Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-11-02

l.
and preach Temperance but 1t Is
quite generally committed to the
crusade for the total extinction of the
liquor traffic. Still it may be said
that the greatest need of the present
day temperance cause lis clear, con-
sistent. persistent and unequivocal
message from the Christian pulpit.
Unless the prophets of God warn the
people they themselves share the sin.
Put an Israel in every church in
America, and the conditions with re-
spect to strong drink would be
changed at once.
The Little Lion and Big Dog.
Some time ago in the Berlin Zoo
logical Gardens, l saw q lions cub
and a grown dog in the same cage
together. The dog was bullying the
baby lion most thoroughly. 1t
knocked the little beast over, and
snapped 1t on various parts of the
body and in general played the. part
of bully to perfection. A little boy
was greatly moved by the ill-treat-
ment of the young king of beasts"
Never mind" said his father,
this will not be for long. Some day
the cub will wake to the knowledge
that it is a lion and that it's tor
mentor is only dog, and that will
be the end of MIR. Dog"
The incident illustrates perfectly
the temperance situation in North
America. The General Public is a
lien, albeit young and unconscious of
its strength. Yet it has suffered un-
considerable imposition and bulldos-
ing and terrorizing from the saloon
power, which, after all, is only an ILL
bred dog. The latter has played
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 IA
partial list of the classes of persons
who have registered themselves as
opposed to 1t. Perhaps, corporation,
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. To-day
these corporations are shutting their
doors to drinking men for the re-
sponsible positions. Educators say
that the effects of alcohol are evil;
and the report of the Committee of
Fifty leading educators, by no means
temperance cranks," is one of the
strongest documents this generation
has produced.
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
who have formed a society of total
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.
Fettercd or Free
Life is becoming more intense
every year. The struggle for exist
ence 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 tenn
perance argument. A man cannot
pay tribute to the flowing bowl and
still have sufficient store with which
to do business in the world. Alco-
hol may have a food value in the
sense that Professor Atwater claims,
but 1t is everywhere recognized that
in the case of a worker it does not
put more power into him, but rather
takes power from him. 1t is only a
whip for a jaded horse.
AS he looks into his future, every
yooung 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 q
free man, with a clear head, steady
nerves, strong muscles, and Body fit
for all normal functionss, responding
to the impulses of his will rath er
than to the goad of an artificial stim-
ulant, then he must, in the express
i've slang of the day cut out" strong
drink.
have seen the wreck of a great
vessel fast in the sands of the sea-
shore. anu on its masts. by a bit of
stupidity on the part of somebody,
brand of whisky. The sight must
have suggested to all of the thous-
ands who beheld it, those other
wrecks, to be seen in almost every
community, who might also be la
belcd, whisky, that's ALL" Ma man
who still retains strongly within mis-
breast the sense of manhood can
look unmoved upon the spectacle of
man become a drunkard.
Whence comes these drunkards,
each of whom has broken some
woman's heart? Perhaps some few
are deliberately made such by the
designs of depraved men become de-
mons. But most of them are gradu-
ates of the school of moderate drink
ing. 1t 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, of
course; but all who reach the gutter
travel that way.