The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1894-06-01
w. W.C.T.U. COLUMN.
CONDUCTED BY MRS. VI. l.. HOBBS.
The Lesson Of Cosey's Army.


lOh, Solomon, that might have beer
true in your day, but it isn't up Il
date any longer,
Think of il, A few hundreds OF
unknown men, with no money Il
speak Of, unarmed, representing nc
one but themselves, variously de-
scribed by the press as ''hoboes, y
''tramps," and "mountebanks, y
with two leaders protesting to be re-
Iincarnatcd sons Of God, start on a
tramp for Washington. Almost at
once great nation Of seventy mil
lions Of people; nation which in
its infancy successfully waged war
with the most powerful country then
in existance; nation which 80
years ago suppressed the most for
midablc revolt ever recorded in his
tory-this great nation begins to
tremble with apprehension at the
sight of these few hundreds of half
starved and half-clothed men march
ling on to Washington. The mar
rative seems almost incredible, but
we all know it to be true.
Was the nation afraid of these
men? Hardly that, for a squad OF
policemen could rout them in five
minutes. Was it afraid OF Coxey or
Browne? Certainly not that. But
1.-The nation was afraid of the slum-
Ibering discomfort, the widespread
sense of injustice, that lay beyond
and behind the Coxey movement,
and afraid OF these only because of
the general consciousness that they
are too well justified. In short
what made this great nation tremble
with apprehension at the sight Of a
handful of tatterdemalions march
ling on a fools errand was IT'S
lOWN CONSCIENCE.
Every man knows that injustice,
lfavoritism, corruption, have played
a terrible part in the legislation,
State and national, of this country,
as carried on by both old parties
during the last ten or twenty years.
Everybody knows that the sense OF
Injustice, blind though it may often
he, which slumbers in the souls OF
large classes Of men to-day, has its
justification, even though the peril
Gus and passionate remedies they
propose have none. 1t is this sense
of wrong. this loss Of confidence in
the integrity as well as in the wis
dom Of lawmakers and partisan
leaders, this feeling that public in
terest has been eclipsed by personal
and partisan jobbery, that has made
this mighty nation tremble with
alarm over Coxey's movement as
the mightest beast Of earth trembles
and trumpcts before a tiny mouse.
The true lesson Of Coxey's move
ment is that the rotten political con-
ditions lying beyond both parties,
living beyond Congress and our State
legislatures, lying beyondthe ballot
box, finding their very source and
center i'm the American ginmill--
these political conditions must be
changed, and changed soon, or the
strength and glory Of the American
republic must disappear. The sa-
loon is to-day the most active and
dominant factor in our politics.
Before its bar, instead Of before the
bar Of public opinion, the legislator
stands to answer for his course, and
from il seeks his vindication. To
court the saloon, to curry favorwith
il, to secure at the very least its
neutrality, if not its positive assist
ance, has become the first political
advancement i'm two-thirds Of the
districts Of our land. Ii is in the
saloon that every corrupt boss"
finds his true strength. 1t is upon
the saloon that the jobbers and cor
ruptionists rely to bring them safely
through the storms Of public pro-
testation. II is to the saloon,
where public interests detied, where
patriotism is jeered, where virtue
and integrity are secuted, where
conscience and duty are Missed
where manhood is debauchcd--it is
to the saloon a. the source that the
wholesale corruption, and favoritism,
and unjust jobbery may be traced.
The ginmill is the heart Of the
whole vile business, and the liquor
damnation which it has been pump
ing day and night without rest into
the veins and arteries Of the nation
has produced its inevitable results
in the body polite.
The true lesson Of the Coxey
movement is this:
1.-The saloon must go"-Voice
-.
IL we must have saloons, let us
in the name Of God and humanity
keep them low, disreputable and
renulsivc as nnssible LET them re-