The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1884-03-14
The Question of the Age.


1t has been said that the end and the test Of
good government is the greatest happiness Of
the greatest number. II this be true it must
be owned that no government extsnt is satis-
factorily conducted. For observation shows
that as rule political energy is expended upon
secondary concerns, while politicians employ
all their dexterity IN avoiding action upon the
great problems which most deeply involve the
destnies of the masses. There is to-day in the
English speaking countries no such tremen-
dous, farreaching, vital question as that OF
drunkenness. In its implications and effects
it overshadows all else. 1t is impossible to ex-
anime any biect connected with the progress,
the civilization, the physical well-being, the
religious condition OF the masses, without en-
countering this monstrous evil. 1t lies at the
centre of all social and political mischief. It
Daralyzes beneficent energies in every direc-
ton. 1t neutralizes educational ag. ncies. 1t
silences the voices OF religion. IL battles penal
reform. 1t obstructs political reform. 1t rears
aloft mass of evily-inspired power which at
every salient point threatens social and Ma
tonal advance; which gives to Ignorance and
Vice greater potency than Intelligence and
Virtue can command; which deprives the poor
of the advantages of modern progress; which
debauches and degrades millions. brutalizlng
and soldering them below the plane Of healthy
savagery, and filling the centres 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 de-
ssT aetion of human souls and intellects, go on
among US daily and hourly. There are none
so ignorant or inatteptiye as not to have per-
sonsl experience of some Of shsm; some hearth
darkened; some family scattered; soae loving
heart broken; some promising career ruinsd;
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, yet popular inertia has re-
sisted their utmost efforts. But has all been
done that might and should have been done by
the organized agencies that represent the high
or life? What are doctrinal points, for exam.
pie, compared to this ever-present, ever-aciive,
insidious influence? What are sectarian differ
ences by the side of this National curse? Can
the Churches fold their hands and Aatter
themselves that their duties are all fuinifed,
while'the masses prefer the saloon to the pull
pit, and while rum rules in politics and soci-
ETY.? Are the higher educational agencies do
ing all in their power to advance civilization
while they ignore this obstacle to progress?
Can any political organization be said to rep
resent the best aspirations and the strongest
needs of the people, while this abiding source
Of misery and crime and poverty is allowed to
spread and flourish?
There is needed something Of that sacred
fire which kindled into inextingushable heat
the zeal of the Abolitionists, and which COM
pelled the abandonment of human slavery, to
rouse the National indignation and abhorrencs
against this very much greater evil. Nothing
short of this, it is to be feared will impel time
serving politicians to approach in a spirit of
earnestness a subject which is distastsful to
them mainly because they think they cannot
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 plunder those whose
sagacity is proof against their snares