The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-11-04
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
THE LIQUOR PROBLEM IN LIN
COINS DAY.

Among the men who influenced
Lincoln in his early manhood vas
DR.. John Allen, a Presbyterian, who
carried his medicine filled saddle-bags
into the church, to be ready for any
call of al emergency nature. All
others had to wait over, for the doc
tor would not attend them on Sun
day. Neither would he take a fee
from the poor. AS a practical help
to the early settlers he built a smoke
house and accepted hogs at market
prices from his debtors. Lard and
bacon were produced and forwarded
to ST. Louis and New Orleans.
Naturally the doctor was beloved for
his kindly services, but his strong
anti-slavery principles and his devo-
tion to temperance brought him into
d~isfavor with certain parties. Mr.
Henry B. Rankin, Lincoln's latest
~biographer, tells of the temperance
movement in Salem (Ill.):
lie (Dr. Allen introduced the first
public protest against the general
drink habits by promoting i'll the
community the organization of the
Washingtonian society with its pledge
of total abstinence. All other pecu-
liarities of DR.. Allen could have been
condoned by the great majority of
these early settlers more easily than
his crusade against the drink habit.
One of DR.. Aliens associates in the
temperance crusade was the Cumber-
land Presbyterian preacher, John
Berry.
1t may be in order to say here that
Berry had a deep personal interest
in suppressing the drink evil. His
son, who was Lincoln's partner in the
store at Salem, brought disaster upon
the business through his drinking
habits. 1t was not until 1850 that
Lincoln was able to pay the last debt
of the firm.
Another reformer In temperance
work was Menter Graham, the school
teacher, and a Hard-Shell Baptist. At
a meeting of the church members,
called to discuss the temperance agi-
tation, Graham ives suspended,
unanimously, for his position in the
matter. Mr.. Rankin recalls the
solemn decision Of the assembly in
regard to another member who had
got dead drunk"
This led an inquiSitiye member who
was present to take exception to the
proceedings, and to call for some
definite rule for the guidance of the
church members in the future. He
rose from his seat, took from his
F pocket a quart bottle that was about
half-full, shook its contents into ac-
tive sparkling bubbles, and i'll the
peculiar nasal drawl the Hard-Shell
BaptiSts were wont to adopt in their
Westinghouse talks, said: Brother
ing, you have turned one member out
beca'se he would not drink, and
another beca'se he got drunk, and
now l want to ask a question: How
much of this 'ere critter does one
have to drink to remain in full Teller
ship in this church,"
Lincoln received in Salem lasting
impressions on the drink problem.
Years after he had left there, and
was a shining light in the legal
circles, he defended some women,
y who had wrecked q drinking den
where their husbands wasted their
earnings. With the aid of some iE-
tiuential women friends the incensed
wives burst into the saloon, smashed
barrels, decanters and demijohns, and
played havoc generally with the fur
%nishings. The women were prosecuted
and Lincoln volunteered his services.
In making a powerful appeal to the
jury in behalf of his clients, Lincoln
attacked the evils of the traffic and
use of intoxicating spirits; he turned
and pointing to Parson Berry eX-
claimed:
There stands the man who, years
ago, was instrumental in convincing
me of the evils Of trafficking in and
using ardent spirits. | am glad /
ever saw him. | am glad | eve heard
and needed his testimony on this ter
rible subject.