The Washington times., 1919-08-24
HEARD AND SEEN
By EARL GOODWIN.

In the days of Peggy O'Neill, the
pretty daughter of the most tovial
! innkeeper Washington ever saw
In those days when Andrew jackson
smoked his corncob pipe in the
White House and his Cabinet re-
signed because the ladies of the
Cabinet wouldn't receive this same
Peggy O'Neill as wife of the Secre-
tary of War. In those
days when the worlds besS sherry
vas imported through Alexandra
warehouses and retailed here for So
a quart; and Tom and Jerry sold
for twelve cents q drink
In those good old days which viii
! NEVER return again, Washington
saw its first organized attempt to
make the National Capital CRY.
Those good old days, when the
stage coach between here and Bal
, timore was occasionally held up by
road agents; when Daniel Webster
lived somewhere around Four-and-
a-half street and his "reply to
Hayne" was the story Of the day;
in the era when an inaugural reeep-
ton at the White House was JAM
boree (including unlimited rum
served from the barreD. When the
veterans" to be considered for JOBS
were those Of the revolution and the
war of 1912, in those old times, l
repeat, a few temperance societies
banded together under the name OF
"The Temperance Union, d. u,
with the firm object Of stopping for
ever the sale of ardent spirits.
"Signing the pledge" seemed to be
about as far as the temperance So
cieties went, but the union went IN
for a complete revolution and asked
for a repeal Of all license laws. Its
first meeting, held in the Methodist
Episcopal Church, Of Alexandra,
then in the District Of Columbia, was
on July 4, 1886, saw representatives
Of eleven societies, including organl-
cations from many neighbOrhoods,
such as the Navy Yard, Rock Greek
parish, Alexandra, Tenleytown and
Georgetown. This meeting adopted
a platform for the complete ruin OF
the trade in ardent spirits" and re-
solved "fhat the traffic m intoxicat-
ing drinks is morally wrong and
ought TO be Immediately abandoned"
The meeting also had a warm dis
cussion over ministers OF the Cos
pels, who either openly opposed tenn
perance as being too radical a move,
or who gave only mediocre and luke
warm support.
The argument that intoxicating
drinks were morally wrong seems
to have been a new one N this neigh
borhood at that time and attracted
considerable attention The novelty
of the subject to many and the gen
eral feeling and equal opportunity Of
expression Of any opinion upon It, /
called larger meetings than had been
held at any time previous, said . |
Of the Young Mems |
Temperance Union, q part OF the |
union and claiming to have been the
actual pioneer Ia Temperance work
(Its first big meeting was held IN the |
First Presbyterian Church on -Four
and-a-half street In 1927, Senator
Pinclmey Of S. G. presidmg.)
One Of the rough spots on the road
to a completely arid Washington at
that time were the grocery stores
which sold "ardent spirits" That !
seems to have been a thriving part |
of the grocery business IN those
days, but the work Of the temper
ance societies induced several gro
GERS to give up "wet" groceries and
conduct Temperance stores" They |
had a hard time, however, for it was |
that only few temperance |
folks realized the sacrifice. There
fore the first meeting Of the union |
asked that ALL good @drys" support |
Temperance groceries" to the exclu-
sion of the "Wet" stores.
Then the union sat down 70 peti-
ton the mayor and council I've could |
at least VOTE in those days) to |
abolish liquor licenses, claiming |
these liquor laws to be unjust, op-
pressive and injurious. In the peti- !
tion the mayor was told that "the
1OuuS mcu 4OIal ADSLuenCo 4e4u- 4
perance Sociey reported 270 venders |
of the liquid poison Of ardent spirit |
one DRUNKERY to every !
twelve families" At the same time |
the union set about to canvass "the |
most respectable" Of the city's Off |
cials, leaving out those who drank, I |
presume, in an effort TO prove that |
these same ardent spirits were the !
direct cause Of nine-tenths Of the |
poverty and crime m the !
city. And thereon followed one Of |
the gloomiest and dreariest pictures |
that words can paint. Drmkards' |
families, homes and graves were |
brought forth in the most lugubrious
paragraphs and held up for these