Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1908-02-25
STUMBLING BLOCKS,


DRUNKENNESS IS A JoKE.-We don't
treat it seriously. If man is poisoned
with arsenic or carbolic acid, that is a
serious matter. Run for the doctor!
Get the ambulance. Do something !!
But if he is poisoned with alcohol that
our town licensed a man to sell
him, o, that is another matter. How
funny! See old man Jones reel down
the street,
How many newspapers out of hun
bred ever treat intemperance in any
other than a jocular way? How often
public speakers, and even the minister,
make light of drunkenness. This is one
of the stumbling blocks. The maudlin
song of drunken student is no funnier
than the facial contortions of drown
ing man.
We don't laugh at fire; why should
we laugh at hell fire in man? We null
lily our temperance teaching by laugh
ing at the wrecks of alcohol. We use
the drunken man as illustrations for our
humorous speeches, and on the funny
pages of our religious papers. Why not
take poison ivy or nightshade as decora-
lions into our parlors?
DRINKING OFFICIALS STUMBLING
BLoCKs.-Presdent Jordan, of Leland
Stanford University, recently said: "The
time is coming when politics will be the
only profession open to the Incorporate
man. Railroads, steamships, and bust
ness men won't have him."
Slowly but surely the "boozy" official
IS being weeded out, along with the
drinking athlete, railroad man, naval and
military cadet, bank clerk, and skilled
mechanic. One candidate for the presi-
dency has been eliminated by cocktail.
Another has taken pains to publish his
temperance principles. Only few years
ago the principal duty of candidate was
to pass around the drinks.
The notorious salutation of the gov
ernor of North Carolina to the governor
of South Carolina, otis long time be-
tween drinks" received another hard
jar at the Jamestown Exposition. The
governor of Connecticut introduced the
two Carolina governors. While they
were shaking hands, Governor Wood
ruff, of Connecticut, remarked, eve are
waiting to hear the characteristic South
ern invitation repeated" Governor
Ansel, of South Carolina, replied, "Your
Excellency, as l am a prohibition gov
ernOr and a teetotaler, l cannot con-
sistently give it," And Governor Glenn,
of North Carolina, added, "And being a
prohibitionist myself, l, too, must suffer
the remark to remain a matter of his
tory" What splendid fact to quote
that there are fifty total-abstinence
mayors in England and Wales, and fifty
such magistrates in Scotland! A recent
issue of The National Advocate masses
on one page the temperance utterances OF
| thirteen state governors, and on another
page tells of Governor Hughes's veto OF
a lobby bill, and he was not included in
the thirteen.
THEOLOGY AND RUM.-Christian bust.
ness men who treat customers, Christian
women who drug their desserts with
brandy, and Christian clubs that serve
punches and frozen buildings reeking
with fumes of alcohol, are stumbling
blocks to young men. have been the
guest of religious bodies in Boston a.
whose tables ices are habitually served
strong enough with liquor to make a
drunkard's mouth water. We were fed
theology from the speakers lips and
brandy from a spoon. Grant that it hurt
no one present, such practice is 6
stumbling block to younger men.
These reverend gentlemen held W
their hands in horror, last year, wher
Representative Shirley, of Kentucky
told in Congress how, with a handful OF
drugs and little pure alcohol, he would
concoct whiskey 80 poisonous that il
would make rabbit spit in bulldogs
face, and when it gets into a man is pure
hell" But Julius Hortvet, Minnesota
state chemist, declares that the worst
poison in whiskey is alcohol. The pure
food law may have taken out the fuse
oil and other drugs, but the heightened
brandy that favors the mince pie, thu
frozen pudding, and the punch is just al
much of stumblingblock to the boy al
the whiskey that "would kill horse. ;
john +. Cowan, G. f. World.