The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-11-12
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.


dog in the same cage to-
gether. The dog was bully
ing the baby lion most thor
oughIy. It knocked the little beast
over, and snapped it on various parts
Of the body, and in general played the
part of a bully to perfection. A little
boy was greatly moved by the ill-treat-
ment of the young king of beasts"
Never mind" said his father; this
will not be for long. Some day the cub
will awake to the knowledge that 1t is
q Hon and that its tormentor is only
dog. and that will be the end OF Mi.
Dog"
The incident illustrated perfectly the
temperance situation in North Amer
lea. The General Public is a lion.
albeit young and unconscious of It's
strength. Yet it has suffered 1ncon-
scionable imposition and bulldozing
and terrorizing from the saloon power,
which, after all, is only an ill-bred dog.
The latter has played master in poll
tics, industrialism and society. There
are now many signs that the lion is
awakening, and that the indignitieS 1t
has too long endured are coming to an
end. The widespread assertion of pop
IIlar rights is having an immediate eff
feet IN the direction of the suppression
of the baneful power of the saloon.
The people have taken hold of the
political and social and economic end
OF the liquor question with rigor.
A vast Educational Machine.
AS this is Worlds Temperance Sun
day It may be pointed out that an in
Kluential agency in the pr sent state of
general opinion upon temperance has
been this widespread organization, with
more than twenty-five million mem
bers, which has at least four times a
year drilled into the plastic minds Of
Its younger pupils the evils of intern
perance. This has been an educational
propaganda of inmeasurable value.
One might almost venture to say that
any true cause which is systematically
championed in the Sunday schools of
o the world is certain to win its way
within two generations.
There are many ways Of shaping
public opinion nowadays; neverthe-
less, the less conspicuous are the most
potent. The newspaper does not WELD
anything like the power OF the teacher.
When that teacher is laboring earn
estly to impart a strong moral i'm
pulse, as well as a body of knowledge
to youth at the most receptive period,
he holds the future in his grasp. That
IS why various good causes try to as
siduously to get themselves included
In the curriculum of the public schools
and of the Sunday school The tenn
perance cause is in both: and the case
of liquor has few. if any. champions in
these most influential quarters. The
issue is obvious.
A Far-F1ung Battle Line.
The reaches of moral teachings of
the most advanced and active Chris
tians upon practical questions are
wider than most persons consider. In
Turkey, where smoking is general
among men, women and children, the
Christian missionaries are generally a
non-smoking, as well as a non-drink-
ing body In consequence, the Prot
estant Christians even without admo-
milton from their leaders. abstain from
the use of tobacco as well as liquor.
The advanced ideas of North America
are projected into peoples who are far
behind in most respects that go to
make I'D modern civilization.
There are various consequences of
this. One is that a self-reliant and
manifest refinement often results. A
young college man lately travelling in
Asia Minor was so Disguised with
many of the native ways that he fell
quite into the habit of saying with
American hyperboIe, "the brutes.' -
when he met an American Protestant
pastor he commented upon the differ
ence in the mans very features. There
was written refinement. unselfish, spir-
atuality. He was Giving epistle," in
telIigible even to an alien visitor.
In this connection it is but fair to
cay that the missionary influence
abroad has been a wholesome cor
receive Of the effect of many other
white men who are addicted to over
Indulgence in intoxicants. I recently
clipped a news paragraph from the
London Daily Mail which lies before
me as 1 write, and it is aptly headed.
''Bane and Antidote." It tells Of the
departure from Boston of a band of
missionaries for the west coast of At
RIGA in the same ship that carried 20,-
600 gallons Of New England rum. II
IL were not for the missionaries it would
be a sorry impression altogether that
civilization would make upon the back
ward races.
High Motives for Ordinary Life.
The fact is undeniable that Chris
Gianity brings to bear upon the race
new impulses and erects within the
spirits of mankind, new ideals. There
Temperance Sunday" for the church
and Sunday school In this they are
strictly attending to their own bust
ness. For the gospel has to do with
the ordinary relationships Of human
beings. 1t is in the business of Great
ing new men and women. ,Cleanness
sobriety, chastity, self denial, have been
cardinal to its teachings. AS the let
ters Of Paul make clear, Christianity
stands for type of character in con-
trast with that of the old, dissolute
Iations.
This is wildly brought home to the
notice Of a traveller in Bible lands.
am writing this article in Iconium, the
city where Paul was once mobbed.
have visited five Of the seven churches
of Asia, to which admonitions are adj
dressed in the Revelation. Why is il
that these once lourishing cities-proud
Ephesus where Diana was splendidly
wersnipped; Sardis, where CroesuS
reigned; Inconium, which boasted OF
being the first spot to emerge after the
deluge-are now of interest chiefly fol
their ruins?
What laid low the power Of this
proud Rome, I asked myself as my
horse. logged down the echoing marble
Highway, Uttered with broken columns
at Ephesus, while the only habitatior
in sight was a shepherds hut? 1t wa:
self Indulgence. Rome did as it pleas
ed''-and Is now but memory. Chris.
taanity taught purity. self-denial. love
and 10, it reigns in increasing power