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Show SERMON B REVEREND BROWN PROHIBITION TOPIC AT UNITARIAN UNITAR-IAN CHURCH. Yhe Effective Method Mng With the Vice of Intemperance From Speaker's Standpoint Speaking from the theme. "The Effective Ef-fective Method of Dealing With the vice Intemperance." at Unitarian hall last night, Rev. William Thurston Brown said, in part: The vico of intemperance, as all the ablest students of the subject agree, ja a social disease, or the symptom of a social disease. It is the external evidence of a diseased condition, not only in tho individual, but in tho society so-ciety in which he lives. On that point. I say, there is unanimous agreement among those who have come closest to this oviL The vico of intemperance is like an abscess on tho human body. What is an abscess? It is not, primarily, pri-marily, a disease. It is the evidence of internal disease. Indeed, It is an attempt of the human organism to expel ex-pel some poison from the system. A vrtso physician does not attempt to suppress tho abscess or cover it up or drive it away. Tho wise physician tries to loarn a lesson froni the abscess. ab-scess. The man who doesn't try to learn a lesson from the abscess is a 3uack. a fakir, a humbug." Ho who oes not understand that an abscess Is a natural thing, produced by inter- nal conditions, is not a physician at all. The real physician always works with the abscess and tries to establish such conditions of health within the tody as shall mako abscesses Impossible. Impos-sible. If some quack should be called to treat an abscess and should succeed in healing It up without removing the cause, we all know that other abscesses would duly appear at other points, and perhaps in more vital parts of the system. Now, It is exactly ex-actly this lesson which we have got to learn in the matter of treating social so-cial disease. It is a lesson which sci-fmce sci-fmce is teaching in the whole sphere of penology. In the whole treatment of so-called criminals, at ieast of criminals crim-inals of the petty sort. The saloons of our cities have done a great deal more in some ways to meet a genuine human need than all our churches have. Some of the most eminent men In the ministry have recognised that fact and proclaimed it such men as the late Bishop Potter of tho diocese of .New York City. The saloonB are open every day in the week except Sunday, , and sometimes on Sunday, too. Our churches are closed nearly all the time. It is altogether probable proba-ble that every winter in our great cities the saloons save more lives from death by freesing than the churches do. At all events, that statement state-ment has been made' by men of wldo experience. It may be that some people peo-ple without mouey will not be tolerat-ed'in tolerat-ed'in saloons. But many are. - And as long sb a man has a dime he can at least share the warmth and fellowship of a saloon. How many people of this sort oould find shelter and comfort in our churches oa winter nights? And how many of them would find any fellowship fel-lowship at all In the churches at any time? , Our churches have not 'yet "become "be-come social Institutions.- They are still, for tho most part, selfish corporations. corpo-rations. ' Further, Just as poison in the blood is capable of creating other abcesses or tubercles, if not removed, how do we know that the social disease which now finds vent in drink may not break put in a more vital place on U10 body of society, if, without any attempt at-tempt to understand the disease, we simply try to suppress this one abscess ab-scess by drastic prohibitory law? We have no right to destroy anything without putUng some better thing in its place. Unless we are prepared to put something positive and constructive construct-ive in tbe place of the saloon, we have no right to destroy 1L Unless we set to work to get the poison of disease out of our social life, we hac better not disturb the evil of intemperance.. Men are social beings Thoy demand recreation. They need change. T hey need expression.. If you maintain conditions con-ditions of lalor or employment which afford utterly insufficient wages, no hope or certainty of promotion, Ion? hours, enforced Idleness at Intervals without, pay, and no chance for Improvement Im-provement of the mind or tho aesthetic aesthet-ic nature, you are making it absolutely certain that men and women, denied legitimate ways of recreation, will find vicious ways of getting It. Here, more than anywhere else, is the root cause of the vice of Intemperance, as it Is of the social evil.. Make it difficult for man and maid In every grade of society so-ciety freely to know each other and freely to bestow their affections, free-, ly to marry with the certainty of n, livelihood as the reward 6f reasonable' labor, and- as "naturally as night' fed-, Iowa day, you will.