Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-11-26
(BY WILLIAM T. ELLIs.)

| |
millions of people is reinforced in tn
observance of the occasion by sti
larger host Of attendants upon tn
church. For many years past Ten
perance Sunday has been regula
feature Of many church calendars, an
1t has served as one of the force
which have nodded the present radica
sentiment upon the question of stron
drink.
Many men are rubbing their eye
and wondering where all this zeal TO
temperance has come from They d,
not themselves go to Sunday schoo
Or to church, and SO are not aware o
the steady siege that has been lai,
to the hearts and minds of impress
sionable youth upon this great theme
The variety of the arguments am
I agencies that have been enlisted
against intemperance are unknown :,
men professionally engaged in tn.
liquor trade, and to multitude O
those who indulge in strong drink. Ye
one does not need very vivid imagin
alton to perceive that, the accumulated
result of these years of Sunday schoo
! teaching upon this one special topic
must necessarily be prodigious.
The on-sweepins Tide.
There Is need to remind some per
sons that this temperance movement
Is world movement 1t is bigger
| than the great crusade which has lust
swept over Ohio, eliminating within q
few months more than a thousand sa
looms by the county local option law
It is bigger than the state prohibition
movement which has added six new
states to the three in the Union al.
ready arrayed in favor of total pfohi.
oltion. 1t is bigger than the move.
ment among the liquor men them.
selves to reform their business. The
latter is one of the rather ludicrous
features of the present agitation, re.
mlnding one of the old lines:
When the Devil was sick, the Devil
a monk would be;
When the Devil got we'll, the devil a
monk was he.%
The present on.sweeDins tide is bie.
ger than the license reform movement
mat is stirring England today. 1t &C.
tually comprehends the whole wofId.
me latest Oriental mall brought news
from Ceylon that the arrack MONOPOLY
mas been attacked in the legislative
pody, and that this action recognized
as the formal beginning of temper
ance crusade in the land where every
prospect pleases, and only man is vile"
In Japan there has arisen distinct
and hopeful temperance organization.
switzerland one of the two countries
which have been the source of the pro.
ductlon Of that dreadful drink. alb.
wit IN
PROMPTED the manufacture and sale
OF this profitable product. The high.
ways OF France may be found placard-
ed with posters portraying the evils
OF strong drink, and many public men
In that land Of the vine are siding
with the newly aroused sentiment.
mus 1t is apparent that no Sunday
school or church rightly celebrates
Temperance Sunday unless it is given
vision of the vaStness of this globe.
circling movement.
Getting the World View.
The time for telling bairnly TEN.
perance stories is past. No longer is
the total abstinence movement to be
founded chiefly on basis of the story
Of drunkards' broken homes. That
was the necessary kindergarten stage
of this reform. Now the world sees
the subject more broadly. There has
arisen before the imagination Of civ
llizatlon the vision of a society no
longer drunken Some men see this
ultimate goal from one point of view.
and some from another. The intense
economic. stress Of the day has taught
many men that temperance Is essen
t1al to commercial or industrial eff.
cheney. 1t is too expensive for organ. |
zed society. Thus, according to the
American Prohibition yearbook. the |
;otal amount Of money spent for intox.
eants in the United States in the year
1907 was $2,275,07O,S57. In contrast
With this, the total expense of the |
United States government was $57S,. |
100000, and the total expenses Of |
state. city and local governments was
SLO7S,OOO,00O. That is to say, there
vas paid for liquor last year in the
United States an amount exceeding
~ half billion dollars the entire ex-
'enses of national, state, city and local
governments. Economically, this is in
olerable in an enlightened age.
A still more fundamental basis for
his temperance tidal wave is the in.
'reaslng sense or world brotherhood
Which is taking possession of the mind
II civilization. The temperance cru.
ade is really OF piece with all the
lgnificant expressions of humanitar.
anism and socialism which are now
coming so large upon the worlds +
orion. L
An Up-to-Date War Il
Even more deeply does the present
aovement indicate that the Christian
hurch, which has SO long been sbuck-
ng on its armor," for the conflict with
he forces of evil, is now throwing its 4
lediaeval armor into the junk heap
nd getting down its Krag Jorgensen 1
flies, its automatic machine guns. its
welve-inch rified cannons. and equip.
ing its submarine boats and prepar-
1g it's aeroplane batteries.
The up-to-date-ness of modern mill
Int Christianity is one of the striking !
vidences of the changes that have j
cen at work in the church. No long
will the captains of the Kingdom {
top to squabble over shibboleths h
nile common foe holds the field. !,
he great meeting Of tie federated :