Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-11-06
BY William T. Ellis

Back of the armed conflict that is
writing these present days in letters
of red on history's calendar. lies an
older, vaster struggle, of which, it
may be. the present strife is but a
phase. l mean the world war on
behalf of idealism and the better
ment of men. This struggle is al
most as old as the human race, and
it has steadily grown more acute,
until now in our own time it has
come to something approximating
crisis.
The effort to lift the human race
up to its highest possibilities is, in
its essence, what the Apostle Paul
called contest between the flesh and
the spirit. 1t is material values set in
array over against moral values. In
other phrasing, 1t may be called force
versus truth. More important than
any questions involved in the battles
raging in Europe is the victory in this
supreme struggle.
Unquestionably, there is rapidly de-
Neloping a common world mind, which
bearing witness everywhere for the
things of idealism. Civilization to-day
connotes human values. Man-worth
is seen to be real worth. Our songs
and slogans are all of that better day
of human brotherhood and justice.
one can scarcely pick up a current
publication, whether it be a daily
newspaper with its report of a COM
mercial convention, or a magazine
with an elaborate racial treatise,
which does not accept as binding this
new world mind concerning mans well
fare Politics and religion are both
attuned to the note of social service.
Picking Out the Big Foe
There is something David-like and
heroic in the way in which modern
society is seeking out the most for
midable foes. Throughout civiliza-
B ton and common agreement is that
; humanity has no worse enemy than
Intoxicating liquor. Humanitarians,
I sociologists, scientists, business eff
cheney experts, reformers, and church
men are all agreed upon this. Each
! points finger of accusation at John
Barleycorn.
Almost amazing is the prevalent
conviction that the abolition of the
liquor traffic is approaching. Drink
ers and saloon-keepers freely sub
stantiate 1t. Some talk of this tenn
perance era as If it were a definite
and concrete something, a sort of
bogie-man lurking just around the
corner. Certainly the sentiment, es-
pecially as registered at the ballot box
is making steady progress the land
over.
After all, when stripped of it's ac-
cessorles and phraseology, what is it
that men are asked to give up, by
the abolition of the use of strong
drink? They sacrifice no high moral
principle, no precious heritage of truth
or power or manhood: merely a minor
personal indulgence is at stake, of
which the best that can be said is
that it is pleasant to the taste, and
temporarily cheering to the spirit.
over against this habit. which no
reasonable person claims to be neces-
sary to health or happiness, is rang
ed the vast sum of human welfare
which has been adversely affected by
the use of intoXicants. Long ere the
present time, the use of liquors would
have disappeared were it not for the
business interests involved. 1t is not
the appetite of the drinker so much
as the aVarice of the seller that stands
in the way of a land free from the
curse of intoXicants.
Twentieth Century knights Errant
Despite the war in Europe. the days
heroes are not military. Our latest
songs and pictures and poems are not
in glorification of war. No heroes are
emerging from the battlefield to arouse
Worldwide enthusiasm.
Quite the contrary. The settled con-
F1ctlon OF civilization is that the heroes
of the twentieth century are construc-
tive servants of their fellow men, The
doctor risking his life to discover dis
ease germs, and the reformer Drawing
the depraVed legions of evil. and the
nurse caring for the suffering-these
fill our modern conception of what is
greatness.
Building From the Bottom Up
Rail as we may at Temperance
fanatics" and cry Impractical" at
them until we are hoarse, we can
not escape the truth that they have
shown victorious strategy in lay
ing siege to the minds of youth This
lesson is the Sunday schools recog-
milton of worlds temperance Sunday
1t is OF piece with the four temper
ance lessons a year, which, taught to
more than a score of million youth
impress upon them in their plastic
state of mind the tremendous import
ance of abstinence from strong drink
More than that, this Sunday school
temperance propaganda associates
temperance with religion, linking it
up with the deepest impulses and in
habltitions of character; for the Sun
day school teaches temperance on the
basis of the Bible.
Anybody who attempts to divorce
the history of the progress of the
temperance reform from the Sunday
schools effectiveness therein, would
be voted an ignoramus. The Sunday
school has put moral propulsion be-
hind Temperance. 1t has promoted
an acute intelligence and a strong con-
Viction upon the subject. The average
boy and girl to-day can give reasons
for his or her hostility to strong
drink.
This means nothing less than the