The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-12-18
MARCH OF NEMESES.
Tire Fight Has Been Long, the
Battle Been Bloody,

But Now the Trend is Toward En-
forced Abstinence and the Whis-
key Demon Must 90.
In 1911, nearly one hundred years
ago. there was at the present site of
Brookville, Indiana, a curious COM
bination in the way of a man, says
the American Farmer. He was
preacher, farmer, dist!ller and bar
keeper all rolled in one. He had
come into the then territory in 1897,
and was the first Methodist minister
among the early settlers on the
Whitewater. The town of Brook
vile, IN Franklin county, near the
Ohio border, was laid out in 1907,
just century ago, and this preach
ing whiskey seller was main actor
in starting the place. On Sunday he
preached regularly to his congrega-
ton Of surrounding settlers, mostly
small farmers, and after services
'tset up the liquor to the "sin-sick
souls" Everybody drank in those
days, what they called 'drams, the
white and water clear product of
the old-fashioned copper still. In
fact, the first industry in every pio:
neer community was a distillery. be-
ing regarded as equally important
with the mill that ground the grain.
The preachers were all tipplers and
many Of them drank to excess and
the very first Of all the temperance
reform movements in this country
was organized for the express bene-
fit Of the clergy.
Times have changed. We want
our readers. especially the farming
class, to take note of the contrast
presented between 1907 and 1907 and
the eventful century intervening.
Take note Of Parson Manwaring,
mixing his sermons and whiskey in
the same log cabin, where entertain
ment was furnished for man and
beast" then look around in the ru-
raj community where you live and
count up the farmers who drink liq-
uor to excess or even in moderation
A drinking preacher, of course,
would no longer be tolerated. He is
as extinct as the dodo. No liquor is
served on the sideboards as it was in
1907 in every home. Drinking has be-
come unpopular and questionable.
No farmer thinks of serving whiskey
in the harvest field, as was universal
a hundred and even fifty years ago.
The churches are now all standing
in solid column behind the temper
ance movement. The w. C. T. u,
the Y. M. C. A. the Endeavorers
and other Christian associations are
all working heroically against the
universal curse. The advance has
been great and no class has benefit
ed more from the reform than the
tiilers of the soil. There is not a
strictly farming community in the
United States where the saloon has
a particle of show in a standup vote.
The farmer has become sober. He
finds better use for his corn than to
run it through a still; better use for
his fruit than to convert it into the
brain-maddening 'sapple-jack."
Nemesis is marching on! This
goddess, sacred in the old Greek cal
enear to revenge, is coming into her
own. The fight has been long, the
battles have been bloody, the cen
turies are strewn with millions of
men dead from drink, with countless
homes wrecked and ruined, with
! blasted regulations, with Scared cor
sciences, with that hope deferred
which maketh the heart sick. John
Barleycarn, generalissimo Of the
hosts of evil, the beasts of prey, the
legions of devils, the fends incarnate,
is being driven to the wall. The scor-
pion IS being surrounded with fire.
The bounds of the hunted tiger grow
less and less. The hosts of hunters
press on, remorselessly, mercilessly,
armed with argument, business rea-
sons, moral suasion, decency, self
preservation. the hopes of civiliza-
ton. At this beginning of the eighth
year Of the twentieth century. we
are able to report progress. The tenn
perance movement is sweeping the
country in an irresistible wave and
soon, it is asserted, no whiskey will
be sold in the United States except
in the larger cities. into which the
criminal elements Of the country will
flock. The trend is toward enforced
abstinence and the makers of liquor
are plainly alarmed. Nearly 10000
600 people, about half the popula-
ton of the country, now live in tenn
perance territory. All the eleven
Southern States have not as many
saloons as the one city of New York
Georgia has full prohibition; Ala
bama, majority Of the counties al
ready dry; Arkansas, two thirds of
the counties dry; Florida, thirty-sev-
en- out of forty five counties dry;
Kentucky, ninetyone out Of ll9
counties dry; Louisiana, seven-eigh-
tbs of the country districts dry. Miss
issippi, seventy out of seventy-five
counties dry; Texas, two-thirds dry,
and so it goes all along the line. The
North is falling into line rapidly and
the great red dragon is on the run
everywhere. Whoever you are.
whether you call yourself Reason,
Justice, Morality. Sanity, Patriot
ism, Decency, Civilization, hasten to
enroll yourself in the great army of
freedom so as to be in at the death
of the Blastant Beast.