The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-27
BY WIHIAM EIL1S.

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS
Persons who like to iterate the OBJ
vious will stick to the text of this IA
miliar lesson. 1t is perfectly true
perfectly manifest, and perfectly in
disputable. The most captious critic
in a Sunday-schooI class cannot an
tagonize this summary of the observa-
ton. and possibly of the experience OF
the Wise Man:
.Who hath woe?
Who hath contentious?
Who hath complaining?
Who hath wounds without causes?
Who hath redness of eyes?
They that tarry long at wine;
They that go to seek the mixed wine.
Look not thou upon the wine
When it is red,
When 1t sparkleth in the cup,
When IT goeth down smoothly;
At the last it biteth like a serpent,
And stingeth like an adder.
Thine eyes shall behold strange things,
And thine heart shall utter perverse
things.
down in the midst of the sea.
Or as he that lieth upon the top of a
mast
They have stricken me,
And was not hurt;
They hsxa beaten me;
And felt it not;
When shall I awake?
I win seek it yet again"
-
phasis upon SoIomon's incontFoveFti-
BILE testimony as to the evils of strong
drink is to quote preSent-day instances
70 the same effect. These may be
or from personal observation. In
truth, however, society has advanced
so far with respect to the use of in
toxfcants that there is no dispute up
on the point that drunkenness is an
evil and to be Stunned. The place
and power of the horrible example
has been overestimated- by temperance
propagandists. The men who see most
of the evil effects of strong drink are
the men who are least moved thereby
the drunkardS themselves and the
sa.oon-keepers.
Some Rainbows.
A broader and more modern con-
cepfion of the theme deals with the
present status of the temperance pro-
gress. A bow of promise spans the
whole horizon. Temperance victories
are ever recurring and the foremost
political news of the day. Whichever
way one turns within the sphere of
legislation, he finds the temperance is
sue the engrossing subject before law
makers. 1t is good to realize, after
al the years of seemingly hopeless
campaigning, that today the issue is
squarely Joined between temperance
is literally fighting for its life.
The modern Christian man is now
getting into his head the notion that
temperance is not alone something to
a tangible political result for which
he may get cut and work. These mod
ern local option crusades, and the
other forms of anti-saloon legislation,
lave been the means of enlisting a
whole army of good citizens in practi-
caI POLITICAL work. This debt society
owes to the temperance cause: it has
introduced a great company of the
CT practical politics, As never before,
men are learning how to bring into
effect their ideals of good government.
The Twentieth Century Man.
This is the day of the apotheosis Of
manhood. All considerations stand
aside for the coming man. 1t Is in
order that the man may emerge that
innumerable reforms are being press |
ed to victory. This new conception of
the worth and place of manhood is
the real secret of many of the reform
laws that have lately gone on to the
statute books of governments. Such
epochal events as the International
congress upon the opium question,
which is now sitting in Shanghai, may
be traced directly to the new appre-
hension of the worth of the character
of men in every part of the earth.
1t has become the settled conviction
of the worlds leaders that strong
drink is one of the greatest obstacles
OF the progress of manhood. The So
cial efficiency. industrial efficiency,
and political efficiency of the man is
hindered by the unreStrained use of
and traffic in strong drink. DR.. Sam
uel G. Smith, in his book, 1.-The Indus
trial Conflict" points out that during
the seventies Gin England in three
years of plenty wages were increased
annually two hundred million dollars
That made six hundred million dollars
for three years. Did the workingmen,
by common impulse, fired by great
ambition, save these two hundred mil
lions a year? Did they change the
the banks and dictate terms to finan-
ciers2 For six hundred millions was
just the amount of gold in circulation
in Great Britain at that time.
IF these things had been done the
past thirty years would have seen q
new England, and the whole world
would have been filled with the sense
of the great achievements that had
classes. They would have superan-
nuated the aristocracy; they would
have swept out age-worn superstitions,
they would have come into their own
empire. The working people of Eng
land earned two hundred million dol
lars extra per annum, and the sad
companion fact is that the drink bill
of England, too, during each of those
three years, increased just two hun
dred million dollars"
Had there been a tangible monster
in the form of a physical dragon that
had thus devoured the increase of
mems substance and prevented their
progress and growth, how quickly
would all the knightliness of the age
have rallied to its extinction: Our
imaginafionS are growing keener
nowadays, and we are learning that
strong drink is no less dangerous and
worthy of extinction because it is a
widely distributed evil rather than a
personified monster.
Brains and Rum.
Not vtciouness. but thoughtlessness|
and uncontrolled self-indulgence are