The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-02-19

DAYS ago: ANY student of human af-
fairs will tell you that whiskey is the
most potent, as well as the most pro
life cause of crime and misery in oper-
alton in this or any other country.
The economic question is considered by
some to be the chief factor in this
change of sentiment Railroad men can
not be too strict in enforcing absolute
sobriety upon all their employes-and
tenow a drunken clerk is thrown out
of bank or commercial house as I'M
tremendously as a dead cat, and
sober man takes his place. Largely as
result of these new conditions the
drinking man is becoming rapidly dis
eliminated against socially Not so
very long ago, (and doubtless in some
homes stiIl), the free use of liquor was
encouraged, and the fact that man
had taken ga little too much did not
place the ban upon him socially. To
quote again from the article referred
to-" But in the solid, well-bred, ster-
ling, self-respecting elements Of soci-
ETY. there is now no more room for
drunk than for pickpocket.7
While all this is true and much more
in the same line might be mentioned,
ing that this new uprising of temper
ance sentiment in our own and other
lands is not only an economic and So
cial movement, but it is also and chiefly
a moral and RELIGIOUS advance.
eEOh! be swift. my soul, to answer Him!
Be jubilant my feet!
Our God is marching on!'
Without the inspiration of the
churches and other religious organiza-
tions no great moral reform can hope
to succeed. Yet it is a question if the
churches have begun to take the stand
thew should have taken upon this great
subject Many political, fraternal and
reform organizations have done much
to promote this reform. But OF all
these forces, our enemies themselves
being Judges, to the Woman s Christian
Temperance Union belongs the CHIEF
credit for the present state OF sentl-
ment in our land. We should not dare
to claim for ourselves half the lnnl-
ence which the liquor men give us IN
driving the canteen out Of the army,
in recent prohibition leglslatIon-ahd
other results equally painful to them.
But the fact that they do thus credit
us. must show that at least we nave
done something toward this end. Some
of our contributions toward the recent
advance of ,prohibitive sentiment might
be mentioned
1.-Instruction in all the public
schools in the United States (lf the
law is honored) of boys and girls now
or rapidly becoming, men and women,
in regard to the nature and affects or
alcohol. This knowledge must have an
effect upon the public conscience and
thus upon the votes.
2.-AgitatIon The steady pound,
pound pound, of argument and truth
upon the adamantine wall of pubhc
opinion.
3.-The home influence and teaching
of a hundred thousand wives and moth
ers in our land from whose homes the
tempter is abolished and whose exam
pies the growing sons must honor.
4.-Temperance and purity literature
freely distributed by car loads III fairs
and depots and all public places.
5.-The prayers of three hundred
thousand earnest souls which for thirty
four years have been rising to God Wlii
surely be answered.
SO much seed-sowing can not fan TO
bear some kind Of a harvest, and we
humblv thank our Heavenly Father that
He has given us the glad privilege or
sowing, and of seeing glimpses OF the
incoming harvest in which we reJolee
Il