-have everywhere' present in society an Illicit sexuality which will spread tbe infection of ' disease far and wide and undermine the very foundations of morality. No amount of drastic legislntlon can touch' the cau'Be of that disease or effect a . cure. Artificial legislation is a loser ! every time when It fights against nat-. nat-. ural law. It must work with natural j law to effect any results. The cause of this vice is to be found in the ab- : sence of definite and positive action' on the part of society Itself. Society must see to It that every child that. comes Into the world knows all " the facts of sex and has a ohance to develop de-velop himself and herself and to live a decent life. Until that Is done, all other effort to remedy the evil Is utter ut-ter folly. It Is a mistake, in my Judgment, too, to suppose that we can ever achieve any final solution of any problems for other people. The only final solution which can be had of the evil of Intemperance Intem-perance must be achieved by the very " people most concerned. ' Once estab-; estab-; lished such economic and social condi-i condi-i tlons as are demanded by the whole nature pf young men, and they them- solves will solve this problem as all ' society cannot do in any other way. . The most subtle danger of all that attends this attempt to do away with the drink evil by drastic legislation is tho cultivation of widespread hypoo-risy hypoo-risy In the .community. It was one of the old. Hebrew prophets who cried out "woe unto them that call evil good and good evil." , It was simply the recognition of the - fearful -danger wjalch attends the confusion of good and evil, the very essence of hypocrisy. hypoc-risy. There was no human sin against which" Jesus spoke such burning words as against that of hypocrisy. But when a community or a state passes prohibitory legislation, under the sup-, position that it is in that way dealing adequately with the problems, of. intemperance, in-temperance, one result is practically universal. The. people of that city or state pride themselves on a virtue ' which they do not possess. These . communities have Aone what? They have covered up an evil,' put it out of Bight, Just as by our systems of . almshouses we try to put poverty out' of our sight and then Imagine we have done something meritorious, when we have not touched tho hem of the gar-. gar-. rnent of the poverty problem; or Just as by our system of prisons we put the fact of crimes as far away from . our sight as possible and try to deceive de-ceive ourselves with the notion that we have been - dealing with crime, whereas, we have not even faced that problem intelligently or lth any moral mor-al earnestness. The whole thing Is simply a system of evasion. By the method of legal prohibition people drive out the open aaloon and bring In the secret saloon, making the thing more . attractive by adding the element ele-ment of secrecy and mystery.' By this method we do not put an end to the evil, wo simply cover up its symptoms. symp-toms. And Immediately we pride ourselveson our-selveson our superior virtue. We belong to a prohibition community. We have driven out the saloon from city and state. We are better than our neighbors. We deceive ourselves. There is no virtue merely In covering up any evil thing, no virtue In promoting pro-moting ignorance of any social evil. So long as the evil exists, It is morally moral-ly imperative .that every member of the community know it. It is an, infinitely in-finitely greater protection for your daughters and your sons, of any ago, that they know all tho facts of social vice in your city than . that thoy be Ignorant of them. Those people who say, "We don't want to know the facts about any evil thing," -are not good citizens and they profane the j name of religion when they call them- selves religious. What historical charcter can you name who, If the 6tory of his llfo is half true, ever knew so much of tho physical and moral and social disease of his time as Jesus Je-sus did? By what right do these people peo-ple who refuse to know all the facts concerning vice dare to call themselves them-selves followers of or believers in that man? There is no virtue in ignorance anywhere. ' And In no country, in tho I world Is it so morally imperative as ' in this that all of us know all the facts about every 'social or political evil, for-we have no function or duty so imperative or important as that of dealing squarely and intelligently with these evils. In a democratic form of government whatever undermines under-mines not merely .the minds and bodies, but- tho moral sense, of the people Is tho supreme menace of the nation. .The safety and security of such a nation as this lies supremely supreme-ly in the . clearness of - its moral . judgment. We can all soe easy enough" the necessity that tha minds of the people shall be clear, and on that ground we are . Justified In opposing any vice or any business which tends to dim or darken the mind or weaken the physical and mental men-tal powers. But it is not bo common for men and women to see the need of a healthy -moral sense. It Is easy to see that dissipation and open vice are a danger to society. But these are not half as dangerous as the absence ab-sence of moral sense. If Jesu6 din not waste his time denouncing the pretty Vices of intemperance or even harlotfy; it it was his whole mood to pity theso victims-of vice, even to assoolato with them, even to Bay of them that "publicans and harlots go into the kingdom of heaven before scribes and Pharisees;" and if he reserved- the deepest Indignation of his soul for a ruling clasB In church and state which was wholly lacking m moral sense, which lived and moved and had its telng in the atmosphere of