CoS 



TEMPERANCE REFORM. 



the most advance*] ground. Now Hampshire and ' 

 .11 their prohibitory laws, and some 

 icrti States. Tli loc.,1 option system has hail 

 sidi r.iiiic success ill the Soiuli. particularly in 

 though il jicfliiH difficult to keep tin 1 public mind 

 Me.idily u|> ID (In 1 work. The apparently capricious 

 changes from prohibition to lie< u-e ami r )'. rrrrn has 

 le*l tin- fiiends ..I I-ital abstinen ! i ry geiier- 



allv in support nf eOMtitUtkwal prohibition. 



Kansas was tlio lir.-l State l.i ( mlxwly in licr consti- 

 tution an Utiob prohibiting the manufacture and sale of 

 intoxicating lii|uors. Similar ainttkhnonta have been 



init into the constitutions of Maine. Rhode I- land, an 1 

 tlio Iowa amendment was annulled liy the 

 judiciary as nut legally submitted to the popular vote. 

 It i.s not easy to .-cc the superiority of thi* method over 

 statutory |>n>liil>ition. No constitution executes itself; 

 nly IK' carried into effect l>y lei'i-l.itioti appoint- 

 ing the process of enforcement and affixing penalties. 

 The "statute in that ea.-e provided" 13 tlio operative 

 measure. Tlio prohibitory loree of the statute is all 

 the fonv that can l)t' directed against the traffic, what- 

 ever superfluity of energy may IK: supposed to inhere 

 in the constitution. In UhouV Island, the lii- 

 lature that sat alter the amendment was made was 

 roundly accused of having virtually nullified the article, 

 and a great popular notation arose. Whatever may 

 have been tin; tact in that ease, it is elearly in the 

 jwwr of any Legislature, under color of carrying con- 

 stitutional prohibition "into effect," to uiake laws as 

 ineffectual as possible, whenever public opinion 

 that direction. Wisely or unwisely, however, the 

 standard of prohibition by constitutional amendment 

 is " full high advanced " as the sign in which they are 

 to conquer, by all Prohibitionists in every part of the 

 country. A prohibitory amendment to the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States is the ullimau- aim. 



A political parly devoted to the cause of Prohibition 

 as the one thing needful was a natural outcome of the 

 agitation. The Prohibitory party, alter some local 

 enterprises, entered the lield" of national politics in the 

 Presidential election of 18S4. They chose no . 

 of course, but they polled about 150,000 votes, and 

 with extraordinary elation extended and perfected 

 their organization with a view to further operations as 

 a national parly. In the Presidential canvass of Isss 

 they redoubled their energy and agitation on the 

 "stump." through the pie-*, anil by the circulation ot 

 "documents. " Success in electing their Candida: 

 not claimed as probable. Thai was modestly deterred 

 to the election of 1 v.i _' IJ'it tin- mark aimed at was 

 a million of votes. The number ca.-( Has ^"iT.l'lu, a 

 gain of 70 percent, over the result in I.ssl. 



M. anwliile an increased attention began to be given 

 to what is termed "High licen-c." MM expedient for 



restraining ami diminishing i he sale of in toxicant*. The 

 exaction of a large lice: i minimum, coupled 



with stringent conditions, tends to restrict the number 

 of licensed dealers, who are thus more easily kept 

 under lawful supervision. At the same time the 



Hue derived from (he traffic is some compensation 

 for damage:* due to it ; though it must be allowed that 

 there is force' in the objection, that for municipalities to 

 derive a revenue from the trattic opei mer- 



i iry motive to license it. Where, as in Pennsyl- 

 vania, the licensing power in committed to judges, the 

 system has worked with beneficial effect It is a Ques- 

 tion still disputed whether in other localities nigh 

 license has had the effect to diminish the consumption 

 of intoxicating drinks. Many friends of temperance 

 favor it; M - has adopted it. and it is evi 



dent that the system must have its trial and abide the 

 Terdiet from experiene.- II. - ]. - laws in restraint of 

 the sale, a iiuml>er of the Stales have adopted civil 

 damage laws, the effect of which is lo make the dealer 

 in intoxicating drinks liable in damages for any injury 

 resulting from the ~.i\>: 

