Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1912-11-06
CHRISTIAN ENDEAyOR
Prayer Meeting Topic For the Week
Beginning Nov. 10, 1912.

Topic.-Temperance progress over the
world,-Mal ill., ISIS; iv. Ii. (world's
temperance SundayD Edited by Rev.
Sherman H. Doyle. d. D.
The temperance cause should enlist
and Is enlisting the interest Of nearly
every nation in the world There Is
probably no nation in the worlds his
tory that has not been cursed by some
form Of intoxication, Every nation
has it's national beverage. the excessive
use of which causes drunkenness. with
all its accompanying miseries and hor-
rors. Canon Farrar long since de
nounced intemperance as the national
sin of England" 1t has been asserted
that 1.-THE drink traffic is the national
peril of France Opium is the great
est curse of China, and the terrible eff
fects of strong drink and of drugs In
the United States are absolutely appall-
ing. 1t is little wonder. therefore. that
stroying such evils and that there
should be movements in almost every
land to curb intemperance and to ad-
vance the cause of sobriety.
The religious world is making tenn
perance progress. Christianity has al
ways opposed the curse of strong drink.
and the great historic movements
against intemperance have had their
inspiration in religion. Every Christian
church throughout the world is essen
tally a temperance organization in that
1t opposes intemperance and advocates
sobriety. and through its efforts thou
sands and thousands have been saved
from forming the drink habit, and thou
sands of others who have formed the
habit have been reclaimed The tenn
perance work Of the church is more
successful today than ever before. Its
efforts have enlisted the support OF
other powerful agencies. The great
Christian denominations have their or
ganized temperance work. and Chris
tan people by their money and infu-
ence are doing much to advance the
temperance cause.
In the political world temperance
progress is being made. In spite of
the evil effects of intemperance poiit-
ical action until recently, SO far as
this gigantic curse was concerned,
amounted to practically nothing. But
the reverse is true today. The state
has at last been aroused to its duties.
Rulers of kingdoms are denouncing
drunkenness and urging temperance.
Emperor William has denounced beer
drinking in Germany. The king OF
Denmark favors national prohibition.
China is calling upon England to stop
the importation of opium from India.
The government of Italy is investigat-
ing the liquor traffic and its results In
that country. Sweden has voted for
prohibition. Influential nations In con-
federation must soon stop the impor-
tation of rum into parts of Africa.
The greatest progress from political
standpoint is being made in the Unit
ed States. Over one-half the geograph-
zeal territory of the United States Is
now under prohibition through state
wide laws or local option Nine states
in the Union have state wide prohibit
ton laws, and the number viii speedi-
ly be increased. The teaching in the
public schools of the physical effects
of intemperance is a powerful infiu-
ence for good upon the rising genera
tons. The saloon influence In politics
is declining. and when the saloon goes.
as it must, the cause of temperance
In our land VIII have won its greatest
victory, and the dawning Of bright
day will be assured
In the industrial world temperance
progress is being made. The great In
dustries Of our land. especially the
railroads. are demanding that their
employees be not addicted to the use
of alcoholic drink disastrous
wreck last summer. supposed to be
caused by the drunkennenss Of a rail-
road engineer. has caused some rail-
road lines, notably the Pennsylvania.
to take a most advanced step upon
this subject Hitherto employees were
prohibited from drinking while on
duty. The rule now is that they must
not indulge In strong drink either on
duty or of duty-in short, that they
must be total abstainers. The Pull
man company has recently decided
not to serve liquors on its cars east
of Pittsburgh. Progress is certainly
being made. and. while the struggle
may yet be long. final victory Is as