The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1885-10-02
A BISHOPS ADDRESS.

Remarks of Bishop Spalding at the Re-
cent Catholic Temperance Conyen ton at
Peoria, Ill.
The annual convention of the Catho-
lie Total Abstinence Union of the State
of Illinois was recently held at Peoria.
1T Rev. j. /. Spalding, Bishop of
Peoria Diocese, was chosen President
of the Union for the ensuing year.
After the business of the convention
was finished public meeting was held
and Bishop Spalding delivered an clo-
lquent address on Temperance, from
which we make the following extracts:
The Temperance cause is one which beyond
all question commends itself to all who have
the welfare and progress of mankind at heart
The bases of all human happiness is virtue
right conduct, To be governed by that moral
law of which we are all conscious is the best.
Whatever tends to make men more earnest in
Their conduct and more able to practice whit
they preach is good. Since this is general
principle it follows that neutrality-suspicious.
life.
The Temperance question is one of the alb
sorbing questions of to-day
Gladstone has said that intemperance has
brought more wretchedneSs, sorrow or ruin
upon: mankind than war, famine and pesti-
lence combined. And am convinced of this.
There is no evil to be compared in its dread
and fatal power with the vice of drunkenness.
Between $4,000 and $1,000 human beings die
daily. This is unnoticed; but il 1900 die in
one day in Spain of cholera, everybody talks
about it, and people become alarmed thou.
sands of miles away. If fifty or sixty people
are killed in a railroad accident the newspa-
perS TEEN with the news. We need something
startling to attract our attention. 1t is so
with intemperance., 1t is a caEser, an ulcet
a -iTlur 10 an
thousands. 1t works its way silently. If you
could gather in one place the drunkards of q
city or State, and could depict the history OF
stand aghast. kind of moral paralysis
would take possession of all. We lose sight
of it because It does not come on US like q
pestilence, in an hour, but by slow and
stealthy advances.
There are, however, very few even of those
who hate Temperance who do succeed in shut
ting their eyes to the enorInity of the evil.
There is no evil which to me is so repulsive,
that affects me in so unpleasant way. There
are other vices that may be worse--GOd knows.
But to me the most pftable wreck of a man is
brought about by drunkenness. 1t seems
more than any other vice to get control of
man. Of course there are some reformed
drunkards, but as a rule they die by the hun
dred thousands and reform by tens. Its pow
ers are almost as fatal as the force of gravita-
ton that holds us to the ground. 1t weakens
the will more than all the other vices. The
most God-like thing in man is his free will,
tendency of all wrong-doing is TO weaken the
will, and drunkenness has that effect more
than anything else.
My notion is that men do not love liquor for
its pleasant taste, but for the effect it pro-
duces, and the direct effect is to deaden con-
seriousness. 1t makes man for the time forget
his labor, his troubles, the cares of life, ana
therein is the greatest charm of using alco-
holic Stimulants. But as the habit grows upon
many it brings about the lcssening of VIII
power, and induces intellectual and physical
decay. 1t is unworthy of man 10 seek this
unnatural Inconsistencies. 1t is Il cOTard's
refuge from the realities of life, and results
in the destruction of the man.
have supreme belief in the good of life
as it is given to us on earth. IL is a God-like
privilege to be able to think, to love, to work,
to console, to see and enjoy the beauties and
advantages OF nature. 1t is h crime in any
man TO lessen the perfect goodness of his life,
which think drunkenness does. That is why
i hate it. Life is sweeter, fonder and freer to
me as a total abStainer than as moderate
Oh. mixer; SO i say if you want to get the most
out OF life, If you want to sympathize with
your feIlowNmen, to feel the true force of your
being, abstain from alcoholic stimulants. l
am convinced that even the most delicately-
constituted man is liable to endure more as
an aDstainer than moderate driDker.
it is a grave mistake to imagine that drunk
ennesS has grown more general in our age
than in past ages. On the contrary am con-
WINGED that in this country and in Europe So
briefly is on the increase. Drunkenness was
even approved of one hundred years ago It
was thought once to be gentleInan-ike vice.
Public opinion did not condemn it. Heaven
what progress since thenl And this progress
has been brought about by the force of pub
lie opinion. IT is one of the glories of this
country thai it has so many Temperance so
cietics They are doing the work of educating
public opinion on this question: of teaching
the people to realize the awful results of in
In the United States we have
more true liberty, than is enjoyed by
people in other lands. With this social and
religious liberty it becomes all-important to
educate men, to teach them to control them
selves. Here, the people are all in all, and
since they govern, it becomes a matter of SUI
preIne Importance that the people should be
wise, sober and have self-control. One reason
why advocate total abstinence is because I
believe it is the most philanthropic work of
the age. In this country drink prevents ninety
men out of a hundred from leaving their
children in @ better condition than that with
which they started. Whisky. alcohol aud
beer are the great invincible enemies of
women. They take self-respect from the
children, fill the home with the seeds of anger,
liscontent and wretchedness, when they
night be full Of happiness, light and cheer
We can not neglect taking sides on this
question. 1t is OF more importance than any
political question. 1t is associated with all
We love and cherish and glory in.
Concluding, the speaker argued
hat Temperance is the poor mans
,ause, because he is at great disadvan-
age in the struggle. II is not only his
,ause-it is the cause OF the soul-the
:ause of the Eternal God.