Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-03-23
BY William T. Ellis

for the support of police, jails, aims
houses, divorce courts. orphanages
and asylums. that as a business
proposition it is about as sensible as
merchants receiving one dollar from
a customer and returning him goods
that cost three.
The man who votes for the saloon
is pulling on the same rope with the
devil, whether he knows 1t or not
Billy Sunday.
The saloon is a mother of crimes
and the silent partner of every ex-
listing social evil.
A brewer once said: "It appears
from these facts trnt the success of
our business lies in the creation of
appetite among the boys. Men who
have formed the habit scarcely ever
reform, but they, like others, will
die, and unless there are recruits
fers will be empty, and l recommend
to you that money spent in the crea-
tion of appetite will return in dollars
to your tills after the habit is formed"
Patriotism, as we'll as religion,
should impel us to oppose the saloon,
for it is the greatest debaucher of
politics and legislation. Next to COR
porate greed and akin to it, the saloon
is probably the greatest existing men,
ace to our national welfare. AS we
love the purity of our nation, and as
we cherish its sacred ideals, we should
contend against this power which
threatens them.
When this day of brotherhood which
is dawning is fully come, there will
be no room in the world for anything
which stains the soul or mains the
body of man. That bars out strong
drink. 1t must go under the ban OF
love. The net influence of the liquor
traffic is bad, and only bad. 1t hurts
humanity. Therefore the men who are
their brothers keepers will not con-
tinue to let it continue on its devast-
ing way.
The drunkard sells for a dram his
divine right to rule himself. He browns
his kingship in the Intoxicating cup.
DR.. T. Dewitt Talmage once said:
1.-The world may scoff at Christian
people as insignificant, but banded to-
gether for any great moral movement,
they can carry anything at the ballot
box and in the congressional assembly
The trouble is that they have never
yet massed their forces"
If the saloon stood alone, it would
long since have fallen alone. But it
is buttressed by every other form of
organized vice.
Covetousness, one of the less re-
pressive sins, which often moves in
the best society, is the mother of the
saloon. Love of money is the root
of this evil. 1t commercializes the
thirst for drink, the loneliness, and
the stupidity of men. Because it is
a business that pays high profits, COW
etousness is quick to engage in it, re-
gardless of the consequences to human
life.
The full saloon is an ally of the
empty dinner pail.
Mirth in the saloon is commonly re-
lated to misery in the home.
Every time we face afresh the tenn
perance question in any of it's aspects,
we need to remind ourselves to be
temperate in our attitude. The easy
way is the partisan way. To take
sides with the largest crowd requires
less courage and conviction than TO
think things through for ones self. A
judicial attitude toward even the sa-
loon is not only more creditable, but
also more effective than an unreason-
ing antagonism. The person who looks
into the subject, from a sincere desire
to be fair, will surely come to the
conclusion that the saloon is an evil;
and his temperate opinion will weigh
more than the hotter words of a less
evenly balanced person. To lose re-
spect for the truth, and for the other
persons rights, is as bad as drunken
ness; all friends of temperance should
insist upon this as basic. Antagonism
to the organized liquor traffic of
America is perfectly consistent with
the utmost conservatism of tempera-
ment