The Portland daily press., 1899-09-27


and do good. So shat thou dwell In the
land and verify thou shalt be fed"
Writing of this afterwards she says,
"That was turning point IN life With
rns. Great spiritual illumination mn.
equnled In all my history before had been
reuehsafed 30 me In the last days at
Evanston, but here came olinthing faith
for what was 90 me . most diifirult emer-
Rency."
This Is our twenty -affh annual State
convention. 1 thank you today as /
often have In my heart for your conf
denoe and love during.s the years of our
close oomradeship, yet more do / thank
yen fer your patient. faithful toll in the
midst Of the ever Deepening problems OF
the temperance cause. We have lean In
strumental In securing enactments Of
several reform lnws especially those for
the protection Ct girls When cur attain
tion was first called 20 this subject fifteen
years ago, In no state in the Union was
thr age Of profsotion above ten years. and
IN some IL was rs low as seven. In all Of
the states &c has been RAISED; in saost Of
the states to sixteen years, and In those
stntes where women have the ballot TO
eighteen years.
In common with every ft.te In the
Union save three. we have the law re-
curing temperance education IT, the pub
greatly strengthened by the passage of q
Din for the Withholding OF State aid from
those towns where The requirements of
the lsw barring upon the proper sxaini-
nation of teachers and fhe Instruction of
pupils vera violated. The chairman Of
the Educational committee empnatIcally
said that 1t would devolye largely npon
the local unions of Maine to see that Epie
law WAS mHde effective. Let Us not he
guilty of neglect In this respect.
Recently considerable interest has been
aroused by the announcement concerning
the food value Of alcohnl as shown by
physiological research conducted by Prof.
Atwater of the Wesleyan University,
Hartford, Conn. 1t should be carefully
noted that Prof. A twater's exper iment
dealt only with the relation Of
ALCOHOL TO NUTRITION
aud lid not teach at all its relation to
the brain and nervous system. He claims
to hnye proven that q small amount Of
aloohol-at most tWo anu q half fluid
ounces in twenty -fonr heurs--taksn in
connection with either food acts as food
In producing heat and energy. Unfortu-
nately when alcohol IL taken 1t IL rot
under the same circumstances as those
attending Dr. Atwnter's patient who WAS
shut up while taking ft for days In a
smell air-tight metal chamber. Prof.
AtwHter does not give definition of
food. Very likely II he did 1t would not
correspond with what Is generally under
stood by 1t. for he says. "Whether alco-
lhol is 30 be called food or not depends
upon the d6finttion Of a food" We wish
he had given mis- definition. DIR. Uroth-
ers, secretary of the Alnsrican Medical
association. says that Prof. Folie asserts
that ZONE dram Of pure alcohol will so
n ns.FE
recognized and measured by insbru-
ments and he adds, that soicntiiic work
In this line is far more accurate than
that of physiological chemical expert
ments. Let us bear In mind that thus
lar the weight of expert testimony does
mot coincide with the result Prof. At
wHter claims for his experiment.
DIR. N. S. Davis the we'll known msdi-
cal authority writes that Prof. Atwater, 8
statements do not touch the action of
alcohol on the properties OF oal proto-
iplasm or the functions of nerve matter,
and they contribute nothing toward ex-
planning the manifest connection of alco-
hol with the prevalence OF poverty, vice,
orime and both physical and mental dis
orders throughout ohristendom."
1t is hut fair to Prof. Atwater TO state
that upon being questioned he said a
great deal to discourage the idea that
moderate drinking is harmless; We need
have no fear that our cause Is to be set
back Ivy hts Investigation and decisra-
tions. he has proved nothing that oan
reasonably influence any believer in or
worker for the promotion of total absti-
hence. We prefer to accept the expert and
majority testimony of those specialists
who declare that alcohol Is not a food.
Let us dear comrades, go on aiming to
secure for the children through the pro-
vision of the Scientific Temperance In
struction Law that which will forearm
andfortify them against alcohol-human-
ityss GREATEST foe.
The law in Maine aims To prossct all
under twenty.one from the
USE OF THE CIGARETTES,
and 1t is part of our work to try to hiring
public sentiment UP to the standard of
The law IL 1t is not already there. Refer
ring to public sentiment and law, me-
thinks you are reminded of one of our
temperance principles, -Pruhibitio for
the State and Nation. / realize that L
am speaking TO women who like myself
halieve that the principle of prohibition
is right, hence i need not undertake to
prove this, but rather TO consider the sit
uation In Maine today in relation to the
liquor traffic.
For nearly fifty years our State has had
any intelligent people who will under
take to say that this Law has not accom-
plished great and last good. Even the
opponents OF the law are obliged to ad-
init that 1t Is
GOOD FOR THE RURAL DISTRICTS
and is well enforced, but the violation in
the cities Is quoted by them as proof that
the law should be rspealsd and that there
should be substituted for Prohibition
some form of license. 1t is significant
that this idea does not receive much sup
port. All attempts prove as futile as that
made in this city few months ago in
a religious convention whena motion was
made
CONCERNING PROHIBITION
and favoring some form of license re-
sembling the dispensary system OF South
Carolina, rather than the present Msine
law. This proposition was voted down
by 81 to 0, and in its place was adopted
a strong declaration in favor of prohibi-
fiOn nh fta yfnOroyto os.forn.~.,a-t