The Portland daily press., 1899-04-20
TEMPERANCE AND LAW.
Rev. Francis southworth, Pastor of the
sesman's Bethel, ofPortlsnd, Writes
of the Results os the Maine Law.

sesmsn's Bethel, ofPortlsnd, Writes
of the Results os the Maine Law.
BY request the writer has prepared the
following paper. The anxious question
Is, does prohibition, as applied in the
Maine Law, rest on rock or sandf 1t has
had fifty years Of trial. II has been as
sumed, with little dissent, that intern.
perance is the chief cause of vice and
crime. Close the saloon and we have
"Paradise Regained. What then Is the
condition of society after the half century
of prohibitions Has vice and crime de-
creassd2 Is there better state Of public
and private morals now than fifty years
agos What is wanted In this whole dis
cussion is the truth. the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth.
Sta tistics tell us that crimes agains
life and property have made startling
gains; and when we enter the sacred pre-
cincts of chastity, immortality is not less
In evidence. Largely yelled indeed, but
| public enough In our dailies and periodi-
calls, blazoned on bill bosrds, and acted
| In theatres, and published In the DEGREES
| of our divorce courts to cause virtue to
hide her blushing face.
| A deep, widespread decentralization con.
fronts us: and the aspect does not improve
when we note the civic corruption, which
shows US that the very virtue OF govern
ment, on which we have placed reliance
| as the chief agency OF reform, Is itself
dsbauohed and weakened.
| A condition like this certainly may ex-
ouse "a pause OF inquiry whether the prin-
I.sw. t..t, ItAdi In
as n chief agency or instrument OF reform
| is wise or sxpedient. The discussion Is
not untimely. 1t should be pursued with
oalmness, candor and the greatest kind
ness. AT tina outset let US not forget that
| intemperance in drink and love OF gain,
the two propensities against which the
law is invoked, are hut shoots from
great root-only symptoms of desp
germinative disease; and the attempted
lextirpation of these shoots has taken
much precious time and turned nutritive
juices into other shoots more poisonous
than the Upss. And while the symp-
toms have scarcely succumbed to the
| treatment, the deadly root has poisoned
the whole body-moral, social, politio.
SO that, at the very threshold OF our
| argument, we are met by the danger OF
separating some special form of immor-
ality and directing exclusive or exagser :.
ated attention to it, in forgctfulness OF
/ others, OF Vi R6utTtl Va NASt
and acknowledgements; and the question
arl SEES In many earnest minds, Have we
been making mistake during the last
| forty years and more, in turning dispro-
portionate attention to this one form OF
vice, as though there were scarce any
otherS'
| liza man were free from this curse Of
DRINK AND THE DRAMSHoP,
he was not far from the king iom OF
heaven. know l have met with this
very frequently in print and speech, in
the street and the pastoral visit. l recall
an instance of this abnormal moral
perception. A man of unusual mental
outfit called ON me-he was sober at the
time--had lost his place through drink
repeatedly; and worse. had lost his place
in his church. We .bowed together in
prayer. Following me, he told the Lord
with all the frankness of innocence, that
He knew thai. the .only sin he had was
this of drinking, and prayed to be deiiy-
cred from 1t. l tried TO show him his
mistake; to show him that out of the
| heart proceed evil thoughts, adultery,
drunkenness, and such like. / fear he
| shed off my words as a roof sheds rain.
No, our Lord never made this mistake
| In ali his teaching. He never emphasized
some one particular vice, (unless 1t was
| Hypocrisy He went to the root OF the
matter. Had no partial reforms, no spec
| ial remedies. So also his apostles, under
his wise spiritual tuition. just look at
the definition of their word temperance.
| Eukratia: selt-control, self-mastery. along
! the whole line of human passion and
| , ropensity. No one-sided. partial affair.
| but well down along the tap-root OF our
weakness and wickedness.
l I Sra ,-,l, al no
day by day into mora painful Significance
that the great moral wrecks which give
| character to our times, right here, and
| alarm and shame us, are not about the
siAth commandment, or the eighth or
| ninth, but about the seventh. And there
the laws of the State and the practice OF the
| courts, have been growing more ana more
| lax The deepest nire in the moral cess
| pool is there! We need to come back TO u
| broader and more rational view OF temper
ance; and realize that all the vices and
sins swarm from one hive and one queen
| How often we have been assured that
| the Maine Law has made this temper
| ance state; and though 1T may not have
| zone ali that was expected in the larger
cities, yet in the rural districts It's success
mas been complete. The temperance reform
| in this state was born within the life
time of your humble eHsay list. he was u
| pledged member of a juvenile temperance
society al duOub Ola goaTS VI oeo' 'ANhi
women and children had their societies.
| in the church. the hall, the district school
house. There was agitation. organiza-
ton. and lively, earnest, personal work.
| { He could tell some stories of what Maine
was the generation prior to this grand re.
form. The huskings and raisings and
musters.-yes, the ordinations Thera
was much lost ground to be recovered.
| Total abstinence was the idea. side
boards aud decanters hid themselves.
Trainings, raisings, huskings and ordi-
nations became dry. Orchards were cut
down in many places. Restrictive legis-
laticn was secured. and very wholesome
laws were placed on the statute book. As
much law. probably, as the cause re-
CURED; for the temperance power was
regnant. THE old washingtonian NJ owe
ment came, with John b. Cough. The
Sons of Temperance succeeded. All are
familiar as yesterday. During the forties
the state was revolutionized. l don't be-
lieve 1t has been SO thoroughly and vitality
reformed since. 1t was o prepared and
willing commonwealth that was appealed
to when 1t was proposed to secure all the
ends sought Tor by the long conflict oil
speech and pen and press, of Instruction,
| persuasion, and organized moral inhu-
M