The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-07-30
THE WARFARE AGAINST DRINK
TEMPERANCE BATTLE GATHERS
STRENGTH EVERY DAY.
The Public House and the Saloon
Singular Aspect of the New Cam
paign Against Liquor Selling
Costs More Thou IL Comes To

Singular Aspect OF the New Cam
paign Against Liquor Selling.
Costs More Than IL Comes To.
Temperance and the use of alco-
, hol have passed through many phases
and fortunes. In China more than
thousand years ago total abstinence
became the universal rule. The He
brews more than two thousand years
| ago studied the subject and estab-
lished habits which have made them
temperate, but not a total abstain
ng, race The Western nations have
! swung back and forth, sometimes
/ breaking out In ruinous excesses and
.hen, for time, making of temper
ance a moral issue and setting up
social and legal restraints which have
served temporary purpose. In
1912 the Washingtonian temperance
revival, started by Mr.. Hawkins, of
Baltimore. swept over the country
With effects similar to those of the
great religious revival of 81, which
Affected the moral fortunes of two
continents. The moral and religious
arguments for temperance have al
ways abounded and have never yet
oeen thoroughly effective. The rea-
son for this is evident enough. The
majority of the men, at least, and
probably we may safely say the wo-
men in any community, do not order
their common lives accordingly to the
highest ideals of morality and relig-
ION. They are prone to accept the
syllogism devised by DR.. Crothers;
namely, Il like to do right. | do
what | like. Therefore | do right"
| Now total abstinence, the regulation
! If the liquor traffic, and prohibition
n any community must be measured
not by local statutes, by the stan
1ards of the moral leaders of the
community, but by the average SEN
.iments and purposes of the people.
What the people want to do and in
lend to do they will find way to do
In spite of scruples and laws. There
have been numerous crusades in the
name and interest of temperance.
| Often for a winter whole communi-
ties have been greatly exercised and
| keyed up to point of self-denial and
| Intense reprobation of the use and
sale of alcohol. Something is left
after such periods of excitement, but
always the tendency is to sink back
again to the former level.
In England and America the cru
sade against the saloon, as we call
t, and the public house as the Eng
!ish call it, has now all at once taken
on a new form and is waged with
different arguments and motives.
1t has now been discovered by
hard-headed men of affairs that the
saloon, and the evil things that clus-
ter about 1t, costs more than it comes
to- The waste of human life and
snergy, the lessening of the produc-
tive power of the people who patron
ize these places, and the expense
thrown upon the community in taxa
tion and the support of hospitals and
| ooorhouses, which can distinctly be
traced to the influence of the public
house or the saloon, now cause busi-
ness men to decide that on business
principles, and for the industrial
welfare of the community, these
sources of extravaganza and waste
must be abolished.
The most singular aspect of the
new campaign against the saloon is
the entire absence of all prejudice
against liquors, either fermented or
| distilled, for their own sake. The
new ally of the temperance move
ment is the belief of the business men
! that the business Of the world will
be more economically conducted, and
with better results, If the time, the
money, and the strength wasted in
| the saloons can be put to use, and
! the capital employed and wasted in
the traffic be invested in productive
enterprises.
In England, where the breweries
have been sources of vast wealth, as
| DR.. Johnson said, of wealth beyond
the dreams of avarice." and the rich
brewers have always been successful
| candidates for the honors of knight
hood, and even higher rank, the sud-
den revulsion of public feeling has
been something astonishing, and so
alarming that after the subject was
brought up for discussion in Parlia-
ment brewery stock shrank in value
at the rate of one hundred million
dollars a week.-Christian Registery