The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-06-09
FATHER NEAL DOW

FATHER NEAL DOW
The Central Figure at the International
| Temperance Congress. and the Recipiens
of Many Honors-The Work for Temper
ance In Maine. and the Old Cry that Pro-
hibition Is n Failure Refuted-The Prog
ress Elsewhere.
| PROHIBITIoS PARK, Staten Island, y.
Y, June 4.-Gen Neal Dow. the father
of prohibition, was greeted by 10000
| enthusiastic admirers at the lnterna-
tional Temperance congress which
opened here yesterday. He occupied
an arm chair at the right of the presid-
Ing officer during the morning, after
noon, and evening sessions, and showed
| by his quick appreciation of the points
of the speakers that his mind is un-
dimmed by the ninety years that have
passed over his head. Prominent
speakers and prohibition workers from
many states and from abroad were
present. Gov. Tillman of South Caro-
lima, arrived during the afternoon ses-
sion and was given a seat on the plat
form Immediately behind two Catholic
priests.
The Morning Session.
At the morning session WIN. T.
Wardwell, of New York. presided. Rev.
Gregory, ID. D.. led the devotional
service Col. Alexander =. Bacon,
president of the Sunday Observance So
ciety of Brooklyn, delivered the adj
dress of welcome. Addresses congratu-
lating Neal Dow in happily passing the
L.. 1S,,
Aaron NJ. Powell. editor of the Ma
tional Temperance Advocate; Prof.
Samuel Diclie. chairman of national
prohibition party; Susan f. Fessenden
and Mrs. Ellen J. Phinney. of the W.
c. T. L.; Hon. Samuel ID. Hastings, Of
Wisconsin, and c. A. Everett, of st.
John, n. Il. Neal Dow made brief
response telling how thoroughly he aP-
preciated the kind words of his friends
and the encouragement they gave him
in the work of his life.
Afternoon Session.
Gen. Wager Swayne presided at the
afternoon session. Rev. FIR. Niles, Of
Poughkecpsie, n. V, who came to take
the place of DIR. Mctilynn, who is i'll.
was IIt hTSt SIttdhtE- Ilt "dS ltllp"ttl
by Joseph Cook. of Boston, and of in
ternational renown as lecturer on
temperance. DIR. Cook, who is large of
frame. large of voice and emphatic Of
atterance. said in part:
The house Of lords. MIR. Gladstone says,
must be mended or ended The liquor traffic,
this convention says. must he ended because
it cannot he mendcd. MY conviction is that
this will be the keynote Of the twentieth CEN
tury. The work Of Neal Dow has led to this.
He has fought a good fight and even at 90 years
of age he has not run his course The truth
that Maine has been transformed and trans
figured through the work Of Neal Dow travels
slowly: but the lie that the Maine liquor law
is a failure travels with seven-league boots.
Rev. DIR. Il. B. Tyler. of New York,
read the formal address to Gen. Neal
Dow. 1t was signed by the heads Of
the prohibition and temperance move
Inents of this country and Canada.
Gen. Dow was given the Chatauqua
salute when he rose to- reply. During
the first two or three sentences his
voice trembled with emotion: then it
grew steadier and was clear and EN-
phatic. lie dwelt on what had been
work. He said in substance:
don't feel that have accomplished any,
thing that entities me to the honor which is
done me to-day No words can express the
gratitude 1 feel for what has been said and
done here But perhaps It were best that
should tell Of some Of the work that has been
done and the Importance Of the work vet to he
done There is no question before the people
Of this country or OF any country so ogreat as the
liquor question; vet strange a. IL may seem
there are many prominent men, many men of
enlightenment. education and understanding
who know nothing about the work OF prohibi-
tion. was once handed n slip Of newspaper
which announced that Goodwin Smith had
said that prohibition was failure in Maine.
My reply was that hoped that Goodwin Smith
did not make such statement for the reason
that It is not true.
So far from being failure in Maine prohi-
bition has been a very great success. At one
time We had great many breweries and dis
tillerieS in Maine. There is not one now. and
there has not been one in many years In
Portland alone there were seven diStiIlerieS
There are none now. At one time cargOeS Of
Jamaica rum were imported into the state.
There are none now. II il true that liquor. in
small quantities, Is Smuggled over the bOun-
Diary. But liquor is not openly sold, and there
Is not one -hundredth part as much consumed in
the state as before the law was passed a
remedy for consumption that Will cure ninety
nine cases in a 100 cannot 20 called failure
lApplauSel. An entire generation has grown
up among US, and three-quarters Of our people
have not seen a grog shop nor n drunken man.
Speaking of other states he said that
great progress had been made and
there are many places where no liquor
is sold owing to local option laws.
Continuing, he said:
The liquor traffic has existed for fifty years
by permission of Christian churches. Their
members are masters Of the situation When
they say: Go and vote" the saloon will go.
Evening Session.
At the evening session Gen. ThoS. L.
James, of New York. presided. There
were addresses by Alexander Russell
Webb. of the Mahommedan church,
and Father Murphy. of the Roman
Catholic church of Canada.
Race.
New YORK. June G-The steam yach.
Atalanta, owned by George Gould,
sailed for Glasgow yesterday after
noon to witness the yacht races in
which the champion American sloop
Vigilant, now owned by Mr. Gould,
will participate. Mr.. Howard COULD
and party of friends sailed on the At
Atlanta.