Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-02-09

Its high license clause, its Sunday clause, its
respectabilitv clause and the whole being in
the hands OF the Judiciary, has proven to be.
and Justly, too, very popular, but it has gone
Just far enough, as other acts went far
enough, when they imposed a punishment
for arson rather than attempting to prevent
farmer from building barn or an out
house for fear Of arson being committed. In
legislation. as in physics, the stream cannot
rise. higher than the source. It
seems to me to belong rather to the domain
of : the Church to regulate the morals
of community than Of the State; and
especially in allaying the sin Of gluttony,
which seems very mild term for intemper-
ance. Careful legislation, tits true, may
assist, but like cream with the strawberry,
they go best together.
Some who are in favor. of constitutional
amendment and of stopping the manufacture
and sale of all intoxicants, may urge that it
is worth the trial, since it can't be used in
moderation. Better to prohibit its use alto
gether.
OBJECTIONS TO A TRIAL.
fear such a plan would be inconsistent
with the divine plan of the Creator toward
the creature. In the second place, it would
interfere with personal liberty, and in con-
sequence does not concur with our Ameri-
can institutions; and furthermore, it has
never been the fashion nor the custom Of
any country to prohibit what leads to evil,
but the evil itself. The reason
of this is obvious, in that
case you would prohibit the workings
Of the great designer Himself. I suppose
no one questions that even wine and malt
liquors were an incident to our civilization
and feature Of our Christianity. The
divine author of our being, while on earth
in a human form, used wine as a beverage,
at least it was drunk by Him and his invited
guests at the most remarkable and import
ant banquet that was ever given here below.
You can trace its use away back through
the whole history of civilization to the days
that Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat
Jacob. The Holy Fathers Basil, Gregory,
Athanasius, Tertullian, Apollinaris, while
they discouraged inordinate drinking and
made drunkenness odious, drank wine as q
beverage and have frequently recommended
its use.
EXAMPLE OF TURKEY.
The tribes of the North, the Arians,
Eunomians, Macedonians and the Mani
chees were all strangers to the doctrines Of
prohibition and even to the voluntary re-
straints of total abstinence. The Turk is
little control over his appetite that he re-
qulred to be placed under legal restraint
And to-day Turkey is the only country on
the face of the earth whose Government at
large have declared an entire prohibition
policy. Look at the result. From the
FLOWING bowl" to the ''pipe''-the scylla
and charvbidis-of the followers of Mo
hammed. 81 would rather accept as guides, Z"
writes famous statesman, ''to good morals
the German with his beer, the Frenehman
with his wine, and the American with them
all combined than the Turk with his opium
and his harems."
1t sometimes happens that grave and good
men, men Jealous for religion and expert
enced in the state and wants of the nation,
become too solicitous for the public good
and the moral status of the coun-
try. There may not be the
slightest doubt that these gentlemen
mean well in their anxiety; and further, too,
that what they are doing they think is best
under the circumstances, and that they are
merely carrying out what they consider the
dictates of public opinion.
WHAT IS PUBLIC OPINION?
But in courting public opinion we must
be on our guard; wholesome as it may be in
principle, like all things human it has many
imperfections and makes many mistakes.
Too often it is what the whole world opines
and no one in particular. 1t is simply the
gossip of the neighborhood, without any
foundation, and each one is spreading some
thing for which he dares not be snswerable;
it has the force Of authority rather than Of
reason, and concurrence in it is not an intel
igent opinion, but submission or belief
Hence it is that have come to the con-
clusiOn that the Church will have a more
wholesome effect upon the regulation of the
liquor traffic, assisted by wise legislation,
than the attempt to subdue it entirely. If
our ministers of religion had taken more in.
terest in the temperate habits of the mem
bers of their churches, this issue very likely
would never have arisen. 1 hope, in any
event, they will come to the rescue. Those
who are ever taking aim make no hits,
those who never venture never gain; to be
ever safe is to be ever feeble, and to do some
substantial good is the compensation for
Inuch incidental imperfection.
7. J. FITZGERALD.