The morning news., 1891-03-02

brigades. Great armies Of them. Aud the
II You had voice stentOrian enough to max
them all hear, and you could give the com
msnd, Forward, march p their first tram
would make the earth tremble. / do nc
care which way you look in the communit
to-day, the evil is increasing.
call attention 10 the fact that there ar
thousands OF people born with a thirst 70
strong drink-a fact often ignored. AlonI
some ancestral lines there runs the river c
temptation. There are children who's,
swaddlling-clOthesa are torn of the shrous
of death. Many a father has msde a will o
this sort: "In the name of God, amen.
beQueath to my children my houses anC
lands and estates; share and share shal
they alike. Hereto affix my hand and seal
in the presence Of witnesses" Aud yet per
haps that very man has made another vii
that the people have never read, and thal
has not been proved in the courts THAI
will put in writing would read something
like this: "In the name Of disease and
appetite and death, amen. l bequeath tc
my children my evil habits. my tankards
shall be theirs, my wine cup shall be theirs,
my destroyed reputation shall be theirs
Share and share alike shall they in the in
fanny. Hereto / afix my hand and seal in
the presence Of all the applauding harpies
of hell"
From the multitude Of those who have
the evil habit born with them this army is
being augmented. And am sorry to say
that a great many of the drug stores are
abettIng this evil, and alcohol is sold under
the name of bitters. 1t Is bitters for this,
and bitters for that, and bitters for some
other thing, and good men deceived, not
knowing there is any thrald m Of alcoholism
coming from that source, are going down,
and some day man sits with the bottle of
black bittes on his table, and the cork flies
out, and after it flies fiend and clutches
the man by his throat and says: "Ahal
have been after you for ten years. / have
got you now. Down with youl down with
your Bittersl Ahl yes. They make a
snanb family bitter and his home bitter.
and his disposition bitter, and his dea b
bitter, and his hell bitter. Bittersl A vast
army, all the time increasing.
1t seems to me 1t is about time for the
1900, 900 professors of religion in America
to take sides. 1t is going to be an out-and-
out battle with drunkenness and sobriety,
between heaven and hell, between God and
the devil. Take sides before there is any
further national decadence; take sides be-
fore your sons are sacrificed and the new
home OF your daughter goes down under
the alcoholism of an imbruted husband
Take sides while your voice, your pen, your
prayer, your vote may have any influence
in arresting the despoliation of this nation
If the l7,OOO, 900 professors of religion should
take sides on this subject it would not be
very long before the destiny of this nation
would be decided in the right direction.
Is drunkenness a state or national evil
Does it belong to the north, or does it be-
long to the southa Does it belong to the
east, or does it belong to the west Ah
there is not an American river into which
its tears have not fallen and into which its
aUiaiHnc haUa plttno,aA
that southern plantation9-every field a
fortune, the proprietor and his family once
the most affiuent supporters of summer
watering places. What threw that New
England farm into decay and turned the
roseate cheeks that bloomed at the foot of
tue Green mountains into the pallor of
1esDaire What has smitten every street of
every village, town and city of this conti-
nent with d moral pestilencei Strong
rink.
To prove that this is national evil call
np two states in opposite dlrections-Maine
and Georgia. Let them testify in regard to
this. State of Maine saws: at is so great
an evil up here we have mathematical it
As state" State Of Georgia says: 1T is
80 great an evil down here that ninety
counties Of this state have made the sale OF
drink a criminality" So the
wor i comes up from all parts of the land
Either drunkenness will be DESTROYED in
this country or the American government
wi be destroyed. Drunkenness and free
Institutions are coming into a death
yrapple.
Gather up the money that the working
classes have spent for rum during the last
,blrty years, and / will build for every
house. and lay out for him a
garden ard clothe his sons in broadcloth and
us daughters IN silks, and stand at his front
1oor prancing span sorrels or bays and
secure him policy Of life insurance so that
he present home may be we'll maintained
after he is dead. The most persistent, most
empowering enemy of the working classes
IS Intoxicating liquor. Ii is the anarchist
of centuries, and has boycotted and is now
the body anu mind and soul of
American labor. 1t annually swindles
out of a large percentage of
is earnings. 1t holds out its blasting
to the mechanic or operative
IN his way to work, and at the noon-spell.
and on his way home at eventide. On Sat
irday, when the wages are paid, it snatches
large part Of the money that
night come to his family and
aorifices it among the saloon-
keepers. Stand the saloons of this country
tde by side, and it is carefully estimated
hat they would reach from New York to
Chicago.
This evil is pouring its vitriolic and damn
able liquors down the throats of hundreds
II thousands of laborers aud while the or
iinary strikes are ruinous both to employers
md employees, | proclaim a universal strike
against strong drink, which strike, Il kent
Up, will be the relief of the lahoriuR classes
and the salvation of the nation. l will un-
iertake to say thatithere is not a healthy
aoorer IN the United States who, within
me next twenty years, if he will refuse all
beverages and be saving, NAV
1ot become capitalist on a small scale.
y! bow many are waiting to see if some
thing cannot be done for the stopping of in
temperance Thousands of drunkards wait
ing who cannot 60 ten minutes in any di-
rection without having the temptation glar-
ing before their eyes or appealing to their
nossrils. they fighting against it with en-
feeoled will and diseased appetite, CONQUER
ing, then surrendering again, and CRYING:
how long, y Lord how long before these
infamous solicitations shall be gone" And
how many mothers are waiting to see if this
rational curse cannot lift! o! is that the
boy who had the honest breath who come,
home with breath vitiated or disguisedi
W hat change How quickly those habits OF
early coming home have been exchanged
Tor the rattling of the night-key in the door
long after the last watchman has gone by
and tried TO see that everything was closed
up for the night o. what change for
that young man who we had hoped would
do something in merchandise, or in ar isan-
ship, or in profession that would do honor
to the family name long after mothers
hands are folded from the last TOLL
All that exchanged for sta tied look when
the door-bell rings, lest something h as hap