Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-08-11
state that he has offered an irreparable
insult to the cloth he wears.

state that he has offered an irreparable
insult to the cloth he wears.
"A Comic Failure.
Bishop Potter, on the other hand,
tnough he has not prepared a genera
reply, clings to the position when ne
outilned IN his dedicatory remarks. on
mat occasion he said:
mold the effort to shut uD the sa-
loon as the most tragic and at the
same time the most comic failure OF
modern history.
me temperance question is as iar
from solution today as it was fifty
years ago.
Il may edd that the efforts to set.
tie 1t In high handed way have LED
to an untold amount of hypocrisy. we
must make the home of the working
man cleaner and brighter, and we must
see that he gets his recreation"
However, the fight of the theorists
may result, the invasion of their bust
ness by this "purity" brigade has al
ready earned the enmity of many of
the neighboring saloon-keepers, and
even thus. early in the contest there
are charges of inside rings in which
politicians figure, and which will be
used to defeat the model tavern"
Joseph Johnson, Jr., the promoter
OF the modern crusade contends that
he will pay no more than 5 per cent
in dividends to the stockholders. who
subscribed $4,000 for the establish
ment of the place. All profits over this
will no IN ncto h1ichioo other
"taverns." Those interested with Mr..
Johnson are: R. Fulton Cutting, R.
Bayard Cutting, Herbert Parsons,
Acosta Nichols, ]. ]. Farnsworth, form
.er City Chamberlain E. R. L. Gould,
Harvey ]. Luce, and Albert M. Hirsch-
feldt.
Not Disconnected
That Bishop Potter is not discon-
certed by the storm of disapproval
and censure that has been caused by
his part in the dedication of the tav-
ern is evident from the reply to his
critics which he has just issued:
II have publicly stated that l never
regarded the present saloon as either
a blessing or necessity and no word
of mine, whether uttered recently or
at any other time, warrants any such
inference. l. simply have regarded 1t
is an inevitable, necessary evil until
1t is displaced by something better.
my controversy simply is with
those who, with no other aim, are deal
ing with mischievous institution
rather than suppress it, whereas the
only hope of reform here Is In dis
placement by substitution"
Further on he says:
There is inordinate and ostenta-
tious display of wines at our public
and private entertainments and civic
banquets. On such occasions, both
social and official, sometimes are wit
messed a species of national barbarism
If not an illustration of national vul-
garity. The treating custom in club
rooms and barrooms, the 'hidcous free
masonry of drink as some one has
said, does not too strongly describe
the symbol of friendship which con-
sist in calling for what one does not
want-drinking when one is not thirs-
ty-this is usage to which barbarism
and vulgarity are fifty married.
"If am sent here of God for moth
ing else, am sent here to tell you,
and entreat you, to discern that most
of our methods Of dealing with the
drink evil of our day and generation
are tainted with falsehood and dis
honored by essential unreality and dis.
credited by widespread, consistent
| failure.
Can Not De Ignored.
"There is the drink evil and you ant
| must not ignore it. There is tasl
| for Christian men and women to per
form and you and must not shirl
it. But let us begin by trying to re
cognize the facts and let us deal witt
them in way worthy of their porten
tous significance
zone kind of a man goes to saloor
to get an intoxicant and for no othel
reason. Another goes there for an!
one of a half dozen purposes--refresh
ment, amusement, information, physi
cal easement, business appointment o.
mere change-for which last you, m!
brother, go next door to club which
all sensible people regard as who'll.
innocent.
Nov then, the saloonkeeper hal
been keeping these different wants to
gether. The wisdom of those who an
tagonlze him will be in separating
| them"