The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1901-02-14
Intemperance, and--Intemperance.

than he that taketh city" "He
that ruleth over his own spirit
hath built about himself wall Of
defense. Better by far is the one
that holds in check the passions
that draw him than he that knows
no temptation and greater the
praise that is due him. Such peo-
pie see with clearer vision the diff
culties that assail the weak, and
he is reader to excuse his foibles.
The judgment of temperate man
is always sound. The community
respects him. His manner is mild.
His words are moderate. He
quiets disputes. His every act is
a rebuke to violence. He opposes
disorder and riot with wise counsel.
His eyes are always open.
Not so with the intempera :.
He attacks everything with vio-
lence. His words SOW strife. He
is the breeder of disorder. He ex-
poses himself to every danger.
His eyes are shut, for he cares not
to see the end of any plan he de-
vises.
On both sides Of the alcoholic
liquor question are found very
much greater number of intemper-
ate than temperate persons. Vio-
lence characterizes the acts and
utterances of both parties. The
Incorporate anti-liquor advocate
says, "All drinking is sin. !"
While the equally Incorporate pro-
liquor advocate goes so far as to
say drunkenness is not wrong.
The temperate man has clear
enough judgment to see that both
are in error. Drinking is not all
sin, but all drunkenness is sin.
We are inclined to think that
great injury to the cause Of true
temperance is done by these ex-
treme anti-liquor advocates. No
more virtue can be attached to acts
of violence committed by Mrs.
Carrie Nation in Topeka and the
demolition of drug stores by fol-
lowers Of the Dowie faith-healing
hoax. Injury is done to the cause
which they misrepresent. No sin
was ever wiped out by the COM
mission of another by some one
else. 1t may be melancholy tri-
butte to our governing powers that
in prohibition Kansas and in pro-
hibition Vermont saloons are run
ming wide open in the broad light
of day. 1t may be unlawful. But
probably the best definition Of law
is "the tendency for men to act in
certain ways under given condi-
tions." Not all statutes are good
laws according to this definition, a
vast amount of the statutes are
dead letters because of this.
One trouble is that too many of
us want to rule everybody else ac-
cording to the dictates of our own
conscience. The Incorporate anti
liquor advocates have this moral
fault badly. Perhaps we all have
a good deal of it. The Congress
of the United States was unwilling
to consider anti-liquor legislation
that concerned it's own habits
though willing to regulate the
habits of the soldier. There is
the golden rule in this and similar
legislation. And they are not
forms of temperance legislation.
The schools of the different
states have been sufferers from the
untempered zeal of the anti-liquor
advocates. Legislators unframed
in pedagogical methods have be-
come submissive to the demands of
zealots unframed in pedagogical
method and disregardful of scien-
tific truth, because they were led
to believe that it would be against
public morals to resist. This has
resulted in the introduction of the
unreliable teachings of the reform.
er in quantities that robs them OF
all pedagogicalvalue and makes
obedience totlaw mean perpetual
nagging of pure minded children
1t introduces as incontrovertablt
facts, statements absolutely untrue
and therefore immoral. For the
boy who is told that to drink {
glass of beer is sin, and who hal
seen temperate father take /,