Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-09
The Arch Fiend of Nations
continued from last week,

t0OntlnuGQ IRON i;SE week.
Besides that. your vote is for 1858 or
1882 and will not affect November, 1884.
In speaking as l said would in this
brief course of Sabbath morning SER
mons, about the things that threaten
the destruction Of American institu-
tions, could Icompass the subject with
out speaking of drunkenness? Is it a
state evil or national evil? Does it be-
long to the East or to the West. to the
North or to the South? Alas, IRE!
There is not a river Of America in
which its tears do not flow and its sui
cides have not plunged. What ruined
that southern plantation, once its every
field a FORTUNE, the proprietor and his
family a few years ago the most afflu-
ent guests of the summer watering
places? What sent into decay that
New England farm, the roseate cheeks
that bloomed at the foot Of the Green
Mountains turned into the pallor Of a
drudge? What hath smitten every
street of every town and city Of this
continent with moral pestilence? What
will on the first Tuesday in November
in every State in the Union send thou
sands Of men to the ballot box maudlin
and incompetent. and filthy and bias
phemous? Strong drink. To prove
that the evil is national l call up Maine
of the North, Iowa Of the West, and
Georgia Of the South. Yes says
Maine, ut is SO much Of an evil we
have rs a state mathematical it,"
=" Yes" says Iowa, eve have by consti-
t%utional amendment forbidden it."
Yes" says Georgia, 1--WE have IN nine
ty counties of our state made the sale
of it a rriminality."
How many IN all parts of the land
are waiting to see if something is go
ing to be done for their relief? First
OF all, tens of thousands of drunkards.
who cannot walk ten minutes in any
direction in u cities without having
the temptation glazing before their
eyes Or appealing to .ttheir nostrils, and
they fighting against It With ~eafeebled
Will and diseased appetite. first con
quering. then surrerdering, conquering
again, and ~surrendering. * s. How
many wives waiting for domestic res
cue? He promised something better
than this when after a long acquaint-
ance and careful scrutiny of character
the hand and heart had been offered
and accepted. What a hell on earth it
is for a woman who has a drunken
husband! Il *
What is the state of things this hour:
We have an evil that costs the nation
more than a billion dollars a year to
support $4,000 criminals, 10000 idiots.
100000 paupers, and bury 75,UOo drunk
ards. Frotagoras boasted that of his
sixty years Of life he mad spent forty in
%despoiling youth. The arch iiend of
the nation, Alcohol, a boast that all
his years have been spent in that way
and without any exception.
Now, what is being done to confront
this evil? Take a lighted candle and
put on your most powerful ]spectacles.
md look through the two great politi-
cal platforms and find one word, if you
ran, deploring this evil. Something
against Mormonism? Oh, yes; it is
safe TO- denounce that organized nasti-
ness 1900 miles away. But not one
word. against drunkenness, which, if 1t
20 on. will turn this whole nation into
4 bestial Salt Lake City. Resolutions
,'galnst political corruption. Oh, yes;
'ut nothing against Drunkenness,
which, unarrssted, will rot the nation
rom scalp to heel. Resolutions about
protection against foreign competition,
out not one word about protection of
antilles and churches and nations
'galnst the evil which put a scalding.
blasting, all consuming, danning tariff
pn all individual, financial, neral relig-
'ous, national interests. The Demo
crallc party wercln power most of the
iliae Tor fifty years. What did they. do
as a party toarrest this evil? Nothing
absolutely nothin, appallingly nothing.
The Republican party has been in
power nearly a quarter of a century.
What have they done TO arrest this
evil? Nothing, absolutely nothing,
appallingly nothing.
100 IN n more direction, the
church is the mghtiest. most magniti-
cent organization even known. Has it
moved is solid phalanx On this subjectp
Not long ago at a nesting OF one
OF the great ecclesiastical bodies reso.
lutlons were offered demanding the ar
rest Of this evil and GENE ministers
with wine in their cellars and on their
tables defeated it by threatening speech
es. They Giti not want To riue mn +bair