The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1910-02-04

Rev George Laughton Presents III,
Views on American Homes
and Home. Iifo."

Il
| Home-Life." The topic was temper
| ance, and the speaker presented o
strong argument IN favor of the 10
| cal option movement which is in
| progress in this county. He spoke
as follows:
During the next few weeks Shia-
wassee county will be the scene of
campaign that bids fair to be the
most vigorous, the most intense, and
the most crucial that the present
| electorate has ever witnessed. 1t Is
| the campaign against the licensed
saloon. For the past month l have
| been giving a series of sermons on
American Home-Life. 1t was quite
natural, indeed inevitable, apart
from, the conflict on which we have
entered, that this phase of the sub
| iect should be presented to my audi
ence. | should have dealt with 1t
had there been no election. And
this for the reason that the greatest
enemy to the home-life of this and
every other country is the licensed
saloon. Chief Justice Coleridge Of
England once said: 4 can keep no
terms with a vice that fills our jails,
DESTROYS the comfort Of homes and
the peace Of families, that debases
and brutalizes the people Of these
islands. But for drink We might
shut up nine out Of every ten OF our
jails.
Abraham Lincoln was one of the
worlds great statesmen. In
Fourth of July address he once said:
"Of our political revolution we are
Justly prond. 1t has given us de-
gree of political freedom far exceed
ing that of the nations of the earth.
In that revolution the world has
found a solution of that long-mooted
problem as to capability of man to
govern himself Then turning to
the temperance movement he said:
Turn now to the temperance revo-
luton. In that we find a stronger
bondage broken, a viler slavery man
united, a greater tyrant deposed.
In it there is more of want supplied,
more disease healed, more sorrow
assuaged. BY it no orphans starv-
ing no widows weepings. BY 1t none
wounded in feeling, none injured in
interest. -ven the dram-maker, the
dram-seller will have glided into
other occupations so gradually as
never to have felt the shock or
change and will stand ready to join
all others in the universal song OF
sladness.
ct is not necessary to multiply
quotations. The evils of intemper-
ance are notorious. Nobody denies
them, few minimize them. And no
sane man on the face of the earth
would defend drunkenness. 1t be-
comes my business this evening to
deal with this vice.
but first Of all they tell us that
it is vain to expect that to dismiss
the saloon will prevent drunkenness,
that you cannot legislate people in
to morality. Now ] do not accept
that proposition, but for the present
| will not dispute It. Let us take
it for granted that we cannot legis-
late people into morality. But as
Aked says we can see to it that we
do not legislate them into immorali-
ty. If we cannot make men good by
law we can by law remove the facil-
tiles for making them bad. 1t may
be true that the highest kind of vir
tue cannot be evoked by law, but
we can by law hinder men from MAX
ing money out of the lowest kinds
of vice. If we cannot by legislation
wholly prevent a man from going to
the devil, we can make it very
risky business for the man who is
helping him along. This objection
to restrictive legislation leaves out
Of account one very important fac
tor. That is the injury which the
wrong-doer inflicts upon those who
do not share his wrong doing. If it
can be shown-and no one dares
deny tiff it can be shown that the
drink traffic wastes our wealth, sui
lies our reputation, If it can be
shown that the open saloon Is the
breeding place for anarchists, thieves
and murderers, that it corrupts gov
ernments, debases politics, and pois
ons the life-blood of the state, then
the ground of prohibitory legislation
against it is laid in the basic conccp-
ton of all true government-the
protection of property, liberty and
life. And to penalize the drink traf-
llc is to discourage it.
ut is no defense to say that the
saloon is legalized, and therefore il
has right to exist The one grand
principle to which government ana
society must range is-that what is
morally wrong ought never to be
legally right, and the measure of a
good government is the measure in
which moral wrong is legally con-
denlned. And while ! am not a
prophet, nor yet the son Of a pro-
phet, l unhesitatingly affirm that the
day is not far distant which the peo-
pie of the country will regard with
horror and amazement the fact that
their ancestors legalized traffic
that brings terror after terror on