Iron County register., 1886-09-30
Approaching Common Sense View of
the Temperance Question.

1t is strange tonne that people who
labor so assiduously for the furtherance
of that scheme called Prohibition can
not, or will not, see their inconsistency.
That their motives are generally good
Will not nor am I prone to deny. 1t
is merely the blind fanaticism which
seems Invariably to be entailed upon
its devotees, that public condemn.
There seems to be, as 1t were, a
strange fatality inherent in, and pecu-
liar to this new Goddess, which infects
all who worship at her shrine, and
which is absurd in an inverse ratio to
the general intelligence, aud proper
tionate to the zeal of, the victim.
Lest be accused of making unsub-
stantiated assertions, will give some
data from indisputable authority.
First. Most of, if not all, prohibition
lists are professed Christians. AS such
they reflect upon the virtue of Holy
Writ as a guide and as law. Well
let us see; they all claim to be temper
ance people. They think they have a
monopoly of the " temperance" or i'm
other terms that that word was made
especially for them. But, fortunately,
the Bible and Webster come to the
rescue of the Kings English" and
interpose au immutable barrier to the
prostitution of it to such unnatural
purposes. Webster defines temperance
as meaning moderation" or, virtually,
a happy medium, without restricting
it to reference (as they would haveit)
to indulgence in "red liquor," any more
than he does to the same in speech, or
thought. Now the great Apostle Paul
says, "Be temperate in all things" In
order to make doubly sure, that he
does not have particular reference to
spirituous liquor, let US refer to another
passage in which he says, "Take lit
tie wine for thy stomach's sake, "a
command which I fear, is more often
and more readily obeyed than the more
divine (?) one given in the Golden
Rule"O, thereby implying that there is
temperance even in what they would
term. intemperance. 1 appeal to any
lover of good English if this is rot an
anomoly that is not permissible in the
good rendering thereof.
Some may say that this is mere
technicality. But I think that it is
matter oc Importance. 1t is potent to
any person of good judgment that
teacher, to be successful, must teach
by example as well as by precept.
That being the case, how can they ex-
pect to teach the exercise of temperance
in the Indulgence of the appetite for
alcoholic drink, by intemperance of
action, thought, word, and pen, on
their part? By attempting to do so,
they act without calm forethougbt. In
their teachings they continually set
forth the morted fact that some of our
smartest men, and those who have the
most brilliant intellects, often fall vic
TINS to this fell destroyer. This, true,
would not a moments thought tell
them that their opponents could see
their Inconsistency, and another
thought would tell them that no man
receives from an inconsistent teacher,
10 matter how good his principles.
That leads us to see that there are two
alternatives. Either they work with
out judgment, or they assume a con-
tempt for the perception of their oppo-
nents, that is without shade of war
rant in the light of their own admis-
sions. From this We can but deduce
the conclusion that their methods are
unrestricted and that their viruleDt
attacks are but the vain ebullitions of
half frenzied fanatics. do not say this
to injure the temperance cause God
forbid that the talent he has given me
should ever be misdevoled to such an
a purpose. My object is to
thinking minds to unbiased
inquiry for a practical and common
sense method of dealing with this vital
question. The next article will treat
of its impractibility. QUAKER.