St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1902-06-18
AGAINST THE OPEN SALOON.
The Address by Rev. DIR. q, III. Beard
of Burlington.

We present herewith the recent address
of Rev. DR.. G H. Beard, pastor of the
College Street Congregational church of
Burlington 1t is strong argumei
against the legaIizsd saloon and worthy
of care fuI consideration.
1t has always seemed to me possible to
tan, of our duty in even this great temper
ance issue SO called, and still to be tenn
perate; possible too, to be temperate and
kindly and at the same time, absolutely
true to ones own convictions. Here is an
Issue that thrills and StirS, because it is an
issue of life and death to so many Yet
that is 40 reason why men should call one
another names because they differ in
Judgment concerning it. To call 3 man a
rascal because he honestly advocates
licensing saloons, or call another man a
fanatic because he believes in prohibiting
saIoons adds neither light nor right to the
discussion. At any rate, the present
speaker claims no monopoly Of either wis
dom or goodness in the matter, either for
himself or for any body of men with whom
he may agree. He simply asks you men
and women who are used to Judging with
unprecedented judgments, and you who be
lieve YOU ought to judge in that way not
to shirk the question, nor to suppose it
necessarily settled in your own minds to
keep on thinking about it, and to be will
ing to hold to your present convictions or
else to change your minds, as reason and
love for humanity may lead you In these
issues, which are largely moral we cannot
locomotive ought not to want to become
conecicnces for one another, But We are
obligated, every one of us, to use our own
| cOnsciences and with Gods help to make
our support of men and movements square
with the judgments Of our consciences, al
whatever cost.
Another thing, it is we'll to discriminate
| carefully. Although this matter of the
saloon is so closely associated with that
! other question of individual abstinence,
and although both go back at least for
their final test to the law of love, or good
will to ones neighbor, the two questions
are diferent and to-day we are thinking
| solely of the social problem of the saloon.
! AS conscientious men We are bound to
| face the personal question when 1t arises.
| and ask our duty personally from the
| Christian standpoint. The personal duty
of total abstinence seems clear and strong
to many Of us. But a man may not him
self be total abstainer and yet may be
lieve, heart and soul in the abolition of
the drinking saloon from our American
society, a great many do The prohibition
|
Of course as many would mislead us to be
lieve, on the thesis that all drinking OF
intoXicants is a crime. AS a social policy
as a matter for legislation, it rests solely
on regard for the community welfare anC
the question is simply, What does the best
coed of society demand?
In trying to answer the question, I shall
assume that we all know and admit the
vast evils of intemperance. These have
touched too many of our homes for us tC
be ignorant of them And yet it is hard tC
realize at all adequately what we al
know. Out of 2169 cases coming before
the criminal court of the county in which
lived a few years ago, 80 Of the criminals
were abstainerS 25S moderate drinkers
and no less than 1S72-siX- sevenths of then
/ -intemperate men, Judges and Jurle'
r everywhere unite in saying, as the Chicago
I grand jury of December, 1900, said: "A
p least 30 per cent of all criminal cases com
p ing directly before us have some saloon
y. connection" Yet it is hard to realize that
, Physicians and superintendent of insan
i asyluus tell us, as the doctor in char9
t of one of the State institutions of Massa
chusctts told me q year or two since tina
Y from two to three-ffths of the insane sen
d to our asylums are sent there because q
o drink vet it is hard to realize that nearl
n | all of the extreme poverty of our object
= Of charity; untold horrors of disease an
q accident perfectly preventable, misery i
broken homes and blasted lives such a
God only knows; these and much else be
e lonP to the long sad tale of hard, un
y aeniabe facts about the tendencies @
n liquor drinking and the liquor trafh'
S Would to God we could realize it,
; But, just now, [ must assume all this
n And coming directly to the question
- what ought we Vermonters to DO abor
- it? Let me say, first, that there are som
y things which it seems to me, We shout
u all be agreed about at the outset. One
IS that men are not made temperate by legl
e. latve enactment. Again and again law
Id have helped men to be temperate. But IL
H. proposition that we cannot flat-W1se, leg
70 islate men into morality would seem a
most self evident, were it not so often II
peated as a sort of challenge. Let us a
II say this together A ChrstianiZed hear
ey life, with God so loved the world" for
Ir. inspirational power, and "Thou shalt lo'
al thy neighbor rs thyself" for it's centr
,st principle, is Indispensable to a thoroug
ire going, effective temperance.
,et Another thing pretty evident, is that
W system whatever will wholly stop t
'n' drinking of intoxicants The habitu
Jul ,1runkard will always find way to salts
u his depraVed appetite; and intensely SEN
ms people--Whether habtual drinkers or T
will care only to please themselves, a
ret what they want whether or no
this imperfect world our problem gener
w Island certainly is in this case-HoW,
III this State, at this time, is this evil
)Fs have to face, reduceabe to it's low
~ limits?
u And then, it is hardly worth while to
sh bate about the perfect working of
nts present prohibitory law and agency S,