The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-03-25


morrow and for the state of Connecti-
cut in the next century. And the house
Of representatives has been crowded
with noble men and earnest women
anxious to see some advance toward
better things in our state. And there,
too, has been the head of the liquor in
terests Of this state with his lawyer by
his side getting ready to persuade that
committee, If possible, that the first
thing to be considered in this state is
not Its manhood and it's womanhood
but the saloon.
This large question which is before us
tonight Is not settled because you can't
settle a question like that with wave
of the hand. The roots have run too
deep and too far now. Sometimes in a
spasm of virtue a community rises and
says the saloon must go. But the most
persistent and desperate men in that
community are interested in keeping it,
and it is now child's play putting it
| down. The agents of the business are
prepared to work upon your friendship
or to work upon your good nature, or
your prejudice, or to work upon your
fear Of boycott, or fear for your own
personal safety, and in the long run the
saloon generally wins.
| The magnitude and the organization Of
the business on the one side and the
general apathy Of men which is to be
looked for on the other have accounted
to some degree for the persistence of the
saloon.
But on the other hand it would be
wrong to ignore the efforts which are
being eXerted by right minded men.
America is waking up on this question
The pulpit is discussing 1T; the plat
form, and to some extent the press
The great, dignified magazines, which
q few years ago would have dismissed
| the subject with contempt, are giving
some of their best pages to this earnest
discussion. Congress has at last, after
weary years of waiting provided for the
appointment of a committee to investi-
gate the whole question. Another COM
mittee of fifty most eminent scholars
in this country are entering upon
study OF the question in the most com
prehensive and scientific way. Ali
these things indicate progress because
agitation is progress. The awakening
of public interest is progress.
Within few years there have been
many projects brought forward. There
is high license instead of low license,
and a tax instead of either. There is
local option and prohibition by states,
and the Norwegian system Great po-
litica1 parties are coming to make some
kind of declaration on the liquor ques-
ton, not willingly, of course, but be-
cause they are forced to- 1t. Neither do
their declarations mean very much
They are still fooling the people, but
as Lincoln said, while you can fool
some people all the time, and all the
people some of the time, you can't fool
all the people all the time. Men are
coming to see where the politicians
stand and how much or how little they
mean by their words. Now all these |
things just mentioned indicate not that |
we are in sight of any settlement yet,
but that society is struggling toward |
the light. There is hope that the |
Christian church will sometime rise in |
its majesty and say to the desperate |
foe: mo farther shalt thou co. The |
Roman Catholic church may yet put |
the Protestant church to shame. But |
is it not pitiful sight which New York |
saw the other day? Two eminent clergy
men of the Episcopal church pleading |
for a law permitting Sunday barrooms |
in New York? And on what grounds? |
Why, ito diminish law breaking" Now |
there is a law against 1t, and the sa- |
looms are open; hence the law is broken |
Therefore diminish your law breaking |
by getting your law out of the way /
Would they plead for the repeal of all |
laws against arson or burglary or muir
der? OF course they ought to, because
now when a man kills another he breaks
the law. Then DR.. Rainsford says he
would open saloons to diminish drunk
enness. After that you will be prepar-
ed for one word more, viz: Men would |
be healthy and in every way richer if |
they would not touch alcohol There
fore open the saloons on Sunday.
But must speak of one other reason
why the great question which is ever
impending is not settled. 1t will not |
down and vet we do not settle it. And |
the one supreme and sufficient reason
why this question has not long ago been
settled is because it never has been set
tied right. No question is ever settled
until it is settled right There are
mighty forces abroad in this world of |
which most men take little account
There are no forces so omnipotent as |
moral forces, because these are pre-em-
inently the forces of God. Men never |
get right and never make progress un-
til they get into the current along which
God is moving Great questions which
are the despair of statesmen and which
are settled on a compromise with truth
or righteousness come back again to
demand new consideration. We have
had one never-to-be -forgotten example
within the memory of our generation.
Slavery in these United States. It be-
came a burning issue. 1t must be set
tied. And attempt after attempt was
made to find a settlement But Missou-
ri compromises and Wilmot provisos
and fugitive slave laws were not
enough The question could not be set
tied while slavery lived Slavery had
to die. And then it was settled, because
it was settled right Nobody hears
much about slavery now. Nobody fears
that it is ever coming back.
Yet there is a slavery in the north as
well as south, more bloodthirsty, more
nhuman, more diabolical, than any
thing known ON southern cotton fields |
We shall discuss this question and play
with it and struggle with it and COM
= A.,rr ! l