Omaha daily bee., 1888-03-08
MICHAEL j. TANNING.
He Tells How to Rescue the Pcrishing
The temperance Movement.

He Tells How to Rescue the Pcrishing
The Temperance Movement.
BY 1880 o'clock Tuesday night the Swedish
Lutheran church. Nineteenth and Cass streets
was well filed. The occasion was an ad-
dress by Michael j. Tanning, of Michigan,
In series of talks made by him under the
auspices Of the Metropolitan Prohibition
club. AT the opening Rev f. Il. Graham, of
the First United Presbyterian church, put
damper ON the enthusiasm of the occasion,
by requesting that however much the audi.
tor might be pleased with what he heard,
that he studlously refrain from applauding
The Harmonica quartctte composed Of
four young ladies, rendered an appropriate
selection in a creditable manner and Rev.
j. +. Ensign made the opening prayer
Mr. flaming was introduced by Rev. E.
B. Graham.
The gentleman il a pleasing talker, OF
commanding appearance, and has the happy
knack Of driving his points home with inter-
esting and unique illustrations.
Throughout his address he exhibited avery
agreeable inclination TO contne himself
strictly to his text
Mr. Fanning said the question as to the
duty OF the citizen in regard TO the evil of
lntemperance is now before the public. Re
liz ion, patriotism and humanity urged and re-
quircd that war be .waged against the traffic.
According to the official reports there were. in
this country 2l5,0o0 distilleries, breweries,
liquors. Place all of these in a. circle and
they would make . 6SS miles in circumference,
or an area of 5i4,911 square miles;
equal IN area to nineteen states and territor-
les, leaving yet liberal surplus. Within
that circle could be found the host Of humans
affected by strong drink, each tending toward
the seething cess pool in which in 1887
100, 600 souls perished
Temperance folks.were Just like any other
folks, each had a hobby.
Drph hi ipp ty,o
suasonists and vice versa. The consequence
was these two grand divisions were divided
and the enemy whipped them in detail,
+ The temperance horde could be divided as
follows: First, moral suasiOnists or high Ii
cense and restrictive legislation. Second,
sore-headed prohibtionists VINO see good in
nothing but absolute prohibition. Third the
best class of all, and the one to which the
speaker belongs, who believed moral suasion
good as far as it goes but insisted upon
systematic mixture of the two remedies.
q He would illustrate the errors of the first
and second class by the parable of the good
Samaritan.
The soreheaded prohibition good Samar-
itan would be so indignant at the condition of
the sufferer that he had no time to offer to him
a helping hand, but.rushed. off to abuse the
thieves and demand the immediate passage
of IA law to shut them out of Jericho. That
Samaritan set his eyes so high that he could
not heed the appeal the condition of the suf
ferer made to his immediate attention.
The moral suasion good Samaritan would
find his. heart too full of sympathy forth suf-
ferer to be indignant at those responsible for
his condition. His entire attention would be
absorbed in alleviating the suffcrings OF the
man, while he took no steps to prevent a
recurrence. of the misfortune.
The third class believed that reform in man
was like reform to the young tree: The care
full gardener after bending the frail branch
Alright would not leave it to It's own weak
ness, but would place support to maintain
1t in Its proper course. just 30 with men,
moral suasion was good as far as it went but
it needed the cap sheaf of legal suasion to
make it effective
Society had right to protect itself eyen.at
a sacrifice of individual tastes. The plan Of
battle was to wage war against the traffic all
along the line yet never in the heat of battle
be too busy TO rescue the perishing or care
for the dying.
There was class Of men who would sign
the pledge whenever asked to- or break it
whenever asked to take a drink. These
were the well meaning fellows without the
them a preventative as well as cure was
needed. This was not found in high license
but their sole salvation lay in an absolute
abolition of the traffic. "What we need,
mothers" concluded the speaker, us COM
plete abolition Of this evil, so that when your
boy is away from your side you need not lis,
ten with fear and trembling for the sound of
his staggering footsteps at his mothers
door" :
During the evening the .Harmohica quar-
tette rendered several charming vocal selec-
tions This quartette is from Falls City,
Neb., and is composed of three sisters, the
Misses Newkirk and Miss Crow. These
young ladies added much to the interest Of
the occasion. Sixteen persons joined the
club during the evening. Tonight at the
same church Mr.. Tanning will speak on
"Liquor and Labor" A cordial invitation is
extended to all to be present.
Saturday night at Exposition hall the meet
ing will be addressed by Prof. Dickie, of
Michigan, who is said to be an able and in
teresting speaker.