Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1898-09-21
Temperance Comment.

b.
LEdi il Z BY the Press Superintendent of the
W. q. Il. U. of Willmar.1
The canteen sells only beer, says
the defender of that institution. True,
usually, but it is, ''only beer' that is
responsible for the greater share OF
drunkenness, ''on]y beer" that deprives
thousands of homes of the comforts
of life, "only beer" that puts the mad
ness into the brain of more than half
OF our murderers, "only beer" that
starts on the road to ruin nine-tenths
OF the boys who recruit the great army
OF drunkards. ;'Only beer?" How
could it be anything worse?-The
Voice.
MR.. GLADSTONE'S MISSIONARY WORK.
That Mr.. Gladstone was SUD-
porter OF temperance reform every
body knows, but the following story
published by the Westminster Gazette,
shows that he at times put his princi-
l. pies into practice and with consider
able success. Many years ago two
young men about whom he had heard
became notorious for their drinking
habits, and it occurred to Mr.. Glad
stole that he would make an attempt
to reclaim them.
He accordingly invited them to see
him at the castle, and there, alone IN
the Temple Of Peace, he impressively
appealed to them to change their ways,
and then kne}t and fervently asked
God to sustain and strengthen them in
their resolve to abstain from that
which had hitherto done them so much
harm.
The sequel cannot be better told
than in the words of one of the men
concerned, who says:
"Never can [ forget the scene, and
as long as I have memory the in
cidents of the meeting will be indelibly
Impressed upon my mind. The Grand
Old Man was profoundly moved by the
Intensity Of his solicitation. NV COM
panion is now a prominent Baptist
minister, and neither of us from that
day to this, has touched drop of in
toxicating drink, nor are we ever like
~ to violate an undertaking so i'm
pressively ratified in Mr.. Gladstone's
library.''
An awful responsibility lies at the
door of the national administration.
1t must answer for the death of hum
dreds of American youth who have
fallen victims, not of Spanish guns,
but OF fever. Whether the president
and his official advisers will answer
this solemn Indictment to the satisfac.
ton of their country-men depends, in
great part, upon the result Of the con-
gressional inquiry which is surely i'm
pending. But no official inquiry
board Gan gloss over this damning
fact that, what killed the greatest num-
Der of our soldiers was, not lack of
medicine, nor lack of food, but it was
the presence almost everywhere, of
beer, rum or whiskey, the use of which
so thoroughly disarranged the dr.
gestive organs, that no food gave
nourishment, and soldiers who in
obliged in these stimulants fell prey to
disease. They possessed no reserve
force to combat it. We make this
charge with the solemn conviction of
it's truth, after repeated interviews
with regular and volunteer soldiers
who have returned from Cuba, and
from the campments in our southern
states. 1t is the universal report that
those soldiers who drank LIQUOR, were
the first to fall in the swift and unseen
attack of fever. Thousan Of moth
ers and fathers having sons in the
country's service this summer, Learn
ing THAI they have lost their lives and
their souls, perhaps, by reason of the
poisonous and vicious environment
which the regimental beer shop has
produced, are gathering in mighty
union of protest to the president, and
their protest will take the form O: a
demand that he~break away from the
coils of the liquor power, and close
the army canteen. If he does not do
so, he must bear on his own individ-
ual head the obloquy and curses
which only parent can heap upon
one who has been accessory to the
ruin of a child.-Ram's Horn.
In places where the w. G. T. u. has
taken up the work in the social purity
department, the following pledge has
been circulated among boys and men:
/. I promise by the help of God to
treat all women with respect, and en-
deavor to protect them from wrong
aud degradation.
2. To endeavor to put down all in
decent language and course jests.
3. To maintain the law of purity as
equally binding upon men as women.
Il Il.