The Press., 1888-10-25
(Correspondencs.l ]. ssTHE DRINK PkOBEEMs AGAIN.

Home has seen fit in an editorial, styled "obiections Answeud.s .s' 10 criticize an arti cle upon the ''drink problem, 7" which wa recently published in The Press. Tn. Home asseF4s in It's editorial that it deall with facts, and advdncss iis ':6bjections' as if The Press artfcie had urgsd high Ii cense as the best and sole method of deal ing with the drink evil. Such an under standing of, The Press article is.incorrect and nothing eou1d be further removed from it's plain intent than that interpreta tion. The writer of the article upon s'Tht Drink Problem wishes, by way of pre- face, to distinctly state that he is neither [ promoter, friend nor ally of the liquor interest in any form or shape, and in hii desire for the success of temperance counts himself no less sincere than the editor e the Hc me or any other advocate of tenn perance organization or party. The writer of that article, too, in regard to questions of,pnblic intereat, is not believer in the latest and least tried creed, seeks no pa tronage in exchange for his opinions, has no political axe to grind, and is by nature inclined toward those methods of reform which history and human experience have justified.
 The first point in The Press article which the Home criticises is the statement that Legislative prohibition attaches toe little importance sto. the agency of educa tion ill the work of reform" The editol attempts to refute this statement by en- la ging upon the e lucational influence oi such law," meaning prohibitory law. But what does he mean by the education al influence" of the law? Let us examine the meaning of this phrase. What creates the greatest necessity for law in a com muhity Is it 4soT, principally, the lack of intelligence, of education? Is there not among civilized peoples the greatest pleponderance of law today in communi ties where there is the least diffusion of ed ucation and, if so, why is not intelligence stimulated among such peoples if the law exerts an educational influence ?" Ire. land has had laws bestowed upon her in profusion fore centuries; will the editor point out why the educational influence has escaped the Irish people? The same may be asserted of the Russians. {: It might be answered that the great majority of the Irish and Russians have resisted contact with the laws; that is perhaps true, and il is equally true that ' vast majority of our people are resisting, and will resist, the contact of prohibitory laws. How then can educational influence" attend such laws
 There is no need of prohibitory laws fol the temperate. Ifsnch laws can be iusti- fled at all, it mnstsbe for the influence which they exert upon the antenperate but if.the AttcE Eclaaa are hostile tb the law, why shbuld it skel ke ha tssdncatioha in, Hfuence" upon tfensany mora than law ex. erts such an influence upon the people oi Ireland or the Russians?
 The argnmant of ttseducational infu- ence" has been before now resorted to by new and doubtful movements. Less than generation ago we were constantly as. sured that 6the' ballot would have won. derful ''educational influence" upon the freedman but quarter of century oi experience has shown the folly of that promise. Until very recently, too, we were assured from high sources that the Order of the Knights of Labor would lesyee many of: Sur social pliReeies,; by the educational influence" which the orga nizttion would exert upon the laborine classts; but one must have great faith tC believe 4osday that any benefit has beer experienced by the laboring class through that order. The argument of "education al influence, 9iin. such 8. a.senseAs the editor uses it, has long since lost its usefulness and never had enough merit to entitle il to be recalled now to do service for the cause of legal prohibition.
 The editor of the Home, in his zeal to bringforward the wefl-worn theme of "edu. cational influence, "has intentionally or un. willingly disregarded the real objection agashst legal prohibition, which he set oul to refute, namely, the objection of "at taching too little importance to the agency of education" By the term education nj The Press article waA meant the kno%a edge that comes from instruction, seculal or religious. That this was the sense il ill which the .tehm Wassust d. ais too eviden to escape the most casiial reading. To es tablish this assertion beyond cavll the i'd ltors attention is called 10 the. following sentehces inSthe article which he criticizes '"Through the medium of our schools, re- iigious organizations and public press, tho influence of temperance and even greater influences for good may be inspired.!:' Al .so the following: 1t was by vigorous personal effort, Father than by good ex ample, and by educating 4Ae. people up tc a moral conviction upon the subject, rath CT than by relying upon political interfer ence that the abolition of slavery was final ly accomplished. The same will be-. true of the drfhk tfaffic ta40Ssess 6Jse IeopES hGV. been similarly educated" This is tho sense in which the writer used the tern "education." How, in the face of. sucE language, does the editor explain the hon esty of his charge that The Press article advocated education to prohibition by { high license law ?". Ess " tr'-
 Another statement in The Press article that ''prohibition offers no substitute fol the attractions of the saloon which it aiml to abolish" furnishes the editor of tho Home with a second text. s'It is 8 fata policy, he says, 'fto devise any means tt induce people away from their homes. What is the occasion for such warning Who has proposed such policy? It ii 8 matter of the commonest knowledat that there are th6usands:in the great cent CTS of population who have TO honaes Among this large class intemperance ii perhaps greatest. The lack of home in duces such persons to frequent saloons It is for this class that substitutes for tn, saloon are needed, and the need is great The charity workers of cities like Nev York and Boston have repeatedly affirmed this need, and the editor of ffs Home. i he cares to inquire, may receive that assur ance from such high sources as the write has already done. With such information the editor would probably have been nor, judiciona than, to attempt 10 ridicnle th, 0uocfiOT1 If cIa1okikr,fa