The River Falls times. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1894-1933, 1897-01-19
G. T. u.
IN PERIL OF DEATH.
THE SEAL IS SET ON 100000 FOR
TIE CURRENT YEAR.

One Person IN $50 C6 Our Population AF'-
nuaIly Meets the Drunkard's Fate-Every
Five Minutes Rum Claims a Fresh Vic
tin-Fisures That Appeal.
Colonel w. G.. Haskell on a recent
Sunday addressed the w. 9. e. z. OF
Railway, n. j. Following is an extract
Year after year there fall before The
onslaughts of a foe more dreadful than
the armed hosts Of the olden time those
who were once the lights and joys OF
happy homes On TO the graves await
ing them, with blcodshot eyes, and
staggering steps, and trembling hands,
and fear burdened conscie1ces, go every
year i'll this fair land of ours 100, coo
human lives - 10, 600 more a year
than died from every cause III that
great civil war. Above their graves are
nc sweet dirges surg There are cast
down no fcral tlibutos to departed
worth Iii their memory rises no me-
mortal shaft. Where have you seen, III
marble or i'll bronze, a statue marking
where he sleeps Of whom the pen t
truth must write, He died drunkarCi?'
What pension does the parliament Ct
the saloons pay to the widows and de-
pendent ones Of those who died that
they might live? What words of cheer
and hope come to the ears Of those who
weep ard mourn, not for the death OF
body alone, but for the far more awful
death Of the soul? Flashing through the
inky blackness that settles where there
is no hope, we can but read III lurid
characters the awful words, mo drunk
ard shall inherit the kingdom Of God. :
Day after day the awful message IS re-
peated, and we ask, "Who are consent
ing to these deaths?" Yea, day unto Gay
uttereth speech, and night unto night
showeth knowledge of it, and there IS
no town CT city where their voice is not
heard.
Do we can we realize the terrible
meaning of it all? 1t is that 1 in every
$50 CT our population is not merely in
peril Of death, but that pon that one
the seal is set, and he will go down to
the shame Of drunkard's death this
very year
Here is an enemy, the worst because
the most insidious and most fatal Of any
that menaces us. There is no mistake
about it's facts and figures. Heaven
knows it is to be wished there might
be, but there is not. Drink is at the
root of almost all our real poverty. 1t
has done more and is constantly doing
more to create and continue 'hard
times than any other, perhaps than all
other combined causes. 1t is more cruel
q hundred times than was the curse OF
chattel slavery, for it not only debases
its immediate victim and robs him CT his
essential manhood but it drags into
shame and poverty the innocent with
the guilty, stealing the food, the cloth
ing, the shoes and the shelter from fee
BILE woman and helpless infancy. And
-crowning infamy of all-it sends to
death and to all that may be beyond
that death, in this land Of our home,
one human soul i'll every five minutes.
Think of it, fathers, mothers Christians.
Think of it as you have never thought
before y
Now, if there is any matter of supe
rior or even of equal consequence to the
welfare CT the community, say to you
| that [ will espOuse its cause and giva
nv utmost efforts for it's advance ment
But until it can be shown, if my inter
est in humanity's welfare is anything
more than merest pretense. | must ad-
dress myself, with such strength as |
possess, to combat that which is its
most imminent menace, its most eyi-
dent curse How we'll | know, and you
know. that Of present day evils this evil
Of drink overtops and overshadows them
ALL