The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1892-10-26
~ POWERFUL TEMPERANCE LESSON"

Inc htter ana humll6ting downfall of
Johh L. Sullivan, long considered the
champion puSilist of the world, is probably
tine most powerful object lesson which could
be given to a multitude of young men on
the value OF temperance and the ruinous ef. /.
fects OF debauchery. No moralist could have
done as much in years as Corbett, the new
champion, did in less than two hours, to
drive home upon the youth of America the
truth that sobriety and right living are the
only hope OF the greatest success in any fell
OF Effort When Sullivan, crying with the
chagrin and pain of defeat declared that
'boozP hal been the cause of his ruin. he
gave what nine out of every ten men who
pay any attention TO prize fighting will
agree is the true explanation of the su lden
and complete collapse of man long be.
iieved to be peerless as pugilist. The ex-
champion Tor years deiiel the laws of health
and prudence by iddutging in many pro-
tracted debauches His appetites aud pas.
sions have been recklessly INDUCED, and
now, by his own testimony, he is old before
his time, and fallen master of the only
vocation in which he ever attained promi-
nence.
Most authorities upon pugilism will al
ways maintain that Sullivan at his best was
the superior rs fighter OF the man who
easily defeated him. an the fact that he
was we'll nigh helpless against youth whose
physical powers have not been lowered by
excesses an whose vitality is unimpaired
by drink tells its sto' too plainly to be mis-
understood. Ii there was to be prize fight
for the heavy weight champi onship the re-
suit could not have been better for all inter-
ests of decencY and common sense. A tenn.
perate man whipped a drulkard, and a WELL
hammered man beat q surly ruffian. The
more intelligent, more decent aud more self
respecting OF the two combatants was the
victor, and the world sees that even in prizs
fighting it pays to live with prudence anu
sobriety. y.-Cleveland Ohio Leader.
WASTE CAUSED BY THE Drunk HABIT.
David A. Wells, one of the most accurate
OF our statistical writers, estimates the pres
ent yearly waste by the National drink hab-
1t as five hundred millions of dollars. Ac-
cepting and using this estimate as the basis
OF calculation, and allowing for past changes
in population and in the drink habit, we
reach the conclusion that the waste of forty
years by this curse of our Nation ha. been
the grand total of ten billions OF dollars.
That we may grasp the full import OF this
sum, let us measure 1t by comparison with
some splendid achievement of the Nation
We are all proud of the record Of results
secured by the early efforts OF our fathers
But this waste of forty years of the saloon
'ower is equal to all that the sople of this
land were able to accumulate from the set
tlement at jamestown down to the financial
panic Of 1857.
But the estimate of Mr.. Wells is not ac-
eepted by most OF temperance people. They
tell us that the present yearly waste Of the
aloon is at least nine hundred millions of
lollars. On this basis the loss OF the last
orty years by the drink habit was eighteen
billions of our money. This equals all that
was saved in the United States IRON its dis
covery by Columbus TO the close of the Civil
War in 1865. We try to graap the full i'm
port of these figures. Our mind goes back
70 the work of the Puritan fathers for two
hundred and fifty years. We call up all that
the Revolutionary fathers achieved We
add all that the Western pioneers built up
on the prairies. We include all the gold,
silver and other minerals dug by our miners.
We try to take in the full capacity and value
Of the factories, farms shipping, railroads
and cities before the close of the war. We
fail No mind is large enough TO grasp the
value of all these their cost in labor the
amount of self-sacrifics expended in their
acquisition. And yet this which is beyond
the ability of man to fully comprehend, is
the measure OF the power of the saloon to
waste in these last forty years. This is the
material realm that has been brought under
the dominion OF the rum shop in spts OF the
protest OF the philanthropist an in defiance
OF woman's tears and in scorn OF the ruin it
has wrought in the lives of the strong men
of the land.-L b. Powers. in Independent.