Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1915-03-19
A National Temperance Campaign
of Pledge-Signing Now Launched
Secretary of State Bryan the Originator of New Total
Abstinence Propaganda; Federal Council of
Churches Behind 1t
(By The Religious RambIer.)

, from those other temperance schemes
is that the commission puts behind
1t squarely the allied churches of the
country. The commission represents
practically all the Protestant denomi-
nations. and claims a constituency of
more than thirty million persons. Now,
says DIR. Miller, it is seeking the active
cooperation of the Roman Catholic
temperance organization, and of the
jewish leaders; for the temperance
union aims to be comprehensively ma
tional
'. The Water Wagon a Band Wagon
An observer of political life smiles a
DIT cynically as he notes Dr. Miller :
statements that an advisory committee
OF two hundred representative national
leaders is being formed for the Tenn
perance Unions, to comprise COVER
nors, cabinet officers. senators, con-
gressmen, labor leaders, university
presidents. etc, The temperance folk
are frankly taking advantage of the
desire of all kinds of publicists to he
in line with latest popular sentiment,
and clearly the water wagon is to be
band wagon, with the most uneN-
pected persons scrambling aboard.
Even political parties are declaring for
local option and national prohibition.
Not all who appear in the public
prints as favoTing temperance legisla-
ton are themselves signers of total
abstinence pledges, but these are the
men that DR.. Miller expects to get.
The headquarters of the Federal
Council Commission are att present in
Pittsburgh, where the secretary, the
Rev. Charles Scanlon, has his office
But they will be moved shortly to Phil
adelphia, and systematic propaganda
conducted from the home of the Lib
erty Bell.
Hitching Up to the Fourth of July
While some of the many existing
temperance organizations which have
long been in the field, may not wei.
come new organization that will
comprehend them all, yet the fact re-
mains that the new Abstainers' Union,
with the Federal Councils Temperance
Commission behind it, is in a peculiar
~ advantageous position TOR exercising
very large influence. Its power of
propaganda is really unrivalled; for
the elaborate and far-reaching ma
chinery of the churches, the Sunday
schools, the young peoples societies,
the brotherhoods and the Bible class
es lies ready to this end. Moreover,
by stressing the religious character of
the movement, it makes a more gen.
eral appeal, and thus enlists the deep
er purposes of the religious press, and
also of public school teachers who are
Tor the most Part, church members
One of the audacious plans already
announced for the AbStainers' Union
is the linking up of the celebration OF
the Fourth OF July with the temper
ance propaganda by making this
patriotic, peace and temperance day
DR.. Miller says that there are plans
afoot which give promise of q nation
OlSoFNaTna IndnnnnAnnHa
with a temperance flavor to all the
proceedings. In addition the worlds
temperance Sunday will be utilized by
the organization for purposes of pro-
pa aganda.
From the WorIingman's Viewpoint
Two other personalities, potent in
modern religious and social services
activities, have taken up the temper
ance cause from a new angle. These
are the Rev. Charles Stelzle, of New
York. the church and labor leader,
who has done more to put social SER
vice into the church program than any
other living man; and William F
Cochran, the wealthy young Episcopal
layman of Baltimore, who has finanC-
ed the notable Christian publicity cam
paign in the Baltimore newspapers.
These two men are uniting their forces
to combat the proposition that the
abolition of the saloon will create a
labor panic They admit that serious
economic readjustments will be nee
essary, and they are undertaking by a
new movement which they expect to
make nation wide. to provide jobs for
all men who are thrown out of work
by temperance legislation. They also
have undertaken an exhaustive inves-
tigation of the liquor problem from
an economic viewpoint.
AS a result of facts already collat-
ed. Mr.. Stelzle says it is proved that
the workingmen who work the longest
hours spend more time in the saloon
than those who work short hours
An effort will be made to duplicate
in this country the powerful British
organization known as The Labor Of
hcials Temperance Fellowship" COM
posed exclusively of labor leaders:
twenty of whose presidents are
of parliament. Mr.. Stelz!e
says that he has the names of more
than one hundred labor leaders of ma
tional reputation who favor similar
movement in this country. The Stel-
program, like that which
Mr.. Bryan fathers. aims to put tenn
perance on a constructive basis.
With church and labor both hitting
him hard blows, it is scarcely any Won
der that in these days John Barley
corn should seem a bit groggy.