Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1884 — THE W. C. T. U. [ARTICLE]

THE W. C. T. U.

Pt«par«d by th* Women's Chile-, tlnu Temperance Uilon of Rensselaer, Ind. ■N The W. C. T. U. met at the residence of Mrs. Laßues on last Saturday afternoon with a very good attendance. All the members and all that wish to become such are requested to meet at the same place next Saturday at 2 o’clock p. m. Mrs. J. C. Stone, of Milwaukee, says: If the policemen were as blind to the dog law as they are to the liquor law, you might have a dog big as an elephant,with a church bell on it, and no policeman would see it. The Gospel Temperance Meeting has been postponed one week and will be held at the Opera House, Sunday evening, April 6th. The following is the programme arranged for the occasion: 1. Music, Anthem. 2. Scripture Reading, Mrs. J. Clark. 3. Prayer, Rev. J. T. Abbett. 4. —“Band of hope,’’Song. 5. —Remarks, Rev. Furguson. 6 Song by choir. 7. Declamation, Alice Irin. 8. Remarks, Rev. Miner. 9. Song. 10—Remarks, Alfred Thompson. If—Singing and Signing, gi 12—Benediction.

IS IT 1UOI1T? I The following article from the Carson (Iowa) Ciiterion, the editor of which was formerly a citizen ot this town, ap)lies, in every way, as well to lensselaer as it does to the town In which itjwas first published: “ While the great question of licensing the sale of intoxicants may not be before our people as an issue, it has, nevertheless been a subject of general discussion, in Carson, as well as over the entire State, and is a question upon which there is a very great diversity of opinion among all classes of people, There is one point upon which we can all agree, that the indiscriminate sale and use of ill toxicants is a crime, and when we call to mind the number of the most atrocious crimes resulting directly from the use of alcoholic stimulants that have come under our personal observation, we are forced to the conclu sion that the sale of the stuff which aberrates the mind and puts the weapons of murder in the hands of the naturally humane and noble man and ca ses him to commit the deed the human penalty of which may be imprisonment for life, or, perhaps, death on the gal--1 >ws, is the arch crime of all. We do not believe there is a man who is acquainted with the of the world generally, within the range of our circulation, imbiber or temperate. who cannot recall incidents of human woes, which • ill cover the whole category of crimes, from the smallest to i the greatest, «that has been ( brought Iv!ore his wye.' sometime with.;; ,i. > life, as direct results of the use of intoxicants. And who will be held responsible for the commission ot these crimes at the great Judgment Day, the buyer orthe seller? Now since the indiscriminate sale and use of intoxicating drinks are criminal in their effects, let us ask, is it right to license their sale, thus giving the business an air of respectability by legalizing

I - Why not just as consist- | ently legalize tlie effect as the cause? Thus making every offense against God and man right in the sight of the law. llie only difference we can perceive, is through some unconsciousness of the evil there is in intemperance, or because our law makers have been, in times gone by, in a great measure, scourged by the curse themselves, it has been allowed to establish itself in our customs to such au extent that it now finds advocates among our most respectable people, and is handled and sold by our most substantiallbusiness men thus, whilefthe offense remains the same, the law is made to throw its protection around it thus giving the greatest source ot crime a respectability. In small towns, like Carson, the license men argue that to remove the saloons is to drive away a large portion of the trade of farmers, the majority of whom, it is claimed, will do their trading in the town where they can procure intoxicating drinks. Now we have too much respect for our agricultural brethren, and too much confidence in their manhood, generally speaking, to believe that this argument, or rather this excuse of the friends of intemperance, has any force, and we believe it to be an insult to the fanning community, as a class, to insinuate that they are a class of d tinkers. But the proposition is not well founded, |as we all ought to know from daily observation. The heaviest patrons of saloons in Carson, and in nearly all other towns, are men who live in town and have the temptation ever before their eyes. Of course there are those among the farmers who do drink, but very few who would go far out of the -fray to get it. Our observation convinces us that the majority of those who drink to excess, are those who, when they come to town go first to the saloon and pay their last dime for whisky, then go to the merchant, purchase goods on time, and in many cases fail to pay Such trade as this may be good from a saloon

stand-point, but is very damaging, to a legitimate business, and the sooner a community is freed from it the better. It is also claimed by friends of license that whisky will be had whether we have saloons or not which in a measure is true as there are many drunkards who are beyond human help, and of course Satan will provide means whereby his liquid can be procured for his servants. The greatest accomplishment we can expect from the annihilation of saloons is the removal of temptations to drink from before the boys and yong men who are often enticed into them by “alluring scenes of vice” that are shaded behind the screens, and there induced to take the first drink, the ending of which may be a “drunkard’s grave and a soul damned through eternity.” Admitting that the saloons* do draw business to our town but conceiving the principle involved in the licensing and use of intoxicants to be wrong, in advocating it are we not selling our souls for even less than thirty pieces of silver?— Are we not violating the laws of nature and nature’s bod by giving respectability to and countenancing the thing which, in itself, is a most outrageous crime against our Creator? This is the view we take of the matter; whether it be the (ion-cot o-»e or not \;o leave others to Judge. . For the holding such opinions our license friends will doubtless term us a fanatic, which word implies the entire argument for their cause, but fanatic, if the friend of temperance is justly so-called, is a cognomen which we shall ever ■cherish as, a definition of the noblest principle ever promulgated by man.” ,