The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1913-12-18
Human Desires.

There are natural desires which serve
natural and proper ends. That OF the
sexual relation has its expression in
marriage. That of food and drink nee.
essary to sustain and nourish life has
its expression in toll, its returns and
accumuIations. The desire for procre-
alton finds its prostitution in the baw-
dy house. That of toll and its rewards
in gambling hells of high and low de-
gree.
No state licenses brothels or gaming.
All laws condemn them. No man de-
fends them, yet they have more reason
for their existence than the licensed
saloon, which breeds and supports them
for the saloon stands, in all its enormi-
ty as the open, inviting, convenient
and flagrant expression of a desire
which is not only acquired, but which
represents nothing but waste in its ac-
QUESTION.
Some men drink liquor who never
get drunk, but may get drunk. Some
men drink it who occasionally get
drunk. Others drink it who always get
drunk. Civilized society can offer no
excuse for the temptation which it sets
before humanity, for in itself and of it.
self drunkenness is sin without rea.
son, a degrading crime without rec
ompense, a promoter and a prolific
breeder OF other sins and crimes when
sap the strength and wealth of men
and nations. Abstinence is therefore
the only guarantee of safety, and the
destruction of the liquor traffic is the
only guarantee of abstinence.
Character and Drink Habit.
At one time | thought of the drink
habit in different way from now
not that / ever advocated it.; but sup
posing that the means of indulgence
would always be in reach and that Ii
quor would exist and be used in spite
of the law. / said: "The use or nom
use of liquor should be left to the in
dividual; that character in the indi-
vidual is not made by prohibition or
the withdrawal of temptation, but by
resistance to temptation.
"The commandments of God forbid
the doing of certain things, but His
creatures have the election to keep or
break these commandments
"Reward comes to those who OBJ
serve them, and punishment to those
who do not"
These statements in themselves are
all in a measure true. They were ac-
cepted, and will be by many who think
now as | thought then of the liquor
traffic; but they fall in application and
meaning to me and to all others who
have reached the conclusion that the
dearest interests of humanity require
that this traffic shall not be perpetu-
ated by the law, but that it can and
should be destroyed by the law. Then,
too, am not sure that God tempts at
all, but it is certain that man himself
creates most of his own temptations,
and the one of liquor, as it is now ex-
istant in a state of nature, but must be
regarded, as il is, the sole handiwork
of man himself, and it stands like
Satan upon proud eminence as the
most useless, the most used and abused,
the surest and most malevolent inven.
tion which man has ever yet devised
for his own destruction. Those who
expect their characters to strengthen
and expand in the proportion as they
resist temptations, will still have
enough for the exercise of all the will
power they possess, for there are others
which we can not remove by law, and
which will beset us all in our journey
through life from the cradle to the
grave.
Saloons.