Backbone. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. ;) 1897-1906, 1899-01-01
CONCENTRATE!

The idea is gaining ground that in order to make
material progress against the saloon it's enemies must
concentrate their efforts against it. When the
for stated there is general assent to the propo
sition among workers. Many say "I have been
thinking along that line myself"
The saloon is the most deadly foe Of the home the
church. the school and the nation 1t stands squarey
in the way all real prosperity The remedy is plain:
the saloon must to be- To bring this about will
require a large amount of effort The amount which
any person devote to good causes is necessarily
limited This fact leads most successful Christians
and reform workers to give special attention to
line of effort One is particularly interested in Sun
day-school work. another in missions and another in
the poor, and they devote their time and strength
cordngly No blame is attached to them this &C
count. Their wisdom is rather commended and their
very devotion to their idea wins converts to and
enlists workers for it's propagation
For the same reason Prohibitonist should bend
his energies to the accomplishment Of the reform
which God has laid upon his heart He is warranted
in excusng himself so far may be necessary from
other work since he cannot do everything and since
there is, at least to his mind, work urgent.
Our workers have shrunk from this conclusion, and
still from it's application, account of their
deep interest in many good and especially be-
cause of their intense love for the church Most of
them burden-bearers in the church and have
therefore, excused themselves from performing that
amount of labor and devoting that amount of time
necessary to success Even those who have appre
ciated the Importance of concentrating efforts
upon this movement have hesitated to urge advise
their fellow Prohibitionsts to do more for cause
to do so meant to do less for the ordinary work of
the church
We can wait no longer. God is calling upon us to
go forward The very failure of others to take up
this work lays upon us solemn "Woe is me if
preach not the Gospel of protection and help to the
slaves of drink and to their suffering wives and chill
dren! The church ought to be waging such ag
gressive fight against the saloon would require
and command all the energies of the foes of the sa
loon for its prosecution But her fight is only Skin
msh Her rank and file not yet ready for death
grapple with the liquor traffic. Meanwhile the cry of
the dying fills and the conviction is forced
upon us that work must not be allowed to drag
not in love for the church. but that it must be
pushed with greater vgor than ever
The course we have urged would not be injurious
but rather helpful to the church No important de-
partment Of work need suffer, temporarily. On
the other hand vigorous Christian effort to over
throw the saloon would stimulate piety, and the re-
moval Of the saloon would give tremendous impe-
tus to all Christian and ph1lanthrop1c endeavor.
The step under consideration reform in our
financial methods well in other respects. We
claim and have claimed for years that the overthrow
of the saloon is the most important work of the
church. Yet most of U.S. including to date nearly all
Of the most enthusiastic faithful and liberal Of our
number have been giving $500 to the church, to hos
pitals to colleges and to the poor for every dollar
which have contributed to the prohibition cause
This too in spite of the fact that for every person
who is awake to this issue, there who are
interested in these other institutions and