 In 1873 the public mind was electrified by tidings 



of a Woman's Crusade against (he saloons, beginning 

 in Ohio and spreading into I he ncighboi , 

 Alfir.-l th ' IM-IOIC the UN. 



invasion, but recovering themselves they opposed this 

 extra-legal OMOnlt The agitation would probably h 

 soon spoilt its force if opportunity had not !* 

 to transfer its cncrjrv into a well-d mization 



under the n im > of tiie " Woman's Christian Tempcr- 



rnion. 1 ' which has become one of the reeopti 

 for.-e-i in the tcmperan.-c warfare, and has extended its 

 jii..!is t > the promotion of other reforms. The 

 I'niuii has done much to promote the education of 

 the, you:iz in tin 1 principles and habit of ab-tinenec ; 

 l;".'i>l.itiim rrrpiirin? such instruction in the 

 lioois : and (> add to the moral momentum of 

 ihc temperance agitation. Of late, ns a national or- 

 ganization, it has Iconic an ally of the Prohibition 

 party, and has d-.vliivl f.>r woman sn!iV.i-:c, \\hichia 

 cspousc'l a!s i by the Proliibitioi; 



Total ab-tincncc is a theory and a policy. As a 

 theory it has had a remarkable evolution. At first, in 

 view of the sin and misery of drunkenness, and the ex- 

 poscdu: to temptation, abstinence was urged 



the only security against the always impending 

 peril. All drunkards, it was said, were once moderate 

 drinkers, and none of them intended lo become drunk- 

 ards. And even if one could drink without peril to 

 himself, he was beKHIghl from 1-ive lo his neighbor to 

 take the pledge with him and help him to keep it. 

 Prudence and lionevolence were (ho chief motives ap- 

 pealed to, and with remarkable SUCA-CSS.. These pleas 

 were strengthened by evidence ot economic, damage 

 and the social and moral evils re-suliing from intem- 

 perance. But. as early as !>:;:;, as we, have seen, a, 

 national convention resolved that " the use of ardent 

 spirits as a beverage and its sale for that pcrpo.-e are 

 ninriillii ii-i-nii'j." This empirical dicluui of el hies was 

 ri-nnli-i-il, and now il is apparently assumed on all 

 hands as needing no proof, that any sale or use of in- 

 toxicating li.|nors is a sin. But a large proportion of 

 temperance men are a I so sincerely religious men, and 

 reverence the Bible as an authority on moral <|iic.-l ions, 

 and it is but too obvious that on this ground the Bible 

 is chargeable with the approbation of sin. To evade 

 collision between their ethical theory and their faith in 

 the Scriptures, the notion has been bruited and h;ia 

 found considerable currency, that there were in ancient 

 limes two kinds of wine, one unfermciitcd and harm- 

 ! -- and the other fermented and pernicious ; and that 

 when the Bible commends wine il means I in' harmless 

 kind, but th-t when il speaks u of wine it 



refers to the fermented sort. '!'! Lie iv..f. >lo-e.s 

 Sluart and Prcs. Kliphalct Noll were the tir.-t Vouchers 

 for this strange theory. The scholarship of the age 

 has repudiated this futile method of interpreting (lie 

 sacred lexis. It remains for its advocates to ivvi.-e 

 cither their ethical dicta or their mode of interpreting 

 and applying the Scriptures, or perchance lo modify 

 bolh. A development in another direction has been 

 observable, though not perhaps distinctly formulated : 

 a tendency to regard the drunkard not as guilty but 

 as simply the victim of the lic|iior-scller. The latter is 

 summarily described as a dninkar I maker. That an 

 intemperate man has any roponsibility for drinking is, 

 if not denied, apparcnlly lorgolten. 



As a policy. I he temperance movement began its 



course as simply a moral reformation. The cffoit was 



to persuade men to leave oft" the use of intoxic.iling 



drinks, to give up the traffic, and to throw their social 



influence on the side of abstinence . Arrayed .. 



I it Wan the 1 HtT8ngth of appelile. of custom, and of the 



! law. Tin' form of license assumed that tin 1 sale of 



intoxicants was for "the public pood." and applicants 



for license were required to furnish certificates to their 



"good moral character" The advocates of lemper- 



:ced this front of opposition, and by the force 



of their moral appeals won to their side the clergy. 



the churches, and a large proportion of the educated 



