The Press., 1891-12-24
W. e. T. U. DEpARTMENT.

W.c.T. U. BEREAVEMENT.
 Extract from speech of Mary T. La throp, at the national and worlds w. c. T. U. convention, 1891:
 Have we had any backing for the work we have done as we accept your welcome tonight? Science is with us. No seien- tist would risk his reputation by taking issue with the standards laid down in the text books of the schools.
 The legislative authorities of the coun- try are with us. Again and again the legislatures have been obliged to admit that prohibition as 8 principle and ap- piled to government is right and constitu- tional, and the people have right to en- act it and to enforce it. The judiciary are with us. The supreme court of the United States of America declares that no citizens of any state and no citizen of the United States has any inherent right to sell intoxicating drinks. Where do they get that righta It is conferred right on g preferred class. The right is laid on foreigners, not the. best, but the worst. The judicial heights are with us. The, church is with us, of course it is. If we could get a vote of the majority of the church we would find itismo with us than ever, because three-fourths of the church are women. They are not yet right, though, because while in the highest ec- clesiastical councils of the different churches they declare the saloon the foe of Christ's kingdom, yet the bishop. and ruler, the Iayman and the saloon-man, stand side by side and give the conferred right to a preferred class. A good deal what the church has saidin it's highest ecclesiastical resolutions where the men get together, leaving the women at home, is only ecclesiastical dress parade. We are backed up by science, legislative au- thority, judicial decisions, and the church of the living God. Their battle is our battle. Our battle is their battle, if ever Christ's kingdom comes.
 We have been gathering a wave of sent iment that tonight, stands of shore a mile high and as wide as the horizon. Why deesn'tit come over. and sweep the eaaoon from the face of the earth? "Party politics" is the answer. What keeps the lightning shaft Of science away from the saloon? Party politics. My, friends, there is one solemn thing about this, God never very long is patient with people to whom He has given the light and who re- fuse to use it. We are not dealing with ignorances but with the apathy of guilt. Men know their duty and do it not. The laymen in the pews, the preachers in the pulpit know their duty, and yet this au- tumn has witnessed, in these great east ern states, whore the republic was born, the dictates of the saloon on their legal ized throne. That is the reason the wo- men are stirred. You say sometimes we are obstinate. Are we more so than the foe we fight? You say we are radical. Are we more so than the truth? God says no drunkard shall inherit eternal life. Suppose Ishould bring on thls platform ten men, and 8 voice out of heafeus say, s.These men have forfeited eternal life for all lIeternityS If that should happen our faces would go down in horror, and yet am talking to men who pray in the pray er- eetings,s who sit in the churches, and who went to the ballot-box and voted once more for the institution that puts men into that position. God says in this book, "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him and maketh him drunk also.", And yet, I have said to you that the right to sell is 8 conferred right on 8 preferred class. Who confers the right ? Every one who votes for the license system. |
 That is sour sin, my friends. Suppose these streets are full of staggering drunk ards. Suppose we have three thousand men in the liquor traffic, and the vice. president of the United States is one ot them. That isn't the worst thing in this country. What is the worst thing? The setting up of throne of fniquity by law, that takes issue with the throne of God Almighty. That is our national sin. Ii is not drunkenness Drunkafd- making is an individual sin and God will take care of him. But nations are punished in their lifetime, and thesssins of this civ ilization to-day is in creating throne oi iniquity by law, and saying to this infa- nous business, you shall exist, and exist by law. %6s4 &&# EsE