Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-04-08
FIGHT ON LIQUOR
Mrs. CalIie Howe, of Boston. Ad-
dresses County Temperance
Union Convention.
CHURCH MUST DO THE WORK
Speaker Claims Traffic Increases
Through Indifference of the
Church People.

Mrs. Callie Howe. a national tenn
perance worker, of Boston. addressed
the county convention of the Wo-
mans Christian Temperance union At
the Baptist church last evening. In
part Mrs. Howe said: There is not
a cloud of doubt a. to the struggle
between the American home and the
American saloon. but it will take
many years of hard work on the part
of all to rid our country Of the grow
ing evil. | md, as | read the history
of the countries of many years back,
that the conditions then were not so
different from the conditions that eN-
list today. In the days of Jerusalem
there was much vice and much evil. as
there il i'm America today. 1t is Just
the same: the So-calIed best men of
that time overlooked this evil. and so
are a great multitude of our best men
that are daily overlooking the great
evil which exists now-the liquor
traffic. The question is, how shall we
rid the country of the li1uCr traffic?
! have asked many good people for
aid, but from their looks the answer
is plainly written ON their faces: The
liquor has let me alone and | intend
to let ii alone; il does not appeal to
me The trouble is that these people
have never been awakened to the fact
that the country must be rid of IL
quor.
Mothers Aroused Too Late
Many times ! have stood by weep
ing mothers just awakening to the
fact that liquor has ruined their son.
The trouble is that these mothers
weep too late. Had they thought of
this vice when the son was but an
infant and worked against it. some
good might have been done; but the
harvest rcapcd is the same as the
seed soWn. Many people are too con
tent to sit down and do no temper
ance work. because their own family
happens not TO be affected by the
liquor traffic. ] have never found the
prOycrbial black sheep in any family,
but if | could trace the family tree
back TO the third generation | could
find the cause Of this black sheep.
The great fault with many is that
they do not know enough of the Ii
quor traffic. Some people viii say
that they think the kind of people to
have at the temperance meetings are
| the saloonkeepers. the drunlardS. and
the evil and lowly men of the town.
This is mistaken idea. You cannot
expect this kind of people 10 i'm
prove the town. 1t is the so-callcd
good people that must attend these
meetings. They are the ones who
can do the good work if they will.
sympathy Does Not Count.
MANY people come to me and offer
sympathy. Now Gods duties were
not laid on the shoulders Of a few,
but every one of us 1t i not sym
| Fathy that Is needed. 1t is good. earn
est work for His cause. The liquor
traffic IS robbing God every day. lie
paid Il price for every SHINING soul,
and daily there are souls being rob
bed. stolen from Him by this terrible
serpent. The reasons many people
give for not helping in the temper
aucc work il that their time is all
taken up with church work. Now !
would ike to ask YOU one question:
What is church work? l. it not to
purify the atmosphere that it is built
i'm ANA that il exists in? Is it not to
help bear the burdens of the weak and
the humble?
I'VE are the people that must fight
these battles against this robber of
souls. God viii never send a band Of
angels here to do it. Man was created
To do this. and a. lon" a man exists
hc must fight the battles for his Gre
ator. The success or failure of the
church rests ON the outcome of the
battle between the christian moral
element ON one side and the lcgaIized
liquor traffic on the other"