant is satisfactorily conducted. For
observation shows that as rule political
energy is expended upon secondary con-
Germs, while politicians employ all 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-reachlng, vital question
as that of drunkenness. In its complica-
lions and effects it overshadows all else. 1t
is impossible to examine any subject
connected with the progress, the religious
condition of the masses, without encoun-
,ering this monstrous evil. 1t lies at the
center of all social and political mischief.
| 1t paralyzes bencfcent energies in every
direction. 1t neutralizes educational agen-
cies, 1t silences the voice of religion.
4 It battles penal reform. 1t obstructs pol
4 itical reform. rears alott mass Of
evilly.inspired power which at every
salient point threatens social and national
advance; which gives to Ignorance and
vice greater potency than intelligence of
virtue can command; which deprives the
poor of the advantages Of modern progress; !;
which debauches and degrades millions,
brutalizing and soldering them below the
plane of healthy savagery, and filling the
centers of population with creatures whose
condition almost excuses the immortality
which renders them dangerous to their
generation.
All these evils, all this mischief, all this
destruction of human souls and intellects,
go on among us da " and hourly. There
are none so ignorant or inattentive as not
to have personal experience of some n
them; some hearth darkened; some family
scattered; some loving heart broken; some
promising career ruined, some deed ofshame
|, done. Yet how hard it is 10 get this gi,
gantic evil attacked seriously. Temper.
ance organizations have indeed been fight
, ing it for years, yet popular inertia has re-
sisted their utmost ellolts. But has all
! been done that might and should have
been done by the organized societies that
, represent the higher life? What are doc
, trinal points, tor example, compared tc
! this ever-present, ever active, insiduous in
5 flunce? What are sectarian differences
by the side of this national cmse9 Car
the Churches fold their hands and flattel
themselves that their duties are fulfilled
e while the masses prefer lie saloon to thu
S pulpit, and while rum rules in politics ant
society? Are the higher educationa
: agencies doing all in their power to ad
: vance civilizapou while they ignore th'
y obstacle to progressG Can any politica
y organization he said to represent the hes
II aspirations and the strongest needs OF TIN
> people, while thisabiding source Of miser'
l. and crime and poverty is allowed u
/, spread and fiourish2
There is needed something orthat sacre'
u fire which kindled into inextinguishabl
u heat the zeal Of the Abolitionists, ant
which compelled the abandonment 9
, human slavery, to rouse the Nationa
. indignation and abhorrence against thi
g very much greater evil. Nothing short
l. this, it is feared, will impel time-servin
{ politicians to approach in spirit OF earl
!, estness a subject which is distasteful
them manly because they think they cal
not afford to do witholtithe help and SUI
port of the class who derive from the degr
dation ofthe foolish and ignorantthe mear
!, whereby they continue to rule and plund'
! those whose sagacity is proof against the
, snares.--Ns Y. Tribune. .uo ,gl4 H9g