Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-01-05
INTEMPERANCE.
Read Before the w. {. T. U. by Mrs
E. r. Acres.

LnlS giant curse OF our age, yet,
''Iutemperance like a raging flood,
Is sweeping DER the land.
Its dire effects in tears and blood
Are traced on every hand"
Its ravages extend down the stream
of time, coming even from the bar.
barous tribes which inhabited the Old
World, but gathering strength from
age to age, until it now threatens to
Overwhelm us as nation, with the
greatest evils that can menace peo.
pie. In these later days it has swept
over land like tempest, bearing down
everything in its course. Not content
with rioting in the haunts of ignorance
and vice, it has passed through ouI
consecrated groves, has entered OuI
most sacred enclosures, and oh! how
many men of genius and letters have
fallen before it. How many lofty in.
tellects have been shattered and laid in
ruins by its power. How many a
warm and philanthropic heart has
been chilled by its touch. 1t has left
no retreat unvisited. 1t has alike in.
vaded our public and private assem-.
blies; our political and social circles
our courts of justice and our halls OF
legislation. 1t has stalked within the
very walls of our Capitol. 1t has
leaped over the pale of the church. 1t
has reveled alike on the spoils of the
palace and cottage and has seized its
victim with unrelenting grasp from
every class of society; the private citi-
zen and public officer; the rich and the
poor; the enlightened and the igno.
rant, even
Itfires with folly and vice."
Hafiz, a Persian poet, thus sings:
"The roses have come, nor can any
thing afford SO much pleasure as a
goblet Of wine." The far famed and
musical Anacrion could sing: otis
better to lie drunk than dead" Some
of our modern poets also have erred,
fallen and perished, and many of the
sweetest vocalists Of modern times are
the victims of ofintemperance.
Let US wander forth and hover as in
a vision over humanity's vast field, and
we can discern there the ravages of a
plague deadlier than any that ever
desolated ancient Egypt. Language
has never been made that can depict it
in all its hideOusness. Come hither,
broken hearts and torn and bleeding
souls from the time of Noah until to-
day; hold up your withered hands ye
countless starving women and child.
rem; come death and agony and crime
with your harvest garnered from the
still and the brewery, and let us mass
it in a horrifying picture, and let it tell
what language never can. Intemper-
ance is an evil more demOralizing than
slavery. 1t corrupts the heart, the seal
Of affection, and sinks man lower in
the scale of being than slavery itssell
can do.
Now in view of these facts, solemn as
they appear before us, who can say that
legislative prohibition is not stern
necessity? In the language of the Hon.
Frederick Powell, let me say: "The
safety Of this great nation demands it
the welfare of the people is the supreme
law; the enemies most dangerous to q
nation are not those without and be.
yond its own borders, but those within.
And if it be the duty of a government
to protect US against the invaders, it is
equally its duty to protect us against
its incendiary. The great empires
might still have been fiOurishing but
for certain destructive agencies cherish.
ed within their own bosoms. Persia
was conquered, not SO much by the
energy and valor of the Greek army, as
by the drunkenness of her kings and
people. Babylon fell not SO much by
the arms of the Medes and Persians, as
by drunkenness and revelry. Greece,
in her turn, fell, not SO much by the
bravery of the Roman arms, as by hel
own discord and effeminacy. But fol
this, Athens in art, science and man.
ners might still have been the worlds
wonder and example. Rome fell,
Wine and spoil took away the heart OF
that great empire and unnerved its
mighty arm.
The liquor traffic destroys the pro.
ductive industry Of the nations. BY
destroying life 1t lessons the number OF
its subjects; by inflicting disease, it de.
tracts from the vigor Of the people; by
intensifying all that is low and animal
it lowers its moral tone. and by its de
basing and blighting action upon the
brain it weakens nations intellectual
force. Thus, then, does it strike di
rect blow at our prosperity and safety
Let us hope that the day will soon
come when the people will fully realize
all these truths and act in accordance
with what they have realized. Let us
have faith in mankind and confidence
in public opinion, for these shall be
the arbitratOrs of our cause.