Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-12-27

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load up to the approach to the jackson
street bridge. He stumbled and fell
often Finally there was q dude Of q
fellow who Came along and told the
! driver how to turn the horses head
this way and that way and then he
| could pull the load. But then came
along two colored men, and one Of
them said, Here, Nose, get hold OF
the Wheel They grabbed the wheel
and the poor horse then was able to
draw the load up the bridge. Don't
be the dude to give orders, but the
man who puts his shoulder to the
wheel in this fight"
! mo earnest, honest or intelligent
man can deny that the saloons and
drunkenness are the curses of this life
and those who love their country most,
| the men most desirious for its best in
terests and welfare, they are among
those who most oppose this infamous
business that damns our land. Judges.
statesmen, lawyers, business men and
the most respectable of all classes in
all communities all agree that it Is
the most terrible blight and curse,
and unless it is stopped it will sap the
vitality of our nation.
"ThisSis land of everything that IS
good; this is land Of happy homes.
of beneficial influences, and Of liberty
and Of martyrs in the home and on tho
battlefelds. This is the land Of Wash
ington, who was frst in peace and first
in war, first in the hearts Of his coun-
trymen; the land of Thomas Jefferson,
the author of the declaration of indie
pendence; Benjamin Franklin, the
visest of our political forefathers, Al
exander Hamilton, our financial high
priest. The land of Commodore Perry,
who said, we have met the enemy and
they are ours
Growth Of Crime.
"And yet we are degenerating and
becoming the most drunken and cruel
and most murderous of any nation on
God Almighty's dirt. We lead the world
in crime Is it any wonder, when we
are damned and cursed by such An
institution as the saloon that has fast
ened upon us that we cannot ask a
respectable man to champion AMI
nurse it? wish l could unlock the
door gentlemen, that conceals the Sc
crets of this damnable charnel house,
but am here to- tell you. sir. that God
never gave any man imagination pow
erful, nor lips nor tongue eloquent
enough to picture it's damnable wreck
age and its ruin
Bring before us all the good that
any saloon has ever done. What MAJ,
has it ever made happier? What
home has it ever made happier? What
girl has 1t ever made happier? What
father has it ever helped in any way
to make his family happier and COM
Portable? It is the most damnable
thing that has fastened itself upon the
people The school house is the best
thing ever built. 1t keeps your boy
from becoming an empty-headed stu
pid The saloons are built to keep your
boy from becoming man. from being
decent and to keep him from mounting
to the heights of success and prosper
ity. Nothing in my Judgment equals it.
Reiterates His EnmIty
II am a sworn enemy to everything
that is an enemy of my country. If u
foreign enemy should attack my coun-
try would become bullet meat say
our enemy is not foreign enemy, but
grog shop Look at the miserable.
blighting, damnable business. Go into
your gin shops, gentlemen. and see the
men lined up in front of the counter.
Look at the pale. pallid.faced, eyes
large and sunken deeply in their sock
cts, with fingers like the claws of an
unclean bird. He will quaff his glass
of grog and look as though he has
crept out of his grave and went to Il
booze joint to get glass of beer and
forgot to pull the coffin lid over him.
See another with water.seared eyes.
decrepit, and his large, swollen lips.
staggering in his idiocy and drunken
ness. He is man or would be a man
IL it wasn't for that damnable bust
ness.
Worse Than Brutes.
Nov God has given power and do
minion. Man is natures king, and yet
what has broken his sceptre and torn
the crown from his brow? The saloon.
God has given man reason, boys;
he set before us high destiny. What
has dethroned reason and made brutes
Of men? The saloon. An intelligent
man, drunkard said, If a glass Of
grog were set before him and they told
him If he drank the grog he would have
to slip into hell, he said he would
have to drink it and slip into hell. Oh,
what brutes it makes Of men and what
will not men do to satisfy this desire.
A poor fellow in drunken debauch, got
into quarrel and got his throat cut.
and after his wound was sewed up by
the doctor, he mumbled and the doctor
thought he wanted something and he
asked the man if he wanted a minister
and he shook his head and tightly
clutched at his throat and squeezed It
until the blood stood between the
sewed wound, and he said, doctor, for
Gods sake get me glass of whisky
It is a great thing to save drunken
man. 1t is worth a life Of sacrifice and
labor to save man from drunkenness
but it is ten thousand times better tC
save him from becoming drunkard
and from falling, than to help him
after he Is fallen. Now I tell you, you
can reform man after he is gone
down and become drunkard, but he
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