Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-14
DANGER
Was seen BY
LINCOLN
An Authentic Statement of the
Great Emaheipator's Strong
Temperance Attitude

misstated and maligned by those who
have tried TO make him out IS good
fellow" according to documentary evi
dence lately coming to tight.
In recent issue of The Searcalight
the official organ of the Anti-Saloon
League of Southern California, Major
j. b. Marwfn writes in part as fox
lows on Mr. Lincoln's.attitude:
In Gods good providence. came to
know him Gineeln) here in his hum.
Bile home in Springfield. in 1854, and
before he had come to he the hero
beloved, glorified. known and loved
by all who love liberty. 1t was in the
autumn of 1854. l was a young man
full of all the enthusiasm of those
first Neal Dow triumphs in New Eng.
land Accepting the invitation OF
friends, / came to Illinois. where the
campaign for state prohibition was
getting under way. l reached Spring
field, and one night had the privilege
Of speaking in the old State House,
where, with legislators and towns
people, | found an apreoiative audi
ence. ~ ~
(
of Lincoln! Lincoln! Lincolai" and
in one minute, after the first accents
of tie pathetic voice ware heard, the
crowd hushed to q stiffness as pro-
found as if Lincoln were the only
person present and then this simpls
man gave to the pushed crowd such
a definition of law, its DESIGN and mis-
sion. its object and Sower. as few
present had ever known or dreamed.
Among the points he made were the
following:
Mr.. Lincoln asked, rs not the law
of self-Drotection the first law of nsa-
ture; thu first primary law of civil
lied society? 'Law,' he declared, lis
for the protection. conservation and
extension of right things. Of right con-
duct; not for the protection Of evil
and ng-doing.
The state must. in itc legislative
actior. recognize in the law enacted
this rrinciDle-it must make sure and
secure these endeavors to establish.
protect. and extend right conditions
and right conduct. These conditions
will be secured and preserved, not bv
Z -sEN
evils. not by attempting to throw
around any evil the shield Of law;
never by any attamRt TO license the
evil.
This sentiment Of right conduct
for the protection of home, of state.
of church, of individuals must be
taken I'D and embodied in legislation,
and thus become a nositiye factor.
active in the state. This is the first
and most importantI function in the
legislation of the modern state.
aThis saves the whole. and not a
mart only, with a high, neFconserva-
tism through the united action OF all,
by all, for all. The prohibition of the
liquor traffic. except for medical and
mechanical purposes, thus becomes
the new evangel for the safety and
redemption of the people from the
social, political and moral curse of the
salon, and its inevitable evil conse-
quences of drunkenness.
Tn that memorable canvass, Mr..
Lincoln and myself spoke in Jackson
vile. in Bloomington. in Decatur, in
Danville, in Carlinville, In Peoria, and
at many other points,
The gist of Mr. Bincoln's argument
was contained in this fearless decla-
ration:
"This Iega1ized liquor traffic. as car
ried ON in the saloons and grogshops,
is the tragedy of civilization. Good
citizenship demands and Requires that
what is right should net only he made
known. but be made prevalent: that
what is evil should not only be, de-
tected and defeated, but destroyed.
The saloon has prove it:elf &c be the
greatest foe, the most blighting curse
of our modern civilization. and this is
whv I am a practical prohibitfopist.
1--WE must not be satisfied until the
public sentiment OF this state. and
the individual conscience shall be in
structed to hook upon the saloonkeep-
or and the lia1or-seIfer. with all the
license each can give him. as simply
and only a privileged malefactor-a
criminal" -. 49, -. ~.
Mr.. Lincoln used, in advocating the
entire prohibition of the liquor traf-
fic, nearly the same language, and in
man instances the same illustrations
CQdl ne uSeU later on III HIS al StuuShtH
against slavery At another place he
said: H. -
9rhe real issue in this controversy.
the one pressing upon every mind
that gives. the subject careful consid.
Grafton, is that legalizing the manu-.
facture, sale, and use of intoxicating
LIQUORS as beverage is a wrons-as
all history and every development OF
the traffic proves it to be-a moral,
social and political wrong"
1t should ba stated distinctly.
squarelx and fairly. and repeated Of
ten. that Mr. Lincoln was a practical
total abstinence man; wrote for it,
worked for it, taught It. both by gre
cept and by exampIe; and when, from
a long and varied experience, he
found that the greed and selfsbness,
of the liquor-dealers and the saloon
keepers oyerleapsd and disregarded
all barriers and every other restraint.
and taught by the lessons of expert:
ence that nothing short of the entire
prohibition of the traffic and the s9-
loon would settle the question, he be-
came an earnest, ainflinching prohibit