New-York tribune., 1901-12-31


Fifth-ave.. last night About hundred clergy
men and laymen listened to addresses by Bish-
op Potter, the Rev. DR.. William Rains
ford, Robert Graham, secretary of the Church
Temperance Society. and number of others.
Bishop Potter said that prohibition was a
fraud and a failure. and that prohibitionists
were hypOcrites. and the only way to deal with
the excise question was 10 educate the masses.
DR.. Rainsford said that Christian people had
no moral right to force by legislation their
Views on the masses. The American. he said,
was hard man Ito go up against" and when
you gave him dash of German blood. he was
tough proposition" Robert Graham as
serted that DR.. Rainsford didn't know what he
was talking about, and promptly reminded
by the presiding officer. George Macculloch
club and ought to be treated with respect. Mr.
Graham Immediately closed his remarks. Then
an elderly man. with long gray locks arose and
declared that such a subject should not be dis
cussed in the presence of distinguished &C.
clesiastics and Bishop Potter and Bishop Tai
bot, of Central Pennsylvania, arose and left
the room.
Bishop Potter the first speaker. He said
II had been decreed by the powers that be that
there was to be no change in the excise law and
that therefore there was no need of discussing
OF the history of the temperance agitation of the
country
1 call attention to the law which deals with
drunkards." he said. II am told by friend
within the hearing of my voice that a drunken
man who commits crime is not responsible In
the same sense as the man who is sober The
law deals simply with the fact that when he
commits a certain crime he is drunk l should
De extremely reluctant to be guilty of criticising
the law, but L must say that 1 believe the atti-
tude OF the law in regard to the drunkard is
vicious He drinks the liquor which makes him
drunk. he takes the thing which destroys him
for the moment. which is nobody's act but his
own. and for what he does while in that condi-
tion he should be held responsible.
COUGHS PICTURE ATTACKED.
Now. advance step to the earliest temper
ance movement of which have any knowledge
IN this country. The objection have already
made is in regard to vicious law. The next is
in the matter of vicious sentiment You will re-
member that the picture by John B. Cough was
that of a man who victim of the vicious
rum habit. He was not vicious himself but
practically a martyr to the sale of liquor 1 be-
lieve that is just as false sentiment as the
other Is false law. I believe that a drunkard
should not be treated or regarded with compass
sion. or different from anybody else who has
committed a crime. The whole theory of John
B. Coughs teaching to my mind was false and
rotten
Advance a step further, to the great pro-
hbtiOn movement. The moral product of that
history no honest can be in doubt about.
AS a result of their work in Maine New -Hamp-
shire and Vermont to-day. by actual statistics
the consumption of certain preparations is
larger than in any other States in the country
For instance. sarsaparilla. which is sold there
in great quantities. has II per cent of alcohol:
another preparation has about 40 per cent of
alcohol and still another has 81 per cent of
alcohol Ordinary claret has only 10 per cent
of alcohol. and great multitudes of people who
are conspicuous as prohibitionists also con-
spicuous consumers of these preparations
What you going to do about IT? Here in
New-YOrk we going to screw up all the
doors on Sunday just as have been doing:
we going to raise a of hypocrites Just
as have been doing. and are going to fur
nish to the police opportunity for bIackmail.
just we have always done. No note. as far as
l have heard. from these people who represent
this policy has been uttered yet in favor of any
other policy. Yet there other policies which
would he worthy of a great people and a great
problem. There is one in England, where capi-
talists have undertaken TO acquire the proper
ties representing the sale of liquor. Suppose
that as much brains and as much time had been
put into the acquisition of breweries on this
island as had been put into the equipment Of
other great properties. Suppose that a group
of men should undertake TO do precisely what
they are doing in England-that is TO say, ac-
quire every place that manufactures and sells
liquor, and transform 1t into something that
may afford not merely a wholesome and moral
reform, but a wholesome and innocent recrea-
tion. a wholesome and social intercourse. Sup
pose having inaugurated such a system as this
a community such as ours should try 10 under
stand the relations or customs peculiar to diff
ferent classes of people. to their domestic Iife
of which great multitudes OF US are entirely
ignorant. Suppose still further, that we should
try to understand something of the science
which stands behind the whole drink question |
and deal honestly with these facts, which the
temperance reformer has never done
COCHRAN'S EXAMPLE.
1--WE are told that nations are stupefyiag them |
selves with certain bevera ges and then we are |
told that the only way to such conditions |
is TO cut off the beverage. We haven't taken |
the trouble to think far enough and to consider |
" hat peculiar beverage stands for. We buried |
to-day in Yonkers a who has done more |
for the temperance cause than any other ten |
men in this diocese. William F. Cochran who |
built great inn club with accommodations |
for a thousand members. who were thus kept |
out of the saloons My friends, prohibition Is a |
fraud and a failure. Education. elevation and |
are the notes which the Church |
must learn to strike"
Bishop Potters address punctuated with /
applause. He was followed by DIR. Rainsford. |
who began by saying. THE question is up to |