The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-05-18
For May 20 Is, THE Importance of
Self-Control." Isaiah 28:1-13. GA
Temperance Lesson.)
Refining Up for Reigning Over.

TIT John Barleycorn is war victim
Mars is apparently putting the finish
ing touches upon the fate of the liquor
! business. AS we come to this regular
| quarterly temperance lesson of the
Sunday school, which is to be studied
ltopicaHy, we find ourselves in the posi-
| ton of friend of mine who is a lead
er in American social service. Com
menting a few days ago upon the con-
dition of the temperance reform he
| wrote, Things are moving SO rapidly
that it is all one can do to keep up
| with the progress of the movement,
much less try to lead it, The speed at
which the saloon is being driven from
trench to trench, from position to posi-
| ton, unti1it is now near to engulfment
in, the watery5 sea of obhteration, is
| bewildering and dazzling and glorious.
War is speeding up everything. Re
forms are being accomplished at a
tbreathless rate. The work that CEN
Eturies should have done, must crowd
the hour of the setting SUM-. So we
read of blow after blow at the liquor
trade. each severer than the last, and
nov the confidence pervadeS the and
that the entire business is to be wiped
Tout quickly, in the interest of military
land economic advantage. There seem
Ito be no friends left for John Barley
corn, except the men who profit finan-
tcia1ly by his continuance.
Fit for Fighting.
soft and "Out of Condition" have
been characterizatons heaped upon the
lnon-nilitary nations of civilization.
| They were self-indulgent. Ease and
lappetite held sway. One of the moss
shameful incidents of the early stages
of the conflict was the refusal of
body Of British churchmen to give up
the use of liquor during the war.
lThey had wandered SO far from the
Christ principle of self-denial Tor the
sake of others that they were not 50
much as willing to curb their appe-
titles for the sake of God and country.
The stigma thus placed upon Chris
tianity has been remarked upon by the
tsecular and religious press around the
fentire globe.
/ In Canada, and in the fighting zone
of Europe, people are becoming more
fit for fighting. They have learned
| the great self-renunciations which I'M
tderiie all discipline of m1nd and eody,
Real preparedness is thing OF the
| spirit, state of mind. Success IN
war, as in all the other battles of life,
strikes its roots back into the eharac-
ter of the individual So long as a
lpeople are self-pleasing, and accus-
toned to put comfort ahead of con-
viction, the state is in danger.
Here we come directly upon the
reason why the Sunday school should
study a temperance lesson. We hear
Ia great deal about the economic as
poets of the fight against the use OF
strong drink; and not one word toe
much. Nevertheless, the issue IS
fundamentally religious. Its appeal Is
! tn the Christian spirit of altruism and
righteousness. For the sake of others
the disciple of Jesus, like his Master,
I denies himself.
4 The New Kind of Hereacs.
The person who will not deny his
own desires for the sake of his country
or his God violates the very genius OF
1.-THE. New Testament. They are poor
Cbristians indeed who have not
learned to subdue an impulse at the
behest of a principle. Their und1scl-
plined lives are doomed to slavery.
Only refined spirits reign
| All Christians who are represented
by those British ecclesiastics, mem
toned above, who refused to abstain
from the glass during the period OF
the war, are real heretics. They are
disloyal to the first principles of Jesus.
Such selfishness is worse than doc
trinaI 11nsoundness The world knows
and cares little about a Christian
, creed, except as faith is wrought out
, into Iife,A But it clearly brands as un-
, christian all such self-fndulgence ana
self-seeking as has been indicated. The
churchman who cares more for his
wine than for the name OF the Master
which he wears; and the business man
who puts his dividends above his duty
. to his fellow men are alike traitors to
their land and their Lord. They have
not learned the first lesson even OF
temperance. which is self-control. and
the art of holding things in proportion
, The Patriotism of Prohibition.
I have been trying to imagine the
: feelings nowadays of the veterans OF
: the temperance reform movement
the Women's Christian Temperance
Union workers and the eccentric
prohibition advocates who, fifteen OF
twenty years ago, were but voices cry
ing in the wilderness. Few of them
. | f11af ,1lf
Y ment of their dream and desire. Now
L statesmen and economists and educa-
s tors and labor leaders are one. III
r pleading with the nation to go to the
t extreme limit of national prohlb1tlon
f What would Neal Dow or Frances
E. Willard have said to having as ar
e ally the president of the National City
= Bank of New York, Frank A. Wander
5 lip, formerly of the United States
f treasury? Yet here is an extract from
a recent telegram by Mr.. Vanderlip:
7 st believe we are facing a serious
9 test of our national character and eff
{ ficiency and am firmly convinced tina
| a national prohibition measure would
- be of transcendent importance in it:
y effect upon the national spirit in con
serving and increasing Our food sup
= ply and in raising the efficiency of the
: nation. The man-power released from
!, the liquor Industries could be directed
!. into other productive channels wher,
. the need for labor will be acute anC
u thus be readily absorbed. The need!
{ of the agricultural and industrial sit
: uation will make this peculiarly op
perfume time to put thru nationa
= prohibition law with minimum shocl
: to our economic machinery during tn
= readjustment. The business interest
= involved should be fairly dealt will
but many of the plants can be readil.
. converted to important industrial uses
- The plea that the government revenu
:. will be seriously curtailed should no
n influence action, for prohibition viii
e induce national efficiency which vii
open new and far richer sources o
"a revenue"
!. The author of the Webb-Kenyol
u bill, Hon Edwin Yates Webb, wrote il
~ recent Sunday School Times:
y THE no-icense or dry area nov
"a amounts to 200. 900 square miles O