hypocrisy; we shall be in goM company If we of today find the greatest great-est menace to all that Is dear to men In that modern hypocrisy which pndos , itself on tho mere suppression of tho symptoms of social disease, whllo it takes no stops Whatever to remove the cause. What la the method of dealing with Boclal vice which has . the merit ot being based on' the teachings of scl ence and the long experience of mankind, man-kind, and in which there is no rocm for hypocrisy? It is the method or constructive action in our whole p.dl tlcal life and of even Justice in our industrial life. That is the method not only of effective action, but also ot moTal sincerity. And there exists nor. only in every state of the union, but in every civilized country of the earth a positive constructive movement ot exactly this sort. That Is the only effective or morally defensible tem-perence tem-perence movement that Is going on today. And I beg to call your attention atten-tion to the fact that it is not a mere spasmodic movement, like this mass convention in the Salt Lake theater. It doesn't call big masB meetings to give politicians and other fakirs a chance to fool the people. It isn't a feverish, fitful, ignorant revolt against a corrupt political party by a lot ot people who a few months before were loudly shouting for that party aurl blindly giving it their, votes. No, tho temperance movement to which some of us belong and whoso cause Is bcln advanced every day in the year. In and out of season, is a temperance movement which never stops and nover tires, and It Is one which breeds no hypocrisy anywhere. This movement move-ment doesn't blindly and foolishly ense its ballots, as did those who made up the-mass meeting the other night, for officials which It cannot control and for-policies of which it-is ignorant. When the men and women of this con tinuous temperance" crusade to which I have the honor to belong, vote tor a set of officers, they retain always the absolute power of recall and they know that with that power and with the initiative and referendum, which are essential parts of its organization, organiza-tion, it possesses at all times the means of effecting Its will. If you want to see the differertce between this temperance movement and that represented by the mass meeting in the theater, you have only to reflect that If those Republican advocates A prohibition had had sense enough to rr.ake tho initiative and referendum and the power to recall a part of tho state constitution and avallablo at all times for their use that Is, If thoy had been enough In earnest In their citizenship, enough. Intelligent in their democracy, to entitle them to tho respect of thinking people In the 20th century, they would not be In "tho predicament they now are. They would not have to petition their own I elected representatives in vain for ' what they desire. They could do It themselves. As a matter of fact, ' these instruments of fundamental de-; de-; mocracy the Initiative, Teferendom ! and recall have already been sanc- tloned by the people of this state, I and the only thing needed to mak': 1 them effectlvo is the presence of sufficient suf-ficient interest In democracy on tho part of the dominant church or the dominant party in this state. That these indispensable agencies of democracy de-mocracy are today a dead letter, Inoperative In-operative and useless, is the clearest possible evidence of the absence of in-! in-! telllgence or will among theso very people who are now proposing to pass a state-wide prohibitory law. These are not tho kind of people to follow In a temperance movement or any other sort of movemonU The people who prove themselves entitled to confidence con-fidence as leaders In any such movement move-ment are the people whose intelligence intelli-gence is broad enough and. whose moral earncstneBB is deep enough to make them adopt measures which ep-sure ep-sure success in their effort. The troublo with those people of the ma9H meeting Is, their sincerity and earnestness earn-estness do not go deep enough. They have done nothing yet to Justiry us in Relieving that they tmean business. busi-ness. r They are equal to the effort of a 'ma3 meeting they arc not equal to the effort of a campaign I which never stops and never will stop till the ends of Justice are gained 1 These people who are avowedly working work-ing for prohibitory legislation or for the suppression of gambling or for the removal of any other Boclal evil are not giving evidence yet either of knowing what they want or of being willing to pay tho price of getting the one thing which would be effective. They are not remanding any constructive construc-tive policy for the state at all. They are seeking a mere negation. They are not asking the state to Bay and mean It: "Thou shalt." They ar asking merely that it shall say: "Thou ! shalt not." They are' barking back to the Ineffective prohibition of the law, They show no evidence of knowing or being inspired by the spirit of tho gospel. 