Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1893-08-03
Published By ReqEesf.)
The Best Method cf Promoting Ten
perance.
BY HEBB SMITH.

noting Temperance
| We must not understand th,
word Temperance to mean the mod
crate indulgence of the appetite il
strong drink but take it in a NOR,
restrictive sense-thc total absti
nenee from all that intoxicates.
| ! need hardly attempt to show
what a great evil Intemperance is.
Like the serpent in Eden, it leave,
a poisonous slime among the fair.
est flowers, and while it has the
power to charm it also spreads DIS
ease and death.
The best method of promoting
Temperance is TO destroy the sources
of lntemperance aud anihilate' the
liquor traffic, which has become
such a great power for evil-oppos.
ing the work of the church cor
rnpting politics, the science of gov
ernment ; breeding anarchy; set
ting its cloven foot upon the neck
of the law. and defying the express
ed will of the people.
There are times when rebellion is
heroic. Washington, Franklin and
Patrick Henry were rebels, but
their names are cnshrined in the
memory of liberty-loving Ameri-
cans. There is, however, no heroism
in the black conspiracy ofthe liquor
traffic, which to-day is urging re-
bellion against the law in every
State; conspiracy to wreck man
hood and to damn human souls in
order to make money. No princi-
pie of human freedom justifies such
rebellion, and it is only as maker
and judge Of laws that the liquor
dealer can operate the machinery Of
government and become the chronic
violatOr Of law. This business.
with murder in its heart and dyna-
mite as its swift and deadly weapon
conspires everywhere to defy the
law for its suppression, and not
only menaces the lives Of those who
attempt to check it, but also the
life and stability of the Republic.
The liquor traffic has the power to
debauch the community; to wreck
the lives of innocent women and
children to ill the pcnitentiaries
and reformatory institutions aud
to waken up those passions which
lead to murder and other crimes.
To compromise with it is death to
Temperance reformation. There
can be no hope in high license, the
very thing the liquor dealer would
desire, giving him a monopoly, in
creasing his gains and continuing
the evil.
There is no best means of "pro.
noting Temperance" but a con-
tinual warfare against every pro-
position to legalize the traffic in in
toxicating drinks, which is the very
source of Intemperance and the
strongest bulwark for its contiuu-
ance. Total abstinence for the in
dividual and constitutional prohibi-
ton for the State are the only
remedies. / know it is said a pro-
hibitory law cannot be enforced, but
to surrender to criminals Is not only
cowardly but dangerous to the in
terests Of the State, and it should
be the attitude of all good citizens
to stand up for the enforcement Of
law. One might as well favor the
repeal of the Decalogue as to favor
the legalizing of this greatest Of
evils, because Of the difficulty Of
enforcing a prohibitory law or Of
convicting offenders.
Take away the gilded saloon,
with all its attractions for the
young remove it so that it can no
more ensnare Danish homemade
wines from the festive board and
you have the surest means of "pro-
noting temperance" and Of educat-
ing the rising generation in those
principles of sobriety that shall
forever save it from the food Of
lntemperance that il sweeping over
our land.
The love of liberty is strong in
\ the human hroasf ard folaa fr;auds