The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1900-05-24
Methodism and Temperance.

ouppOScu W IepIcocuC lIlo ulV1Vutt'
of the board of bishops says, il
part: ''Of the evils which oul
general rules forbid, one, slave
holding has ceased from christian
lands" Yet in extent and direfu
consequences, intemperance, the
moderate drinking from which il
proceeds, and the saloon which
ministers to and aggravates it.
contribute an evil vastly greater
than slavery. 1t is the servant Of
all evils. Language strives il
vain to depict the poverty anc
squalor, the disease and incapacity,
the domesic wretchedness, the vice
and crime, the degradtion of man
hood and womanhood passing by
entail to children, the political cor
ruption, and the widespread de-
pravation of morals resulting from
the drinking usaees of society and
from the liquor saloon. No class
is exempt from the appalling ruin.
Its victims are in the homes of
wealth, intelligence and social
leadership. Its cost and peril to
the State are incalulable. It is a
more deadly foe to the soldier than
bullet or tropic heat. And it is
strongly intrenched in appetite
and avarice, in fashion and law.
''Our church has warred, and
continues to war, upon the whole
system from its beginning to it's
horrible contamination" In ex.
press language it condemns ''all
alcoholic beverages as being
neither useful or safe." 1t de-
clares that ''the business of manu-
featuring and of rending such
liquors is against the principles of
morality, political economy and
public welfare.' It makes action
able in the church courts the sign
ing petitions in favor of granting
license for sale of Intoxicating
liquor, becoming bondmen for per-
sons engaged in such traffic, and
renting property as a place IN or
on which to manufacture or sell
Intoxicating liquors. It regards
voluntary total abstinence from
all intoNlcants as the true ground
Of personal temperance, and COM
plete legal prohibition of the traf-
tic in alcoholic drinks as the duty
of civil government
The church will not abandon
this position. On the contrary,
aroused and indignant, at the ag-
gressions of the liquor power, at
the lnexcusable miscarriage of the
anti-canteen law, and at the new
perils in which the nation is in.
volvlng it's new possessions, it vii
summon and pledge all our MINIS
ters and people to a more deter
mined struggle against this enor
nous evil and urge each to con
tribute thereto, according to his
judgment, his testimony, his ex
ample and his ballot.
Bishop James n. Fitzgerald who
once visited Princeton and helped
in the dedication of Santiago M
E. church, kindly opened his hom'
to the delegates from the Prince
ton W. G. T. y. when the Stat
convention was held in Minneapo
lis. He is called the Prohibition
list Bishop, although our owl
Bishop Joyce and others bellev
in and vote the prohibition ticket
Bishop Fitzgerald says, "Facin,
the saloon, the christian ma
should remember that the Make
forms he seeks to cover, the hun
CRY bodies he seeks to feed, tn
fearful eye he seeks to dry, tn
aching heart he seeks to soothe
and the bereft parents and wive
and children he seeks to comfort
were nearly all brought to thei
present sorrowful and forlorn cor
dition by the saloon, which accom-
rllshes its ravaging work becaus
so many christian men vote tn
ticket of party that does not say
1.-THE saloon must co."