The Republican journal., 1898-08-18
RoOt=beer And The w. c. tn

Weekly to movement undertaken by
certain members of the Women's Chris
tan Temperance Union against root beer
las brought a letter from one of the
! editors of Methodist paper in Cincinnati.
declaring that it is "a very cheap thing
indeed to sheer at the order of the White
Ribbon. " IF you dare says this
gentleman, ''smite the saloon and the
! saloon keeper Another letter. from
Georgia, disapproves courteously Of a
paragraph in Harper's Weekly in which
an opinion was expressed that the more
moderate ideas of temperance reform re-
presented by Lady Henry Somerset We're
preferable to the extreme opposition to
drink which seems in favor with the
American branch of the W. c. T. u.
This latter correspondent assumes that
alcohol is poison, and that a law to pro-
hibit traffic in it is quite as Just and
far more important than the law that put
down the Louisiana Lottery.
Prohibition and the tight against the
saloon are subjects too big to discuss in
! paragraph, but as for criticisms on move
ments undertaken il the name of the W
{. T. e., it may be observed that they
are not Inconsistent with a desire fo1 the
highest success Of that organization. The
w. G. I. l. has vast amount Of zeal
and its general purpose to abate the
drink evil is one with which all good
people must be in sympathy. But the
greater its strength and the devotion of
its members, the more important is it
that they should be effectively used to
accomplish feasible things, and not wasted
on endeavors that are foolish or impracti-
cable, or that restrain unduly the liberties
of the individual. The ideal condition as
to drink is not that no one should be able
to get an Intoxicating drink when he
wants it, but that no one should want to
drink to his own detriment. All that the
W. c. L. L. can do to induce people to
deal warily with intoxicants or eschew
them altogether is likely to be useful, but
the effort to abolish ntoxicants altogether
and root out the use of them seems so
sure to fail that it appears to be time
wasted.
In Harl er's Weekly of July 16, MI
Bigelow says. i'll his yankee in Spain"
that he cannot remember seeing drunken
man in Spain, even among the soldiers,
land Spain is the country where wine is
cheaper than milk-at times not dearer
than pure water. For myself he adds,
Il believe i'll total abstinence from alec
hoic drink, but the best way to fight
alcohol is to make light wine abundant
and cheap. Two interences seem de(lu-
chile from these observations of Mr..
Bigelow: first, that people may be tenn
perate and yet be far from being ideal
folks; next, that general temperance is
not necessarily inconsistent with an album
dant supply of cheap wine. Most of us
believe that the smaller the consumption
of whiskey and all spirits in this country,
the better; most of US, while we tolerate
beer and drink it when we choose, think
not much better of it than that it is less
dangerous than whiskey. Most of us be-
lieve in the reasonable regulation of the
liquor traffic Especially on Sunday and
in local option, but we also believe that
professed total abstinence, though ex-
pedient for thousands of individuals. is
not necessary to the we'll being of the
mass of the people. Therefore, when the
W. c. T. U. or any other organization
we demur; and when it urges the total
suppression of the traffic in intoxicants.
we are incredulous of the possibility of
such an achievement, and even of it's
eXpediency if it could be done. But in
SO far as the w. C. T. L. teaches that
alcoholic beverages are dangerous, and
tries to teach people to have sense about
using or avoiding them, and tries to pro-
mote such regulation of the liquor traffic
as seems reasonable, we are all with it.
Doubtless good deal is done in the
name of the W. G. T. U. by auxiliary
societies which the controlling minds of
llle organization 90 not 1nuOrSe. Ii Is
hard to believe, for example, that so
important an organization should bestir
itself against SO feeble thing as root
beer. 1t is possible that, on the principle
of hitching to star, the organization
accomplishes more by undertaking the
impossible and alleging the doubtful than
it would if it limited it's efforts to what
was more clearly feasible and it's allega-
tions to what was beyond dispute. But
this last possibility may be doubted, for
an organization whose members make
extravagant attempts and statements is
apt to suffer in its reputation for sense, and
so in its influence. Harper's Weekly.
TO CLEANSE THE SYSTEM