The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-07-24
LEGALIZED EVIL NO. 16.
BY JOHN DANNER,

anu ruin produced Dy the legaIlZe0
liquor traffic. But the wasting of twelve
hundred millions Of the peoples money
every year, and sending one hundred
thousand citizens to drunkards graves
annually, is not all. This ruinous policy
reaches to our new possessions, the
Philippines, Cuba and Sandwich Is
lands and other parts of the world.
Recently Rev. ]. b. Dunn, of the Ma
tional Temperance society, told of
Braman Of Madras, who at the parlia-
ment of religion dn Chicago, said: "Our
friends of the Brahmo-Swami have
been picturing to you Christianity as
standing with the Bible in one hand
and the wizards wand of civilization
in the other; but there is another side,
and that Is the goddess of civilization
with a bottle of rum in her hand. /
know of a hundred people in my native
land, addicted to the drink habit. OF
course, we have ourselves to blame,
but remember, that to ape the con-
queror is one of the vices Of the con-
quered, and that the fashionable habit
Of drinking is borrowed by the Hin
docs from the English. Oh, that the
English had never set foot in India!
Oh. that we had never seen a single
European face! Oh, that we had never
tasted the bitter sweets of your civili-
cation, rather than 1t should make us a
nation of drunkards and brutes!"
AS a result Of the introduction of
intoxicating drinks into our new pos
sessions and foreign lands by Christian
nations, the natives and heather are
prejudiced against the gospel and its
missionaries. They see the same people
that send the gospel of peace, or the
waters of life, to the children of dark.
ness, send also the spirit of evil, or
fire water, and, in too many cases, the
same vessels that carry our missiona-
ries to them carry casks and barrels Of
darkness in the form of intoxicating
liquors, and all under the sanction AMI
protection Of our government.
With such cargoes of good and evil,
sailing, under the same flag, can we
wonder that the conversion of the
heather to Christianity is a slow pro-
cess? Rather the wonder should be
that they are willing to embrace our
religion at all, when it produces the
bitter fruits of intemperance such as
they never knew of before Christian
nations landed on their shores.
If we continue to support our govern
ment in sending out such assorted car
goes, need we wonder that the work
of converting the heather to Christian
ity is a slow and tedious process?
Rather the wonder should be that they
are willing to embrace our religion at
all when it produces the bitter fruit
of drunkenness and debauchery among
them.
While it is true that they who send
out missionaries are quite a different
class of people from those who send out
rum, yet in the minds Of the heather we
are classed with the same people. The
foreign nations judge our people by the
sailors and travellers from Christian ma
tions and by the commerce of the peo-
pie; and IL rum and intoxicants COM
pose very largely our cargoes they
have a right to condenmn us as a ma
ton that manufactures drunkards by
law. They can very truthfully say that
these are American Christians and see
what their religion does to make our
people become drunkards. All this wi.l
be stopped when political party is put
in power in the United States that is
opposed to all forms of revenue laws
for Intoxicating liquor and deals with
| the whole traffic as an outlaw. No tax
| or license party can rise to this moral
standard in defense of our homes. The
Rev. David A. Day, a missionary IN
Liberia, writes thus:
II wonder the Africans do not shoot
| with poisoned arrows every white man
that lands upon their coasts, for they
have brought them rum and are still
| bringing 1t; and in a few decades more
| II the rum traffic continues, there will
be nothing left in Africa for God Ia
save. The vile rum in this tropical eli
mate is depopulating the country more
| rapidly than famine, pestilence and
war. Africa with the simple gospel OF
| Jesus is saved, but Africa with rum Is
eternally lost; for the few missionaries
that can survive them cannot overcome
the effect of the river Of strong drink
that is being poured into the country
| If you will substitute for Africa the
Philippines, you have correct picture
| of what the United States has been do,
ing there in the way of introducing in
toxicating liquors and how so man!
have been turned into fiends by the u.s.
| of said intoxicants sent them under tht
sanction and protection Of our govern
ment.
Again, reflect that every ballot cas-
this fall for tax or license party is tc
sanction and perpetuate this great in
iquity and is in direct conflict with oul
church resolutions, which clearly say
"The liquor traffic cannot be legalizet
without sin.'t
Christian brother, if you go to the
ballot-box to vote your Christian prin
ciples, you must cast your bal!o
against all tax and license parties; bu
If you go to the polls to vote for a par
ty, you will be very likely to cast youl
ballot again to continue the saloon an,
liquor traffic, as a part of our govern
ment, because the two Oldest and lar
gest parties in the nation stand to
gether on this point and say to tn,
liquor traffic, you pay us revenue an,
we will take you in as partners an,
protect you.
SIITT0N ARRAIGNED.