El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-27


l. Helen Hunt Jackson.
British Public Men on the Drink Tramc
Dean Farrar, in a recent address on
| temperance, drew attention to the ut
terances of eminent public men on the
evils resulting from the use of liquor
From this we quote:
| Mr.. Justice Hammer said: Seventy
five per cent of the divorce cases that
come before me in the divorce court
originate in drinking
Lord Russell of Killowen said that
there is no question more wide-reach-
| ing than that of the liquor traffic or
| the social, moral and political condi-
| ton of the working classes This,
again, is but an Insignificant fraction
| of the evidence which might be ad-
duced under this head; and yet would
stake the decisive truth of the thesis
which l am endeavoring to press upon
you on this evidence alone And, oh!
that so able and brilliant a body of
men as her majestys judges could but
unite, not only to warn and to pro-
tect, but to force this question upon
the conscience of the nation, to advise
and to urge the necessary reforms, and
to interpose the stainless purity of
their ermine between us and the de-
struction wrought by this demon of
the world!
Yet, if 1 were to include all that
judges, magistrates and law authori-
ties have said on this question. even
that would be but the merest fraction
OF the evidence against what so bril-
liant a member of the royal family as
the late Duke of Albany called drink
the only deadly enemy which Eng
land has to fear" For more than a
generation there has been hardly one
of our more thoughtful and eminent
Christian statesmen who has not
spoken on this subject as strongly as
the judges have. Out of scores of such
utterances 1 mention but these
Drink said Lord Brougham, lis the
mother of want, and the nurse OF
crime" Lord Beaconsfield said that
in the success of temperance reform is
involved 1.-The triumph of the social
virtues, and the character of the great
body of the people, The temperance
cause" said Richard Golden, lies at
the foundation of all social and DO
litical reform Il am convinced" said
Lord John Russell, that there is no
cause more likely to elevate the peo-
pie of this country than this great
question of temperance"
1T las been said that greater ca
lamities are inflicted on mankind by
said Mr. Gladstone in
the House of Commons on March 3. :,
1SS0-aEd you will observe how ire
mendous is the statement to which he
thus lent the weight of his authority
than by the three great historic
of war, famine and pestilence
combined. That is true for
us, and it is the measure of our dis
credit and disgrace" In 1889 he said
at Hawarden: There ought to be a
great temperance reform. This uues-
ton is great question of the honor
of the country. This is subject
which concerns us all. 1t enters into
every family and household of the
How many weeping widows,
how many destitute children, owe
heir misery entirely to the operation
Of this unhappy cause?" Again at
Liverpool, in 1893. he said: Let us
Ill carry with us, deeply stamped upon
or the great plague of drunkenness
which goes through the land, sapping
md undermining character, breaking
Up the peace of families, often choos-
ng for its victims not the men and
women originally the worst, but per-
IONS of strong social susceptibility
md open in special respects to tempta-
ion. This great plague and curse let ;
IS all remember, is a national curse.
.alamity and scandal"
Of living statesmen, out of many.
My quote one or two. Il say" said ,
Ir. John Morley Tin June, 1881. 81 J
ont care what kind of unpopularity it i
nay attract, but the first stage in So i
ial reform is temperance" 81 view q
he uncontrolled condition of the lio- i
or traffic as serious danger" said '
ord Rosebery; mo one can deny that l
here is a great deal too much drink q
q this country, and that much of the c
rime, much of the pauperism, and al j
1ost all the degradation prevalent in G
his country are attributable to the C
urse of drink" Then comes this t