THE SONS OF TEMPERANCE.

495

ought, for our own protection at least, to equally denounce the dram-drinker. I believe much of the sympathy which has been devoted in this way in the past has been wrongly placed, and much of the consequences of evil habits of the drinking portion of our community, for the sympathy has thus been expressed for the man who drinks. We have been accustomed to say that the drinker is a poor unfortunate and needs all our sympathies, and who is to be aided and upheld, and we are taught to regard him as a victim rather than a sinner. The time has come, in my judgment, when we should teach that the sin of drunkenness is just as vile and degrading as any other vice to which mankind is addicted; and as we hold the violator of law responsible in every other direction, so we should hold equally the man who drinks for the responsibility of his acts. While we teach him, as we have in many cases, that he is not responsible for the acts he does or crimes he commits, we are simply leading him into ways of false security and rendering it so much easier for him to drink and so much harder for him to stop. Let us, then, hold the drinker up in the full measure of his responsibility in the acts he commits, and let us no longer waste any false sympathy upon him unless he is in a position to deserve it. Raise to-day a new standard of reform, and say that the drunkard deserves nothing at our hands, unless he recognizes the evils of the past and is willing to do something himself to aid in the bettering of his life. Without this we can hope for nothing permanent in his future in this direction. And I desire to call your attention to-day to the thought that, if we are to make men sober, it is not by wasting our energies by telling them they can not help themselves, but by telling them unless they do help themselves it is impossible for us to aid them. I have found, as a result of inquiry and personal attention to this matter, that when men are taught that as a result of their drinking habits they will be punished, either by loss of situation or by legal methods, it becomes a strong element of control over them, holding them more nearly in the line of duty. I know, undoubtedly, I shall be classed as one having no sympathy for the man who drinks; but I believe that the position I have given you is the proper one, and the sooner we recognize the responsibility of the drinker, to himself and society, the sooner we shall begin to do something to stay this mighty flood of intemperance which has swept over the land for so many years. I would, then, hold the inebriate to a strict account for his acts, and I believe that, in view of such an accounting, we shall find a better sentiment, a stronger desire to do better, and a general lessening of the evils which afflict the community."

inscriptions upon our banner, we go forth to battle, with full faith that He who is the Author of all law will in the end crown our efforts with complete victory."

This organization supplies a new and greatly needed force in the temperance reform, and, quietly but effectually, has put vitality into the existing anti-liquor laws in many parts of the country, demonstrating the existence of a power for good in the law itself, where a lax public sentiment or corrupt alliance between officials and the criminals whom they sought to protect, in spite of its provisions, had brought a disgrace upon the statute, which belonged to the community. The organization is alert and efficient, although quiet in its operations, and an increasing power.

THE CHAUTAUQUA LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC CIRCLE

is an immense educational system with ganglia or nerve-centers in many parts of the country, and rapidly spreading, and likely to cover the whole of it, all connected with the parent organization in such way as to secure the harmonious and intelligent supervision necessary to efficiency.

The institution already has more than 60,000 members. It is unique and remarkable although very simple in its conception and practical working, and is capable of universal application to a great public want. It should become, and, I believe, will become, one of the permanent institutions of the country.

The Circle is filling the space between the common schools and the higher institutions of learning with the omnipresence and flexibility of water, rather than with the inadaptability of a solid substance, giving to all the opportunity of home reading study and culture under only so much of supervisory help as is required for obtaining a thorough acquaintance with all the great departments of popular knowledge. In this way every spare moment of a whole life may be economized and invested in a constantly accumulating fund of information and mental discipline.

The Circle is, in fact, becoming a great popular college, and I believe it will be permanent and one of the most influential forces of the country.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE REFORM.

499

Physiology and hygiene are necessarily included in its course of reading and study, and the character of its membership leads to the special investigation of the relation of intemperance to health and the public welfare.

I anticipate that this new and growing institution of our country will, directly and indirectly, exert a powerful influence in the coming struggles for temperance reform.

OTHER ORGANIZATIONS.

There are other very excellent and important organizations of growing strength and corresponding usefulness in this country, of which the principal are the Royal Templars of Temperance, which from the year of its formation, in 1877, to 1884, had paid as benefits to the heirs of its deceased members, and to its totally disabled members, $1,169,501. It is a total-abstinence order. Also the order of Cadets of Temperance, which saves the old by gathering in the young. This order is fully described in "One Hundred Years of Temperance," and it is to be hoped that it may become widely established in the country. Of these and other associations I must omit further mention, for want of space. They each perform their part in the great work, and will find ample scope for all their zeal and energy in the conflict which is upon us, to rescue our country and our world.

For the same reason I must omit all detailed description of the United Temperance Association, which covers the Dominion of Canada, as do the United Kingdom Alliance, the British Temperance League, the Scottish Temperance League and the Irish Temperance League their respective countries, and other like associations in all the civilized countries and provinces of the earth. They all are at work, and all have more than enough to do. But the hour of redemption cometh.

POLITICAL PARTIES AND THE REFORM.

The political parties of the day have the issue between man and alcohol to meet. The evil is a mighty fact; resolutions will not remove it, although good to begin with. There is an issue because there is an evil, and the issue will remain until the evil is triumphant or destroyed. There are but