The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1886-10-20
CRUSH The SALOON.

CRUSH THE SALOON.
However Men May Disagree as to the
Manner of Killing 1t, tho Awful Neces-
sity OF Its Death Is Apparent.
Public sentiment is well-nigh ON
nipotent. 1t enacts laws; it speaks
through the judges charge; it gives
eyes to policemen; it governs the
crowd on the street. and like subtle
atmosphere pcrvades all things, and
with commanding power. And pub
lie sentiment is rising up against the
saloon. Every day cnlarges and intcn-
sites the conviction that the dram
shop is an altogether useless and ire
deemably wicked thing, that it is a
burdensome barrier equally in the way
of the highest civilization and of en-
lightened Christianity. Though toll
Grated in tho past, its baleful, dreadful
influence has always been felt and pro-
tested against by the noblest philan-
thropists. as well IS by the wretched
widows and orphans from whom it has
taken the husband and the father.
Nay, many a time the poor incbriate
himself, the victim of his appetite, has
cursed the saloon as the occasion
of his downfall, his evil habits,
his loss of character, his broken
health, his rags and miseries and
blasted hopes. The hour is drawing
near when the very idea of a man,
made in the image of God, running
into corner groggery to take drink
Of rum while standing on his feet will
seem utterly preposterous and absurd.
TO be sure, such a procedure was once
the fashion; and so was the gaudy
dress, made up of the colors of the
magpie and the harlequin, in which
Oliver Goldsmith used to strut about
to his own infinite delight, but at which
the world now jeers as fantastic and
ludicrOus. There never was any neces-
sity for man to stand up to bar and
to pour alcohol down his throat; and
henceforth such habit will be deemed
inexcusable, because Nndigniiied, un.
manly, disreputable, rs we'll as moral.
ly pcrnicious in example, and tending
only toward the degradation of hui
manity and the destruction Of human
happiness.
Men may differ widely about the
Observation-Disclosures taking a glass Of
wine is sin per Sc, whether total alb.
stinence, or the use of thing with
self-restraint embodied in the word
Temperance shall be the Christian s
law, whether the absolute prohibition
of the manufacture and sale of ardent
spirits is practicable or otherwise, ETC.,
etc. but surely there is, or ought to be.
no ground of difference among all
good and thoughtful men on the de
mand that the saloon must 60. 1t has
already wrought mischief enough
without ever doing one iota Of benefit
To attempt to put. into language even
a few of the awful crimes that have Is
sued directly from the saloon would
seem like the outburst of rant. Ant
yet no words can, begin to convey any
Just conception of the various forms o.
vice and misery, of intellectual as wei
as moral debasement caused by the
saloon. 1t Is infinitely pathetic
and narrowing for us to i'm.
agine just one nights doings IN the sa
looms of this broad land. Who can beal
to think Of the profanities, of thu
malignant curses, of the dementet
wits, of the violent and angry words
of the bloody encounters, of the muir
ders, of the scalding tears and bittel
agonies, and unspeakable remors'
which were produced by the saloons
during Just the last twenty-four hours
And what shall we say when we re
member how these things are multi
piled during all the seven days of thu
week and the fifty-two weeks of tn,
yearp There is hardly family among
our sixty millions of the people which
has not been struck somehow an,
somewhere by the saloon devil; ant
therefore it is certainly wise and jus
for all our families to combine for it
overthrow. Let us agitate to make tn
saloon disreputable, to secure ampl
legislation against it, to help judg
and Jury and policemen to feel and d
their duty with regard to it; to Great
public sentiment rendering it dis
graceful to peddle out standing drink
and equally disgraceful to swallow
standing drinks-in short, let us b
loyal to humanity and to Christia
civilization and to God by cryin
out and acting on the cry: ''Dow
with the salOon!'-C Christian at Work.