'We are not living, or ought J not to be, under the pegatlons of the law. We ought to be living under tho 1 Inspiration of the affirmations, th positive, constructive spirit, or the gospel. , . It is an infinitely better thing In every way Indeed, the only right or effective way to get rid of the saloon and the.ovlls of intemperance py getting get-ting rid of their cause, than it is lo waste one'B time In trying to cover up or even to remove the 'mere effects ef-fects of that cause. After nearly a generation of continuous service In the battle against intemperance and as an advocate of prohibition, after having served for years as the president presi-dent of the Woman's Christian Temperance Tem-perance Union, National and World's, Frances E. Willard, one of the noblest spirits America has produced,, declared de-clared that whllo Intemperance was the cause of some poverty, poverty is by far, the greatest cause ot intemperance, in-temperance, and in one of her annual addresses as president of the W. C T. U. she frankly Bald that If she were young again she would give the complete com-plete devotion of her life to the move nient of socialism. These were her very words; ."The reason why I am a Socialist Is Just here. I would take, not by force; but by the slow procecs I of lawful acquisition, through bettor I legislation as the outcome of a wiser ; ballot In the hands of men and wo-I wo-I men, the entire plant that we ca!i j civilization and 'make It the common I property of all the people, requiring I all to work with their hands enough to give thorn the finest physical ae-velopment, ae-velopment, but not to become burdensome burden-some in any case, and permitting all to share alike the advantages of education edu-cation and refinement. I believe this I to be perfectly practicable; indeed, j that any other method is merely a I relic of barbarism. ( "I believe that competition la '. doomed. The trusts, whose single ob- ject is to abolish competition, oavlug proved that we aro better without It j than with It, the moment corporations . control the supply ot any product they combine. What the Socialists de-J de-J Eire Is that the corporation of hu-1 hu-1 manlty should control all production. I Beloved comrades, this is the friction- lees way; it Is the higher way; it eliminates tho motives for a selfish life; It enacts Into every day life the j ethics of Christ's gospel. Nothing else will do it; nothing else can bring j the glad day of universal brotherhood. . "Oli that I were young again, So-clallsm So-clallsm should have my life! It s God's way out of the wilderness and into the promised land. It is tho very meat and marrow -of Christ's gospel. gos-pel. It Is Christianity applied." I hae quoted those words or Frances Fran-ces E. Willard especially because during dur-ing her life she was beyond any question ques-tion the foremost leader In the light against intemperance. No other person per-son can be named whose word Is entitled en-titled to greater.welght than hers. Ono j need not be greatly ashamed to be in the same company with the one woman wo-man whose marble effigy adorns the national capltol at Washington, selected select-ed by the, state of Illinois as Its most distinguished citizen for that honor. This noblest of American women, whom it was an Inspiration to know Qr hear, found at last the solution of the problem of intemperance. She 6aw that by doing away with tho cause of poverty and by ensuring to every young, man and young woman, economic independence and the opportunity op-portunity of useful and congenial employment, em-ployment, we should solvo this proD-lem. proD-lem. Even under the existing system there Is no way in which you can so surely guarantee that any young man will not become the victim of intemperance intem-perance as by providing him with employment em-ployment that is congenial, , hopelui, inspiring and having adequate reward. Given that, the moral problem of your boy or any boy is nearer solution solu-tion than by any other method. But If that Is a good thing for your boy; it-is equally, good for any other boy; And government has no higher' sano-tlon sano-tlon than this, that it exists not only to ensure the chance of education for every child. but also for the opportunity oppor-tunity of useful and congenial and absolutely ab-solutely certain employment for every child, It is because such work is not now being provided at all for millions of young men,, because our present industrialism puts a premium on very different qualities, excites In the, minds of young men the desire to get something for nothing, makes business busi-ness a- gamble, and makes Idleness and luxury and the Indulgence or ant-mal ant-mal propensities the supreme good-It good-It :is because of these things, Inseparable Insep-arable from any merely capitalistic mode of production, that society Is rotten with vice from top to bottom. If men and women are 'intelligent and sincere in their desire to remove the evil of intemperance, they will not have to be asked twice to. lend all their influence to the effort which is now being' made by a world-wide movement to ensure to every boy and girl and men and women such employment employ-ment as will appeal to all' that Is best In their natures, such employment a3 will make them conscious co-operators In the production of things of common com-mon use and beauty, and not ambitious ambiti-ous competitors for the privilege of exploiting their fellows. The only thing the mind of man has yet conceived con-ceived which can furnish such employment em-ployment or such social conditions Is Socialism. |