BROAD-MINDEDNESS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1293, 23 November 1911, Page 7

BROAD-MINDEDNESS.

A CLERGYMAN ON THE INN. PUBLIC-HOUSES DEFENDED. "The world move;," 3aid a famous scientist; and in the realm of temperance the world, and the opinion!, nf the people iu it, ore moving. Steadily the conclusion is making its way that Prohibition and teetotalism are not temperance, und that there is intompcranee —wicked, unjustitiablo intemperance — iu other matters besides the consumption ot" alcoholic beverages. Now, In some tcmperauce circles, broadmimledness and commou sense are making some headway and finding expression. It is really time that the true meaning of tho word temperance was understood. At the National Temperance Leigue breakfast at Birmingham, England, on July 29, 1911, the speakers uniformly abstained from a wholesale denunciation of alcohol, and advocated rnoderi- ' ion in all things. One condemned tho excessive use of tea, coffee, and cocoa. Another dwelt on the injuriousness of cheap cigarettes, while a third made a good point by citing the case of a friend who was a staunch teetotaller, hut died through eating too much. In the name of temperance many follies are committed.

Again, in tho same town, anoth:-r gentleman, this time a clergyman, speaking at a meeting of clergymen coiiveued for the exposition of evangelical views, tho Rev. S. Alfred Johnson bravely defended tho country inn and tho city hotel. The reverend gentleman held that the public-house was rightly to be considered the poor man's club. Such a place presented him with his sole opportunity of interchanging ideas with boon companions. The tiller of the soil, the mechanic., and tho artisan wero entitled, to the full enjoyment ot the social intercourse of the public-house. Bigots, the clergy, and those iu high places had no more justification for depriving the lower orders of their rights in this direction than they had to empty the rich man's wine cellar. He stood up manfully for common sense in respect of the poor man's recreation, and there was not a single dissentient voice. Birmingham is evidently taking the lead in the true temperance cause. And it is true the smug hypocritical attitude obfeived by some Prohibitionist clergymen to wards hotelkeepers—an attitude which is reminiscent of the Pharisee of old was dealt with as it deserves. The hotel is the working man's club—and anveno who seeks to destroy it is working in the interests of a class which would control the liberty of tho poor while allowing the utmost license in the rich.

By striking out tho bottom lines on both papers, you will express your broad-minded views ou this question, and deal a deatli-blow to -hypocrisy, deceit, and cant, as expressed so forcibly by Prohibitionists.' 4