The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-08-24

1t Will Come, Not Through Legisla-
ton. hut Education.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal:
1t is very seldom that more truth is told
i'm the same number of words than was
in the editorial in Sundays Journal on
'Inebriety i'm a Prohibition State" There
is much drunkenness in the State of Maine,
but there are rural districts and small
towns i'm which there is very little, and
as the prohibitory law Of that State is not
responsible for the drunkenness in some
localities. neither is 1t TO be credited wholly
with the sobriety in the other localities
In these ii is helpful; in those not harmful.
with the proba bility that things would be
much worse without il everywhere. Fifty
| years ago the prohibitory law so supple
mented the moral agencies that had been
at work for ten years through the Wash
ingtonian movement and the Sons Of Tenn
perance that for a decade or more drunk
| enness was hardly known within the State.
but the social generalization of the war
| period so disturbed the machinery that
had made the prohibitory law a success
| that the present condition soon followed.
In other words, a prohibitory law or any
form Of restriction is comparatively value
less where total abstinence is not back Of IL.
In those parts of Maine where the law is
enforced with satisfactory results the pre-
vailing social life is a~bstemious. Deacons
and elders and class leaders do not fire.
quent saloons on the sly, and they do not
use intoxicants at home; hence they gladly
accept all there is in the protection OF law
as helpful, not as the chief or only way TO
promote sobriety. While. therefore. the
law is a helper in such communities, moth
ing short of omnlpotence could enforce IL
in Portland or indianapolis with the bibu-
lous habits of the respective cities. Hence
the unwisdom Of the overzealous young
men whose only temperance work is 70
ft,nn my and 6nun and QrV "PrOnlhlf1Onf
Prohibition, Give us prohibition or all will
go to the bad!' They will know better
both in Portland and I'm Indianapolis. en-
forced itself when backed by a total-absti-
hence community; hence IT is obvious that.
while not abandoning prohibition as the
perfection of legislation, in the language OF
Miss Willard just before she died. THE
supreme duty of the hour is TO teach total
Fifty years ago indianapolis. as well as
Portland, was a total-abstinence city by so
much as the habits of that class of citizens
who give tone to social life was concerned;
Every week Henry Ward Beecher. Edward
r. Ames and all other preachers I'm the
city attended the division room or the Sons
Of Temperance as regularly as they at
tended prayer meetings to consult such
lawyers Of Albert 6. Porter. David Nc
Barbour. and such business men as John
d. Defrees. James c. Yohn, W. S. Hubbard;
James NJ. Ray. and the principal doctors
Of the city. that they might all promote
the cause of total abstinence. There was
no dram-drinking then by church members
on the sly, at home or at any public bar.
and a club. political. literary or social. that
kept a bar could not have existed a month.
This was the social condition when the
prohibitory law OF 1855 went into force as
. helper, not as a whole thing. The i'm
loon I'm the State. The indianapolis Senti-
mel of June Is. 1856. said. editorially: This
vsrsa1iy obse la@i s We iI hear hS az no See disn 1ni-
ton to violate it's provisions" The city
columns the same day said: The new
liquor law has knocked police items into
a cooked hat. Not a single item is TO. be
obtained now on account of John Barley
corn" II had then been I'm force only thirty
days. Referring 10 the same subject again
on the 18th of June. a city item said:
During the past fifteen days there has
not been a single commitment TO the county
and in the way OF arrests by the city police
there is little or nothing doing" The
Locomotive, a weekly paper. said I'm its is
sue of June %: There has not been a
single arrest or commitment 10 prison since
June u (the date Of the taking effect Of
the law The mayor sits quietly I'm his
official chair and the night watch dogs on
the store boxes" The Council within "A
month reduced the police force one-haif.
Referring 10 this the Locomotive OF July
81 said: The temperance Law has nearly
abolished rioring. drunkenness and rowdy-
ing. and the taxpayers arc reducing their
expenses" The Journal. referring 20 this
reduction. said July p: The reduction Of
the night watch was on account Of the
ofrnlnltfo0 OF oi~luTDdhct ana uTunhtnlcrr
from the enforcement OF the prohibitory
law" The Evening Republican or june -
said: "Rummies no longer ~perambulatc
the streets. making night hideous. aud the
watchmen have little 10 do" Referring
again 10 the workings OF the law the Jour
nal OF July . said: Since June l. the law
diminished crime. reduced drunkenness.
saved money and emptied jails until the
Supreme Court took hold OF H." II was
50 everywhere In the State. and only be-
cause for fifteen years mos, OF the
churches OF the State and all temperance
organizations had heen intoxicating the
wholesome doctrine OF total abstinence.
Such a law dropped from heaven or