The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-12-10
THE Man OR The SALOON
RET. G-1RDNER s. ELDRIDGE ON
TIE SALOON QUESTION.
Preached in First Methodist Church
Last Evening--The Wealth off, Nation
Not Money but Men In the Evolution
OF Our Manhood the Saloon an Am
t"gonistic Force.

|
Rev. Gardner S. Eldridge, pastor of
the First Methodist church in this city,
| delivered last evening a sermon on the
saloon, as opposed to true wealth. In
the audience were represented the varl-
Gus temperance organizations OF New
Haven. The text was taken from Mark
viii, So:
For what will it profit man If he
cain the whole world and lose his own
soul"
ut was Jesus who discovered the
value of man, At first we thought
this value had reference only to another
world. But slowly we have awakened
TO the fact that it has reference also TO
this world, that the wealth of nation
is her men.
Modern economics began with the
idea that the wealth of a nation was
in her money. Therefore get money!
and venturesome spirits ransacked the
world The nation became a golden
Whirlpool But it brought no real pros
partty. 1t made the nation neither non
est nor happy The few were too rich;
the many too poor.
Meantime the Christ-idea had been
making its way with the philosophers.
That the wealth of nation is not IN
her money, but in her men. That boy
with an honest ambitious soul is worth
more to a nation than millions of mon
ey. That the putting of a tea Kettle is
the putting Of tea kettle and nothing
more till you bring it into the presence
of Watt, then it is a revelation OF Goa.
That the falling of an apple only notes
the coming of harvest till it falls in the
presence of Newton, then 1t is the
herald of a new world. The forces or
nature had long been playing hide ana
seek about our feet, but it was the man
Edison who said I'll take hand in the
game, and I'll teach them to take
hand in the great game Of human des-
tiny. The wealth of a nation is in her
men. Her principal business is to make
men; her creed is manhood. The AL
mighty started this nation with this
creed. He put us down in this new
word saying, you are free and equal
and all that Now it remains for you
to make sure of it. We are men, this
is the thought we have cherished This
is the thought we have fought for. For
manhood not conquest For it we
fought in n; for it we fought in 81.
For the manhod of the Cuban and the
we fought in 81. Manhood is
our ideal king. But in the evolution of
our ideal we have come upon new an
tagonistic force-tlle American saloon.
t. ,J,,i, l,oI, Gin NV
have to meet. There is some improve
men in that since the time when dea-
cons and clergy and magistrates all
tippled and sometimes toppled. Now
there are millions of people who never
touch q drop. Yet the amount consum-
ed per capita is larger than ever
which proves two things-that excessive
drinking is greatest and the business is
larger than ever before. 1t is the bust |
ness. The commercial and political |
side of the question that is the menace
.o-day. A business overrunning the
from seaboard to seaboard; a
with an army of 100000 deal
RS, and billion dollars in capital back |
If it. A business entrenched in the |
weakness of man and the power of
money And the saloon is the point |
where it touches our democracy. Like
he sprays of a watering pot only it |
sn't water; at least not all of it. 1t
s part logwood. The saloon is the spray
# the brewery The saloon is the out
ct for the traffic and the inlet for men.
3ut the saloon is not content to take
Is chances in the commercial world. 1t
las entered the arena of politics. 1t is
stated by the Brewers asso-
iation "that it is organized for the
urpose of influencing legislation and
ublic administration in the interest of
heir craft" "That it is only by union
nd brotherly love that they can at
ain their ends and yield a great polit-
1al power" So then every saloon be-
ONES a center of political influence,
chooI in practical politics. So the New
'ork Times says: "The great underly-
lg evil that paralyzes every effort to
ct good laws and secure the enforce
lent of such as we have is the sys-
am of local politics which gives the sa-
more power over govern
lent than is possessed by all the re-
gious and educational institutions of
ne city"
In this great age long battle for
in the evolution of our Amer
an ideal, we may well pause and ask
urselves the question, are we on the
ay to its achievement when we have
mbed the heights; when we have
rought out our destiny shall we have
owned the summit of our civilization
18th a saloon or a man?
Now look little closer into this great
ational saloon policy What does it
ean in relation to the nations capt.
THAT is, men.
On Saturday night in this city in
de of three hours three thousand
Dung men We're counted passing into
lie saloons. A whole army of men.
hat does il mean! a nobler man
bod? more perfect equipment for
If government? The highest possibil- ]
les of the soul?
In the doors and windows of those :
looms there are mirrors. Let the
,ung man take one long last look at
mself before he enters, for he will
.ver return the same. He whose brow ,
fair, whose brain is clear, whose heart
pure, whose conscience has been clar
ed by the pure atmosphere of some .
ew England hamlet; let him pause
I'd take one last look at his manhood. ,
e may wish in after years to remem- ;
r what once he was. He with the !