The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-08
A GREAT REFORMS ONMARCH.
Terse Comments for April Painting
the States White" Ps. 14:1-7.
BY WHLIAM r. ELLIs.


Society in America has So far adj
Vanced that in most places the liquor
dealer is disreputable. Self-respecting
people keep him from their midst. The
time is not far distant too, when the
drinker of intOxicants will be as thor
| oughly ostracised as the rum-seller.
May Christian Endeavor speed that
dayl
To refuse to help to save a drunk
ard is the next worse thing to MAX
ing a drunkard.
There are millions of people in
America who believe in temperance
and possibly endorse it. But there are
only a few. thousand who will strik e
blows for it.
1t is the social instinct that draws
most men to the saloon. Certainly,
therefore, it is the duty of Christians
to supply this need by genuine fellow
ship, winsome churches and happy
homes. The young man who is well
come in right company does not often
wander astray.
The saloon is so closely interviewer
with all the other evils of the day
that in banishing it we shall go far
toward Kidding the worl6 of them
also.
You will do nothing for the temper
ance reform or any other noble cause
if you fear what they say" Better
be crank in the eyes of men than a
Every mouth closed against strong
drink helps close the saloon. Personal
abstinence is the first step toward a
solution of the liquor problem.
If every Christian community kept
its own neighborhood free from the
saloon the business would be dimin-
iShed to inconSiderable proportions.
Patriotism, as well as religion,
should impel us to oppose the saloon,
for it is the great debaucher of poll
tics and legislation. Next to corporate
greed and akin to it, the saloon is
probably the greatest existing menace
to our national welfare. AS we love
the purity of our nation, and as we
cherish it's sacred ideals, we should
contend against this power which
threatens them.
The sorrow of broken-hearted moth
ers over sons slain in soul by the sa-
loon should incite the Christian chiv-
airy of the land to knightly war
against this modern monster.
The trend of the saloon is wholly
bad. The general effect upon the COM
munity is evil. 1t contributes moth
ing to the public welfare. It's most fire.
quent patrons cause the most general
anxiety. Nobody is enriched by it. ex-
cept the liquor dealer while thousands
are pauperized. The neighborhood
that harbors a saloon is thereby poorer
in health, purse, morals and the sense
VI DTO'nernOOQ. EVERY LalTmlnCeO
student of the situation will concede
that the saloon is not a friend but an
enemy to mankind.
When we put down the saloon we
lift up the race.
There is no other evil that does not
walk hand in hand with strong drink.
Our national self-respect is one price
| paid for our national il. Lemperance.
We cannot face without blush the
havoc our liquor exports have wrought
among uncivilized peoples, or the
drunkenness that exists in our own
midst, or the baneful power of the
LIQUOR interests in our political life.
The power that the saloon has in
politics is known to every one who has
actively participated in elections. The
! saloon is as bipartisan as it is I'M
| prtncipled; it is quite willing to make
use of any party. Whichever one is
in, it is never out
Many of the ills that affect the ma
ton are only minor members of the
household of strong drink. When he
is driven from our borders, they will
depart in his train.
The selfshness of individuals is the
strength of the saloon.