The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-11-02
INTERNATIONAL
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
By w. T. ELLIS

,
its strength. Yet it has suffered in
considerable imposition and bull
dosing and terrorizing from the
loon power, which, after all, is only
an ill-bred dog. The latter has play
ed master in politics, induStrialiSm
and society. There are now many
signs that the lion is awakening and
that the indignities that it has too
long endured are coming to an end.
The widespread assertion of popular
rights is having an immediate effect
in the direction of the suppression of
the baneful power of the saloon. The
people have taken hold of the politi-
cal and social and economic end of
the liquor question with vigor-
Enemies of an Enemy.
How widely strong drink is looked
upon as an enemy of the welfare of
the individual and of the community
may be seen by writing out even
partial list of the classes of persons
who have registered themselves as OPP
posed to it Perhaps, corporations,
those modern, unsentimental, and
wholly selfish creatures of the new
times, should be put first, for their
judgment is certain to be based solely
on considerations of self-interest and
commercial effectiveness. Today these
corporations are shutting their doors
to drinking men for the responsible
positions. Educators say that the eff
fects of alcohol are evil; and the re-
port of the committee of fifty lead
ing educators, by no means temper
ance cranks,i is one of the strongest
documents this generation has pro-
duced.
Doctors and preachers have both
condemned drinking and pointed out
its baneful effects, each from his own
standpoint. Athletes put a ban upon
it, while unexpected recruits have
been found in bartenders themselves
fOrY fnfN Of fo1
abstainers. No mention has been
made of that company, greater than
any of the others, who are sworn
enemies of strong drink because of
the harm it has wrought to dear ones.
Fettered or Free.
Life is becoming more intense every
year. The struggle for existence
grows ever sharper The need for the
free use of all of a mans energies to
enable him to survive and succeed
has become a potent temperance argu-
ment. A man cannot pay tribute to
the flowing bowl and still have suf-
ficient store with which to do bust
ness in the world. Alcohol may have
food value in the sense that Profess
scr Atwater claims. but it is every
where recognized that in the case of
a worker it does not put more power
into him, but rt-ther takes power from
him. 1t is only a whip for a faded
horse.
AS he looks into his future, every
young man should decide once for
all, that he will use the course that
contains no risks, but insures liberty
for the expression of his fullest pow
| ers. He cannot afford to fetter him
self by any dangerous appetite. If
he wishes to make sure of being a
free man, with a clear head. steady
| nerves, strong muscles, and a body fit
| for all normal functions, responding
to the impulses of his will rather
| than to the goad of an artificial slim
ulant, then he must, in the express
| i've slang of the day "cut OUT strong
/ drink.
| The College of Drunkards.
I have seen the wreck of a. great
vessel fast in the sands Of the sea-
! shore, and on its masts, by a bit of
| stupidity on the part of somebody
the advertisement of a well known
! brand of whisky. The sight must
have suggested to all of the thou
sands who beheld it. those otber
wrecks, to be seen in almost every
community, who might also be label
ed whisky, that's all" mo man who
still retains strongly within his
/ breast the sense of manhood can look
unmoved upon the spectacle of man
| become a drunkard
! Whence come these drunkards. each
| OF whom has broken some wonan's
neart? Perhaps some few are DELHI
erateIy made such by the designs OF
depraved men become demons. But
most of them are graduates of the
school of moderate drinking It is the
man who boasts that he knows when
to stop, who one day awakens to the
! score that he cannot stop Social
drinking does not always lead to the
gutter, or course; but all who reach
the gutter travel that way.