The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-07-12
Number IL

ereign' : invitation 70 the citizen, ID
buy and to drink. 70 many it is worse
than that. Il j. d poisoned sacrament.
N which the legislature. the lord and
prophet II the State, offers the cup Of
mochery and lies ana says, DO this IN
remembrance Of me =
It 5 quite true. that the solicitation
IF the saloon IS not compulsory. Butt
that fact gives no color Of virtue TO
the license. There are many. who will
not decline it. There are many that do
not know enough to decline it.
There are some, God pity them,
who can not decline it. There
are millions Of parents. wives and chill
dren Of its patrons and its victims who
are denied any volition IN the prem
Uses. And the man that buys there
loses his money, his family 3 money, his
employer 5 money, his creditor 5 money.
And the man that drinks there puts
body. mind, family, country, employer,
property, prospects, posterity, in jeop-
ardy
But does he- Does the man that
buys alcoholic drinks lose his money?
Does the man that drinks alcoholic
liquor take on sure peril with bis drama
lie certainly does. The fact is 50 ola
il is tiresome. 1t is 50 scientific it is
Joke. 1t is So obvious. that to assert it
earnestly provokes a smile
But surely, it has not been proved
that necessarily. it Injuries a man to
take glass Of beer, No, certainly
not, Il depends Oh the man It has not
been proved that necessarily it injuries
boy to win ten dollars on horse-race:
it depends on the boy But the broad
rule in human experience and observa-
ton varies as little as the magnetic
needle, that it is demoralizing to play
the races, that it is injurious to drink
beer
call no expert witnesses TO verify
the statement. 1t is the commonest Of
common knowledge. Habit i as in
herent in alcoholic drink, as gravita-
ton is, IN matter. And as applied to
the liquor habit. temperance is the
idiot of abstract nouns.
This fact stands out plain as a pike
staff, in the midst Of the whole prob
lem Of human felicity and efficiency
that any alcoholic drink habit in
healthy body, lines up on the wrong
side of every vital proposition.
| sat, through long voyage, at the
captain 5 table, on a Pacific liner.
Other passengers at the same table,
from time to time extended to the cap
tain the hospitality of their private
bottles Of wine and spirits. which he
quickly and invariably declined. One
day after we had got wen acquainted,
one Of the men rallied him about his
rigid abstinence, and said: '.Do you
think it would hurt YOU to have wills
key and soda a. He answered. "No,
not at ALL Then another said, care
Eou afraid Of the stump And / could
see the broad shoulders Of the grizzIed
viking bulk themselves back a little,
as he replied deliberately: "No, |
don t know as it would do me any
harm, and / am certainly not afraid
Of it. But there is a lot more to it;
don t you know, / am the master Of
this ship. My standing in my profess
sion and my livelihood as a man depend
ON the confidence Of her owners and
the board OF admiralty. | have worked
hard for many years, have been careful,
and have had good luck. But the best
of shippers may run his ship upon the
rocks, without any fault whatever of.
his own. ii | were to do that to mine
today; aye, and 60 down with her,
after getting the passengers off. in the
boats, | should rather not have the
newspapers report, that | had been
seen drinking with you. Or ii | were
to get back to port, with the rest, and
with only a crippled vessel to account
for before the inevitable court of in
quiry, my explanation Of my behavior
in the premises would carry more
weight III my favor, it | could back it
with the record of a total abstainer
| This would be true even in the minds
Of men accustomed to drink liquors
freely and frequently. One drink, and
! that perfectly harmless III itself, would
with absolute certainty, put me-dead
| or aIiVe-more or less. at q disadyan-
| tage with the court and the public; for
| III the investigation Of calamity or
| a tragedy, everybody is predisposed to
| think that the ship master who some
| times takes drink, sometimes takes
many drinks and the safety line
| through the shoals Of How many
no navigator chart has ever located -
The liquor traffic increases the peril
| OF the sea.
went forward, with others, to con
graduate the engineer who had drawn
our special train, III a glorious burst Of
| speed, between two stations where the
track was straight and firm One
| joyiaI passenger, filed with enthusiasm
and other stimulants, passed up into
the cab a pretty flask, covered with
silver oPen-Work and partly emptied
saying: Keep the bottle, old man, as
a souvenir " Tie gift was laughingly
but emphatically declined, aud the
| giyer, as good naturally, asked why
The engineer said refectiveIy, without
the faintest odor Of preaching: "Wel
there are four reasons, and maybe
more. In the first place, the company
might fire me. This company, and
every great railroad company in Amer.
lea, considers that no man is fit to
hold the throttle Of an engine, if he
takes alcoholic drinks in any quantity