The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1891-12-25

weak and has never yet led reformat
ion nor won revolution. The battles
of humanitarianism are ever fought by
the forces of utilitarianism. The Refor
nation was not so much an uprising fol
purity's sake, as for the benefices to be
doled out by a libertine king and pro-
figate aristocracy: the abolition of slay-
cry in our own land was made possible
only when the utilitarian North saw that
Free Labor was in deadly peril from the
competition of the slave; in vain wrote
the Beechers, pleaded the Phillipses or
died the Browns; sentiment failed until
utilitariansm led the van. So it has ever
been and will be. The prohibition cru
SADIE will fail along the same lines. The
saloon helps uti1itarianism, and hence it
is arrayed against sentiment, and the lat
ter is impotent for good or evil But it
may be urged that the public house has
-deteriorated in passing to the saloon. If
so, whose fault is it? Is it it's own? Is
deterioration or degeneracy inherent in
the system? Look at the magnificent city
palaces devoted to the business, the cost
of whose decorations alone would ransom
king, and draw your own answer from
the look. Is it the man behind the bar?
Has he degenerated? The liquor dealer is
always public spirited, pays his taxes
cheerfully and is intelligent as far as his
light goes. Remember, | am defending
reputable. legalized public houses now,
not dives, nor glittering palaces of sin.
| am defending the public house of the
connecticut statutes and the saloonkeep-
er recognized by the law. And | repeat,
ne IS a man of average intelligence, often
fairly well off in this worlds goods, re-
spects himself, respects the law and
should be respected accordingly. On the
n fhn sol i A.
crate drlnker, the believer in local opt
ion and the advocate of high license in
varying degrees of unity of purpose. OPP
posed to the saloon is the prohibitionist,
while the total abstainer may be consid-
cred neutral factor while he remains
passive. High license is unnatural, as
giving to the rich an advantage over the
poor man in the race of life. While it
may not be admitted that the government
should only exercise police control of the
liquor traffic and not tax it, as the genu-
inc Prohibitionist maintains, yet it will
hardly be denied that anything but a
nominal license fee discriminates against
the poor in favor of the rich and
is, therefore, class legislation
which the constitution pro-
hibits expressly. 1t appears, therefore,
that the prohbitionist is fanatical and
the nigh license advocate unconstitution-
al, while the total abstainer, who minds
MS own business, occupies a safe ground
in his neutrality. The moderate drinker
and the believer in local option may be
set down as not perniciOusly active
either way. We have, then, only to con-
slider the Women's auxiliary. And here
comes the rub. The mother, the wife
and the daughter plead before US for
what? To abstain from intoxicants; we
fn no
further; join total abstinence society
or band to influence others by our exam
pie of sobriety. Are they satisfied?
No; they press US to adopt arbitrary
summary laws to compel our equals to
do or refrain from doing something not
repugnant to their feelings and we re-
fuse point blank. Then they call us
brutes and boo-hoo in our ears. They
blame us for acting logically and in ac-
cordance with the dictates of the golden
rule. Then an attempt is made to APP
peal TO our passion or prejudices by eX-
the power of the saloon in
politics, forgetting that when the liquor
dealer is perniciously active in public
affairs, it is because he is driven to this
course by the instinct of self preserva-
ton, to repel or ward off the i'll advised
or i'll considered attacks upon himself or
his business by a few Zealots, who, led
away by an excess of zeal for the aboli-
ton of intemperance, lose sight of his
rights under the law or seek Willfully to
rob him of them. To the student of
public events, it would seem that the
power of the saloon is exaggerated and
clamor of the cry, Down with the sa-
loon" untimely and uncalled for. That
the liquor dealers stand as one man when
their business is assailed goes without
9 vi
And contemporary with the
rise of aggressive temperance sentiment
in this country was the advent of the
saloon into the domain of politics. 1t is
a clear case of cause and effect. When
fanaticism shall cease and
true temperance work (that of the indi-
vidual, not collectively take its place,
then and not till then, in the nature of
things, will the power of the saloon wane
and the institution drop back into the
passive state it was in for centuries.
When that time of peace and good will
comes, the temperance zealots of to-day
will beat their breasts and cry out,
'Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima
culpa,' as they look back with regret up
On the opprobrium cast upon, not only
The men engaged in a legal calling, in
legal way, but upon that vast majority
Of moderate drinkers and liberty loving
citizens who deplore the evils of intem-
perance of speech as we'll as of drink;
who try with the light God gives them
by other more feasible methods to lessen
the evils of drunkenness, without en-
upon the right of the individu-
al or interfering with the laws of trade
and in accordance with the precept OF
5he Golden Rule.-fT. j. Corbett's paper
1T the Town Hall Symposium.