The Advocate and news., 1898-11-09

/ sickness and death in the homes Of the
poor The third great cause, though only
one-half as great as either Of the other
two, is the use of intoxicants. But,
waving other questions, we want to
abolish drunkenness, for surely it is bad
enough to be abolished. To get at this
we want to abolish the drink-fostering
institution, the saloon.
But where shall we strike in order to
hit the saloon? 1t is a politlco-social in
stitution, thoroughly ingrafted in our
national life. Its proprietor is support
ed and protected by the business and po-
litical interests OF the nation. In what
way we shall see. The saloonkeeper is
the mightiest political factor of this
commonwealth. He may or may not
control votes directly, but he is all-pow-
erful through his influence. How does
he get his influence? BY providing COM
munities with a great social need, a
neighborly clearing house, an public par
lor Especially for homes that have no
parlor)-that is, a saloon. OF course,
this need is supplied under debasing
surroundings and through degrading
means, because a degraded man is the
more susceptible to influence. Starting
then with the floating voter the bum or
the slum dweller, above him in the po-
litico-social scale Is the saloOnkeeper, as
we have seen. Over him Is the ward
politician, next the party manager and
then the statesman. But still ascending
the scale, we reach the great corporation
lawyer once vulgarly called the lobby
ist Ia position often occupied by our ex-
Presidents). Then above the corporation
lawyer the great business king. And
presumably, above him is the molder Of
public opinion-the educator, the editor
and the preacher.
We have traced the saloon and the
slum to the very altar Of the church.
The shrewd, self-interested business man
to-day laughs at our voting out the sa-
loon. He knows that the whole system
must be voted out before the saloon will
go. Let us reduce it to q house-that-
Jack-built SERIES In order for his busi-
ness to succeed, he must secure protec-
tive legislation. For this he pays his
corporation lawyer, who in turn pays or
persuades the legislator, that renders his
tribute to the party manager, that ma
nipulates the ward politician, that pays
the saloonkeeper, that gives to the voter
drink, lunch and a cigar.
Now look at me- the Pharisee, behold
ing this tragedy Of human life. The great
business man, the corporation lawyer,
the statesman, and possibly the party
manager all belong to my church. And
shall open my mouth and say: "HOw
great and how good and how prosperous
Christianity will make men such as
these, my parishioners; and, on the other
hand, how vile are those sinners outside
Of the church, the low ward politician,
the lawless salOonkeeper and the an
archist Of the seething slum" No! God
helping me, will and do, here and now,
sign the pledge to quit this nonsense.
With Rev. Mr.. Tuckerman / say the
man at the top of the heap is at the
bottom Of the deViltry. The man who is
giving his life to the upholding of our
present social and industrial order is
striking hands with the saloonkeeper, al
though the said man votes regularly the
Prohibition party ticket.
But what is the way out? The social |
conscience Of the people must be aroused
The American people are right at heart;
they are with us in this temperance re-
form, but they think they have not gone |
deep enough, although they cannot tell
how to go deeper. But this is the way
1t is the way of him who prayed, "Thy |
kingdom come"
Our lamented leader said in letter to |
the Fabian society: II believe the things !
that Christian socialism stands for, and |
were / not 'teetOtally' OCCUPIED would 60 |
into the movement heart and soul, as
indeed / have done in public utterances
fol many years Oh, that were young
again, and 1t should have my life! 1t is
Gods way out OF the wilderness into the