Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-04-09
TEMPERANCE
TIE THEME OF REV. DR.. RlKERS SERMON
LAST EVENING
A Very Large Congregation Listens 10 a Strong
Appeal for iAs Suppression Of the Saloon.
Neal Dow Eulogizsd.

subject of Temperance. The preim-
inary scrlptural selections were from
Proverbs, "Who hath VICE." etc, and
from I. Cor, s-viii. Commenting briefly
upon these passages, he said he remem-
bered having heard John B. Cough say
his father drank three glasses Of grog
every day, and he drank no more. Mr..
Cough said: "Some men can do that
NV father could do it. But his son
could no more do it than you could
shoot gun off gradually" who
knows" said Dr.. Riker, "but that John
3. Cough was q drunkard because his
father drank three glasses OF grog a
day."
Or. Rlker began with the statement
that Neal Dow was born March 20, 1904,
and consequently was ninety years Of
age on the Goth OF last month. He
promised his hearers that he would de-
vote a considerable amount of attention
to the work OF that great temperance
man. He then announced his text as
from Proverbs: HE that re0uketh ;
man, afterwards shall find more favor
than he who fattereth with the tongue. "
He thought a rebuke now and then was
a good thing for au individual and Tor
society, and led TO better understand
ings aad better things in the future.
He then referred TO Neal Dow as a man
VINO had profoundly impressed the
people and left a distinct impression
upon human thought, and who had
largely revolutionlZed human ideas.
Mr.. Dow, he said. in sketching his life,
was not a "goody- gOody" young man,
and from this he went on TO say that be
would be sorry to see the youth OF the
country give up youthful activities and
youthful pleasures; but many,
instead Of keeping themselves within
proper bounds, strayed into forbidden
paths and fell into evil ways. He gave
a rapid yet interesting sketch OF Mr.
Dow's life, and said, although ninety
years Of age, like Moses, his natural
strength was not abated. Mr.. Dow had
been reared in the city Of Portland,
Me.,-a city in which there were seven
distileries, in which there was TO re-
9ugnancs to drinking, where the leading
men made their fortunes from liquor,
where the railroad and other transpOr-
tation agencies were deriving large rev.
enue from the traffic. The sale and
manufacture OF liquor was there regard
ed as an eminently respectable and en-
Uirely legitimate business. In this COM
munity, in which Mr.. Dow had been
reared, a very little incident had served
10 make him a temperance man and
power of temperance in others, and i'm
bued with that idea, he had devoted
sixty years Of his life TO furthering the
ends for temperance. DR.. Riker sKetched
the passage Of the first liquor law, by
the Legislature of Maine, through the
efforts OF Mr.. Dow, and characterized
as wonderful the enactment OF that law
by the Legislature in single day.
MIR. Dow was the Mayor Of Portland,
and in less than nine weeks after the
enactment Of the law there was not a
saloon in Portland, and so well did the
people approve of Mr.. Dow'S efforts
that they reelected him Mayor.
He dwelt upon this splendid triumph OF
4 single man, AID then assured his
hearers that no permanent good would
come 20 the temperance cause until the
saloon was prohibited aud outlawed.
High license, which was advocated by
many, did not touch the question at all,
and he illustrated this by newspaper
Clipping narr2ting conversation be-
tween a mother and her husband over
the course Of their son. The mother
SAYS their son is staying out late, and
the husband says he will advocate a tax
OF $50 on the saloon. Again the mother
SAYS she believes her Boy drinks, and
the father says be will have the saloon
tax raised 20 500. A third time the
mother says her son has been drunk,
and the father raises the tax 10 5000. Ii
goes on until finally the mother says her
son is dead from drink, and the father
then regrets that the tax wasn't
made $1,000. He held that the tax
had nothing 20 do with the case, aud
those who advocated high license were
misguided. The true remedy was 10
utterly and finally wipe out the whole
evil of the saloon, which he character
lied as q monstrous engineering OF the
devil. A high license, be thought, only
played into the hands OF the saloon
keeper. it was no consolation 10 the
father or mother or wife or sister OF the
drunkard to know that the loved one
cot his drink ia a gilded palace and over
a mahogany bart msttered not TO the
mother whose boy was a drunkard
whether the saloon-keeper paid tax OF
500. or $500, or $1,000, or $1,000, or
$4,000. The remedy was to stamp il
out entirely. wholly and at once. Ii
would be said that TO Danish the saloon
was practicable, but Neal Dow had
demonstrated that ii was not impracti.
cable. Prohibition did prohibit in Maine,
despite all that liquor men and poll
ticians say TO the contrary, and there
were thousands Of young mon in Maine
wko didn't know what a saloon looked
like, and who never saw a drunken man
Keeling through the streets. He wished
he could say as much for Wheeling.
One of the misfortuHes of the situa-
ton was that the government derived q
large revenue from the sale Of liquor.
and every city derived q considerable
revenue from the same source. lie re-
lated some instances OF the workings Of
the high license law, in bringing large
revenue 10 city treasures, and said
saloon and liquor men advocated high
license law everywhere because such a
license tended TO entrench the saloon
more firmly in the cupldity of the peo-
pie and the politicians. The revenue
from LIQUOR licenses was fallacy. II
cost. usually, more than it came to.
He would, for instance, rather live in
Wheeling without a saloon and without
a policeman, than with one hundred
and iitv saloons and all the officers we
have; life and property would be more
secure. He would rather live here
without a cert OF license money
in the City Treasury, although II
....... - CO nn0 or $40 nnO and harf