The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1909-06-19
KANSAS CITY PASTOR
!. FLAYS PROHIBITION.
Says Movement Pursues Grosss
~: Mistakes Of Hermits Of the
...%.*: Middle Arcs. &:..s = I

KANSAS CITY. June 17.-T wish
to speak against prohibition and in
behalf Of temperance. speak as one
who has always practiced total absti-
hence and used his influence in favor
OF that practice, and always expects
to do 50. have come, through more
than twenty years close study Of the
question, and Of intimate experience
Of license, local option, and ~prohibi-
ton methods, to be convinced that we
shall not be prepared to deal sue
cessfully with the question until we
have diverted our attention from pro-
hibtion and given it up"
Rev. Wallace M. Short, the most
widely known Congregational minister
in the city, thus began his sermon at
the Beacon Hill Congregational church
Sunday evening.
"The prohibition ideal must be
abandoned, because. it is mistaken in
dts methods, erroneous in its moral
distinctions and unjust in its applica-
tion.' continued Mr. Short.
Gross Form Of Mistake.
I'm the first place, it, is mistaken in
It's method of attempting to build up
human character and human society.
It Is pursuing in it's grossest form the
mistake Of the hermits Of the middle
ages. who tried to attain righteousness
by removing themselves from the
sight and sound and possibility Of evil.
One admires their earnestness, but
weeps over their errors.
"Some Of these saints Of the middle
ages went 50 far as to practice self
mutilation in the struggle for purity
and spiritual power. The whole
method works upon the line Of spir-
itual emasculation, rather than upon
the line Of spiritual power.
THE average American being too
busy in his pursuit Of money and
pleasure to take the trouble to disci-
.pline himself or train, the rising gen.
Grafton in the true principles Of life,
has fallen back upon the easy-looking
method Of the enactment of many
laws and the reliance upon multi
tudes of policemen. The world has
never been helped any by that
method. 1t is the sign Of decadent
moral and spiritual force.
Government and Education.
I'VE need to spend time and effort
the distinction between the sphere Of
government and the sphere of moral
education. The business of govern
ment is to preserve the person and
property Of men inViolate. It should
give every man a chance for life,
liberty and the pursuit Of happiness.
But In the matter of personal hab-
Its, the educational influences are SUI
preme. The home, the: schoof, the
church and public sentiment, are the
forces that make character. Just. in
proportion as we place reliance upon
law and the police, we shall, TAIL in the
sphere of educational and moral In
t1nence, and that failure: has always
been fatal arldts must ever be. &,
"The line of distinction between the
sphere Of government and moral educ
cation Is not always absolute and
clear yet it is as definite as any in
teuectual and MORAL distinction, and
we must 1earflt what It III and heed it.
prohibition is unjust; and morally
wrong in its application: For the
bare majority Of men to vote a thing
criminal that is not criminal, and
then treat the other half OF society
as criminal, can only beget contempt
for laws thus enacted: It is a tyranny
worse than the tyranny of ancient
kings. It drives many men under the
sting: Of injustice and wrong to be-
come lawbreakrs from principl. l.
=. No Right to Discriminate.
Society has no. right to take the
nine men who drink their beer as tenn
+ perately as their neighbors drink
their coffee and brand them as Grim
1nals, because the tenth man is intern
perate in his drinking. And there 'ie
just as much justice IN branding every
man who eats because one-half Of
mankind are Incorporate in their eat
ing. .
society has no right to treat the
occupations and property Of consid-
cradle class Of men as a football, to
! be kicked here and there by the whims
OF public opinion! In many city
where the license and no license
FORCES are closely matched q man pur-
sues one year in peace the occupation
and use Of his property and his trade
and the next year must lose both, OF
pursue them as an outlaw: Any mar
who believes that principle in the enc
must prevail can not but know tina,
every prohibition wave will have 1t,
receding tide, and will leave behind
chaotic. wreck Of moral distinctions
and the weakened respect for Law
for the justice and temperance O.
majorities.
I'VE must get over the fanatica
bigotry which lies in the assumptio,
that the minority, or the people of tn,
opposite party, have no rights that tn,
majority are bound to respect. w
must get over the experience tina
leads us to stop our ears to the ples
Of any man who sees differently from
ourselves, on the assumption that h,
is wholly wicked in the motive ant
his practice. 49, b., '=..,". E.