The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-06-08
ana the Liouor Men.

The idiotic character OF the retallatlon
, plans of the liquor dealers mus. be ap-
parent to themselves today. After read
ing the sermons preached yesterday,
they must realize what a blunder they
have made in giving the clergymen new
material for rhetoric. To anyone who
thinks a little. It is intensely comical to
see the Rev. John l.. Scudder and the
Rev. Claude Raboteau inviting martyr
dom. The intense desire to be arrested
which these able advertising gen.uses
have developed is extremely exhilarating.
OF course a great many people will
fail to see the humor of it. They WI!
take it all in sober earnest. They VII
be thrilled with horror at the bare idea
of arresting a minister for preaching
order and morality-this is the way 9
great many good people will see @it-and
their souls will go out in great gushes
of sympathy for the martyrs an6
their cause. 1t would not be surprising
to see a mass meeting called to enounce
these s'%scandalous arrests just as i;
they had taken place.
The liquor men must keep it in mind
hat they have to deal with no fool in
the Rev. John L. Scudder. They are
matched against a man of the world,
cool and shrewd. who is watching the
game with experienced eyes and scoring
every point that offers. He has been
waiting for his adversaries to make a
false move ever since the contest began.
Now they have lone it, and be very
sure he will work it for all it is worth.
MIR. SCUDDER is an adept at that
sort of logic which consists in sticking
to a formula regardless of all modifying
facts, circumstance or conditions. They
call it persecution, he exclaims, if being
forced to obey the law in persecution,
prosecuted they will be. Here is the
whole Doint What is really the law?
Are we still bound by a medieval enact
ment which, Mr.. Seudder himself adj
mits, has been a dead letter from a time
to which his memory cannot go back.
The law is as little law in justice, in
propriety, in the desire of the vast ma
jority of the public as is the law for
the ducking of scolds, or the law which
prohibits traffic in the streets on Sun
lnr TN = --- o-r- 1.-.-- r.
feet, save what is galvanized into it by
. handful of %squabbling politicians and
self -righteous pharisees.
Mr.. Scudder's murder statistics are
audicrous to anyone who understands
the subject. He says there were 1880
homicides in the United States last year,
and these were largely due to drink.
what does he mean by largely? If he
0as any accurate information, why does
he not quo. it. Largely means Moth
ing. The fact of the matter is, not ten
per cent. of all homicides in this or any
other country are caused by drink, while
amatory causes lead to forty or fifty
per cent. and greed and simple violence
are the motives of twenty-five per cent.
Some of the most murderous countries
in the world are among the soberest-
Italy and Spain, for instance-and all
attempts to connect the use of Hquor
failures. But it is too absurd to enter
into a general discussion of the liquor
question with Mr.. Scudder. The fall
lacies and absurdities of prohibition are
too thoroughly exploded to call for much
notice except. as they specially bear on
the point at issue.
The serious part of Mr.. Seudder's SER
mon is his announcement Of the future
plans Of himself and his associates. He
says
This so-called persecution is the normal
result OF several years of agitation among
the churches upon the subject of Chris
tian citizenship and good government
and as yet the movement is In its infancy.
The churches of America are quietly
changing their tactics with reference to
fighting iniquity. Hereafter they will re-
strain it by aggressive measures. No
longer will they give evil doors un-
bridled license and content themselves
with denouncing sin from the pulpit and
praying God to fight their battles for.
them.
II the churches may interfere in this
way is one detail of civil life, why not
in another? Churches have in other
lands and in other ages in this land