A DISCUSSION OF THE EVIL.

In discussing the question of temperance, one fact more than all others should be impressed on your minds at the commencement; that is, that this question must be settled in this country. It can not be laughed down, sneered down, jeered down or black-guarded down, and there is not money enough in the coffers of the liquor power of this nation to buy enough votes to long prevent the entire defeat of the liquor oligarchy at the hands of this people.

As we look over the rapid advance that has been, and is being made in this country, we have no doubt that the temperance question will come up in every spring election, every town, every city, every county, every state and every national election until it is settled; each year it will come with louder knocks, and each year with more urgent demands. If you have investigated this statement and believe it to be true, write alongside of the fact another one:

"A question is never settled until it is settled right."

Put the two together: it must be settled, it must be settled right, and you have the basis of the argument.

After the American colonies were settled,

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the Parliament of Great Britain insisted that the right was vested in the King, by and with the consent of Parliament, to levy taxes upon the people of the colonies; the colonists at once demurred, and insisted that if Parliament, or the King, by and with consent of Parliament, had the right to levy taxes, then the colonies must be represented in the Parliament which gave the consent. The Parliament of Great Britain levied heavy taxes on the colonies. The result was inevitable. They were seeking to establish a false principle of government. To resist such tyrannical action, Clubs of Liberty were organized throughout the colonies. The English Premier saw the storm his action had raised, and wished to allay it if possible; the result was the repeal of all the heavy taxes and the concession that the taxes levied should only be upon commerce, and should be applied to the use of the colony where they were levied. By this act, Parliament conceded everything, but the principle-a small tax levied by Parliament to be applied to the use of the colony where the tax was laid. But the agitation did not cease.

In the reddest of American blood it is written, a question is never settled until it is settled right.

If we have together reached this conclusion we are ready to continue the investigation. This is not a personal matter between the drunkardmaker and temperance advocate. Whether the drunkard-maker is a scoundrel or a gentleman weighs not an atom in settling the merits of the

case. It matters not whether he is a devil or an angel of light. If he is an angel he cannot make a devilish principal a good one; if he is a devil he cannot make a God-given principle a bad one.

Some cry, "Attack the liquor-seller!" When asked why, they answer, "He is a mean man." What if he is? If the man is mean, he is all the better representative of his business. A man should be a good representative of the trade he is carrying on. We must enter upon the investigation of this question, determined to examine fully all of its phases, to weigh carefully the arguments on both sides, and investigate the alleged facts, by advocates who represent the different sides, and then, on the weight of evidence presented, base their verdict. Anything less would not be honest. In trying such issues, blackguardism, sneers and reckless statements are out of place. A blackguard is as much out of place in the field of honest, manly discussion as a monkey would be in the tabernacle of the Lord. A man engaged in either intellecutal or physical combat never throws mud when he has rocks to use, and when individuals stoop to use the mud of epithets in a discussion of this kind, it is prima facie evidence that they have nothing else to use. A parrot could do that. "If you have no case, abuse the opposing attorney," is the motto of pettifoggers the world over.

From the day the liquor-traffic was introduced into this country from the despotisms of Europe, until the present, it has existed as a bitter, blighting, damning curse on everything

decent, virtuous and holy. Its history proves it the enemy of law, order, morality, Christianity and civilization.

The American dram-shop is the cause of more than six-sevenths of the pauperism and fourfifths of the crime in the nation. It is the hotbed where outlaws germinate; the cradle where vice is rocked.

Liquor drinking makes the slums of great cities and the horrible condition of mankind in the slums.

Suppose a young man in Lake Bluff should steal a horse and start to go to Wisconsin. He is arrested this side of the Wisconsin line, brought back and put in the county jail. The Grand Jury meet and formulate an indictment charging him with felony. The young man is brought into court to make his plea. The people prefer he should be acquitted. I believe it is a fact that the American people always sympathize with the criminal; in other words, they prefer that the man should be proved innocent, rather than that he should be proved guilty. The boy is brought in, the clerk reads the indictment, and asks the simple question: "Are you guilty or not guilty?" It is a question of fact between him and the people; he is expected to do one of two things, either plead guilty and accept the punishment of outraged law or notguilty, thereby challenging the allegations of the people, and forcing them to produce the proof.

The indictment is read, he is asked for his plea, "guilty or not guilty," and instead of mak

ing it he draws back, begins to whimper, and says: "If I had not stolen the horse some other man would!"

The court would say: "That has nothing to do with the question; it is a question involving your liberty, a simple question of fact; are you guilty or not guilty?"

The prisoner continues to whimper, and says: "People have always stolen horses, and they will always steal horses, and it is not fair to pitch into me."

No court would accept such a plea. I can imagine the indignation of the court when for the third tme he asks: "Are you guilty or not guilty?"

The temperance leaders draw an indictment, on which the liquor business is brought into the court of the people. They insist and demand that the traffic shall plead; not sneak into its dens of infamy, not crouch with the bludgeon in the hands of drunken assassins, not bulldoze and intimidate law-abiding citizens; but, like any other criminal, come up and meet the indictment before the people.

The liquor dealer commences to whimper, and says:

"These temperance people are all hypocrites." "Come, now, brace up and be a man; true or false?"

"Well," he says, "if I don't sell, some other fellows will."

"What has that to do with the question of guilt? The question is simply, Is your business