Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-04-07
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PEOPLES PULPIT
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remarkable effusion quoted in the H. |
quor dealers communication In Thurs
days Courier. So monstrous a perver.
sion of social ethics should be re-
buked by every lover of humanity. It |
Is all the more dangerous because the |
evil intent is instilled insidiously |
through an irrational appeal to the
love of libert~ so dear to the hearts |
of all Americans. Seldom is there
found literary production so full of
fundamental ethical and economic err
rors First let us consider the source,
which we are informed is "the presi
dent Of an American university" This
gives it added potency for evil for the
people generally are prone to harbor
the delusion that anything which
emanates from college or university
Is necessarily true. However, un.
biased searchers for truth are begin
ming to learn that there is large
amount of fallacy taught in our great
educational institutions. Witness the
universal acceptance by the colleges
Of the copernican system of astron-
omy and the competitive system Of
industry, both absurdities Of monu-
mental dimensions. The utterances
of university president does not nee
essarily carry the stamp Of flnality.
desire to consider first, the MANIFEST
absurdities; second, the fundamental
errors, and finally, the central motive
of the screed in question. 1t is de.
clared:
l. That the prohibition movement
is an appeal to morbid sentimental
ism. This is nonsense. Everybody
knows that it is attempting the Grad
| soof
eating into the vitals of the race.
2. That prohibitionists consider the
liquor traffic the principal cause Of
| the ills that aff1ict mankind Wrong
again. 1t is fully realized that the so.
cial evil overshadows the liquor curse
but the latter is far more easily oblit-
Grated.
8. That the advocates of prohibit
ton assume themselves to be perfect
ly virtuous and wise, and the liquor
is mere moonshine. We are in the
fight for the sake of human advance
ment, and not because Of any "holier-
than-thou" feeling. Now we will no
tice the fundamental errors of the ar
ticle. 1t assumes:
1. That the liquor business is en-.
titled to be classed as an industry.
Any business that contributes moth
ing to human happiness and every
thing to human misery; that is not
constructive, but destructive, of hu-
man life; that causes no intellectual
nor moral growth, but weakens intel
lect and will, is piracy, pure and sim
pie, and deserves to be blotted out
without conjunction There is plen
ty of work In legitimate industry for
the men whose time is worse than
thrown away in the liquor business.
2. That the commerce in intoxi-
cants should be legitimate because Of
the demand for them. Is it proper to
give child poison because it tastes
good to him? The principle is the
same.
8. That the logic Of prohibition
would make it right to unsex mankind
and forbid religions which might have
insane devotees. The cases are total
ly different. What we are Directing
, to is the use Of the perverted article.
Everybody knows that the natural
use Of the sex relation, for reproduc-
tive purposes only, is perfectly legiti-
mate. All students of life condemn
the unnatural use of the function, as
7 a means of sensual qualification
Everybody knows that religion, EN-.
ployed as a means of reuniting man
to his God, Is perfectly legitimate. But
the religiously insane are possessed
by irrational and nonsensical concep-
+ tons of religion. The unfermented
liquors are harmless, and beneficial to
the human organism, but when fer.
mented-Which is another name for
rotted-their virtue is destroyed, and
the quality of mental energy created
by their assimilation is evil The
logic of prohibition does not extend
to natural functions; it applies only
r to perversions of nature.
4. That lack of intelligence, moral
!. energy, thrift and prudence are the
primary causes of human misery.
The qualities enumerated are the
' products Of well balanced healthy
minds. How can they be expected tc
, be present in a mind slowly rotting
away under the influence Of the dead.
ly poison Of alcoholic liquors.
! 5. That education and home influ.
ence can avail to secure temperance
1t has been thoroughly and repeated
3 ly demonstrated, as thousands OF
' teachers and mothers can testify, that
an appetite which has been bred in
r the race by centuries Of hereditary
processes, fed by the multitudious
temptations, the saloon people throw
in It's way, viii persist in breaking
over home and educational restraints
6. That the abolition of the use OF
t intoxicants will deprive man of his
n personal freedom"
Personal freedom does not consist
in doing what you please, regardless
Of the misery 1t causes your fellow
. man and may cause your posterity
= No man has the right to weaken him
$ self mentally and physically, and then
perpetuate that degeneracy by proga
r cation
T. That the liquor business is not
: criminal What is crime? A viola
ton Of law, either divine or human
q Anything which. degrades humanity is
: violation Of divine law, and there
!. fore criminal
8. That prohibition laws would
g convert honest men into hypocrites