The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-12-10
Che GRilN 8Mllstin,
FRIDAY. DEC. 10, 1886.
W. C. T. U.
THE PRESIDENTS REPORT.
THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.

ANU luus, VIC lldNt COiiC bCiOiC
you once again, dear friends, with
the little story of what the year has
permitted us to do in this depart
ment of Gods great work in the
world. 1t is not much, but we are
proud to stand with all the best men
and women of Christendom on the
side of Right-on Gods side. For
all thoughtful minds must admit
that of all the great moral questions
of the day, none stands more pro-
minently before the enlightened
nations of the world than how best
to deal with the demon of alcohol.
How he encamps upon our streets,
and taints with his foul breath the
very air of heaven! How he poisons
the bodies of men so that their very
presence is pestilential! He be-
numbs the intellect, for how can a
pure free mind dwell in such tene-
ment! He weakens the will and
destroys the conscience, so that when
a man ''would do good, evil is pres
ent with him." Who can paint the
terror and the heart breaking
anguish he brings into the home, the
remnant of Eden left from the fall !!
He is antagonistic to all that is good.
He hates all purity and sincerity
and love. His whole effort is to
Danish righteousness and religion
and God from the world. Since the
day of Adam, Satan has always
taken some plausible guise and with
fair speech endeavOred to delude
the sons of nen-"Ye shall not surely
die!" In these later years, since
ignorance and superstition and
anarchy and religious persecution
and human slavery and all their host
of soul enslaving monsters have
flown, or are spreading their black
wings for flight, king alcohol, brother
of them all, stands up in his might
and says, Though fear not God
nor respect man, though my work is
to destroy the souls and bodies of
men, though ruin homes and make
widows and orphans and create
prisons and aims houses and waste
by millions the earnings of the poor,
yet in defiance of God and all that
is good and true, l will set up my
throne over this fair earth, and who
shall be able to withstand me?" In
America, Great Britain, Germany,
Scandinavia, Australia and little
Hawaii nei, his voice is heard-the
cries has come. The question is
forced upon every man and woman
in all civilized lands: (which side
shall l take in this fight between
good and evil? As far as my in
huence and vote 60, shall shun the
issue, or shall my voice be heard
now and ever in behalf of the radical
uprooting and total prohibition of
this whole mighty curse?"
"Once to every man and nation comes
the moment to decide,
In the strife of good and evil, on the
good or evil side:
Some great cause, Gods new Messiah,
proffering the bloom or blight
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and
the sheep upon the right;
And the choice goes by forever, 'twiXt
the darkness and the light.
Have we chosen, oh, We people in which
party We shall stand
Ere the doom from his worn sandals
shakes the dust against thy land?''
The history of the temperance
agitation in America during the past
eighty years, is most interesting and
instructive as showing the numerous
devices attempted to enchain and
control the monster, and how, in
spite of it all, he thrives and RACES.
l hope we shall come to see, if we
are not already convinced, that all
temporizing policies are verse
than useless, and that his total eXter-
mination, the absolute prohibition
of the manufacture and sale of all
Intoxicating liquors is not only the
best but the only way to save the
hundred thousand men and women
who are annually sacrificed to satisfy
his appetite in that country alone.
Early in this century and fol-
many years before, while thoughtful
men had seen the growing evil, ant
many efforts had been made by in
dividuals to warn the people, n.
organization of the friends of tenn
perance had been attempted. Ii
1903, small society of 43 members
was formed in Northumberland
county, New York. This societ,
did not exist many years, and i
mainly interesting to us as being TIN
first temperance organization and a
showing the stand which was con
sidered as very advanced ground il
those days. These are some article
from their constitution:
"No member shall drink rum
gin, whiskey, wine, or any distilled
spirits except by advice of physi
cian or in case of actual disease
also excepting wine at publ
dinners, under penalty of twenty
five cents; provided that this articl
shall not infringe on any religion
ordinance.
"No member shall be intoxicated
under q penalty of fifty cents.