The Portland daily press., 1898-06-20
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH.
Rev. Mr.. Ayers Sermon to the Good
TempIars.

Yesterday morning Arcana and Mystic
lodges of Good Templars visited the First
Baptist church and listened to a sermon
by Rev. Mr.. Ayres on temperance. After
the usual morning service, Mr.. Ayres
said:
Rarely has there been need of temper
ance agitation more than now. Our
prohibitOry law has done many good
things, but it has had its evil effect. We
have settled back into perfect inactivity.
We seem to have convinced ourselves
that we have settled the problem Of intern
perance with the most startling facts to
the contrary staring us in the face. I am
not aware that 1t is anywhere claimed
any longer that the law is enforced In
Portland The whole subject is usually
spoken of as a joke. I have no arraign-
ment of public officials to make. They
claim they are the servants of the commu-
nifty, and that they are doing the will of
the people who elected them. 1t la per-
haps true that there is no sincere desire
for the rigid enforcement Of the law on
the part of the community. Indeed SO
little interest is there on the subject that
it is difficult to secure adequate dis
cussion of it. Those who do not believe
in the law naturally feel there is no
reason why it should be enforced. The
fact hat in 1895. 1851 men in our state
paid the U. S. liquor tax for the privl-
lege of selling intoxicating drinks, and
that in one Of our cities the papers have
been advocating the restriction Of the
liquor traffic, show us whittier we are
drifting. And for all this the RESPONSE
bility rests on us who are not making
ourselves heard.
Again new generation has grown up
since the prohibitory law was passed who
know little of the temperance agitation
of years ago. They have no way of
sentiment of the community. When it
| was proposed to an organization of young
people in the city that we have tenn
| perance lecturer come from Boston for
an evening, they voted that the interest
of the people in the city was not sufficient
| to justify the venture
I 1t would be difficult to say whether
drunkenness is increasing In our midst,
but that this is the conviction of the
community will hardly bear questioning
This conviction is born of what we see.
Figures, SO far as they are accessible,
would seem to indicate startling in
crease.
Certainly we need and recognize the
fact that the prohibitory law does not
protect those whom it was designed to
protect. We need to give the same atten-
| ton to temperance education which is
given in those cities which have no pro-
| hibitory law. That 1t seems to me, we are
| not doing.
This is temptation which is appealing
| to all men. The fact that all lands know
| how to make some form of Intoxicating
drink and all people have the same crav-
| ing for the drink shows that the issue
is a living one for every man. For
America the issue is becoming one of
national Importance. The intense life
which we live has developed a nervous
susceptibility known in Europe as the
American disease This nervousness pro.
duced special susceptibility to the use
| of stimulants.
What makes alcohol a tyrant is not
merely the fact that a peculiar love for it IL
| developed. The reaction which follows
an excessive use of the stimulant leaves
| the nerves SO unstrung and the general
condition so miserable that the patient
cries for relief and finds it in the only
place where it can be found Immediately
another drink.
| These lodges stand for personal absti-
| nence for the creation of strong temper
| ance sentiment.
| No young man can know himself tc
be safe till he stands with you for per.
sonal abstinence And no man who be-
| lieves in temperance can do his whole
duty till with you he consecrates him
self to the development OF temperance
sentiment which will make the present
condition of affairs in our city impossi