Temperance Column.

Evening Post, Volume L, Issue 42, 17 August 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

Temperance Column.

[The matter for this Column is supplied by a representative of the local Temperance bodies, who alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in it.] 80th BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION OF DR. F. R. LEES, F.S.A. Mr. Came, as President of the oldest Temperance organisation in the country, the British Temperance League, spoke of the honour he felt in being an officer of the very society of which Dr. Lees, bis friend of thirty years, had been secretary fiftyseven years ago. Representing that night the oldest, he also represented the newest, the National Temperance Federation, and added that the honour, too, was his of having been asked to represent the Scottish Temperance League on that night. In eloquent words, whioh in a brief abstxaot it is impossible to do more than indicate, he spoke of the Doctor as the Moses of the Temperance movement, who had led the people up out of the bondage of drink, bearing the burden and heat of the battle, designing the march, and framing the law, until to-night the Pisgah-top was reached, and he could see in the near distance the promised land of fruition. Dr. Lees, he said, can remember the time when there were but " seven pledged abstainers, and he has lived to see seven millions. Dr. Lees can remember the time when an abstainer was regarded as a lunatic : now the leader of the House, and the Government of the day, have displaced Sir Wilfrid Lawson from his Parliamentary leadership ! Referring again to the Doctor, he added — his worth is known all over the world. There is no speech or language where his voice is not heard. His eye is undimmed; his natural strength hns not abated. "May you and I," concluded Mr. Came, "Meet twenty years hence to celebrate your hundredth birthday, and the triumph of our Prohibition cause !" Probably the testimony which would touch Dr. Lees' heart more than any was that of. the great Temperance authority, I Sir. B. W. Eichardiou. His speech was j almost classic ; one of tho most perfect [ bits of word-painting I ever hear,d. Nature, ■ said ho, has always provided the man for the great act. The appearance of Dr. Lees on this earth affords one of the most striki ing evidences of this kind of phenomona iwe have had. His very age, strength, oapacity, and sincerity, are phenomenal. , He called upon all young people present, to j regard this living phenomenon. Even the .' youngest present would remember to his | dying day that the presence of this veteran . of eighty was one of the grandest proofs ! that abstinence is the surest basis of health | and longevity. So markedly has the length , of life increased since the Elizabethan era, j that a man of eighty to-day was the equivalent of a man of 140 three hundred years" ago. Dr. Lees' own life and action in the Temperance cause were phenomenal. To step forward as a lad of nineteen and expose the fallacy of the drink habit of sixty years ago, was nothing leßs than marvellous. The orowning tribute which Dr. Riohardson paid — the one which Dr. Lees would appreciate more than any other — was the testimony from such an authority that, while the detailed medical training might be wanting, intuitive perception, and an exact habit of mind, not content with mere assertion, had enabled Dr. Lees to disseot, and expose the medical fallacies of drink,Jasnone of his earlier contemporaries had done. Old people will remember the time when Dr. Lees, philosopher and Biblical critics, was termed by the unthinking, a " quack " because he dared to express views on the medical aspect of the Temperance question. "It is the unwavering sincerity of our friend which is the characteristic I love best of all," added the speaker as he sat down admidst much applause. NO BEER FOR RAILROAD MEN. The Chicago and Alton Railroad officials have recently promulgated new rules in regard to the use of intoxicating drinks by their employe's, whioh' gives greateremphasis to the use of beer than, before. Here is the order: — "The use of beer or other intoxicating liquors by any employ 6of this company while on duty, is strictly prohibited, and no employe will be allowed to have such liquors in or about any station, shop, or yard,_or other premises of this company at any time, or under any oiroumatancex. "Any conductor, trainman, fireman, engineer, switchman, or other employe, who is known to use intoxicating liquors, or frequent gambling-houses, or other places of low resort, either while on or off duty, will be promptly and permanently discharged from the services of this company. Heads of departments, subordinate offioers, and foremen, are hereby instructed to see that theae rules are strictly enforced at all times. ' ' Th,e saloon-keepers and bar-rooms along the rout threaten to baycott the railroad, if it attempts to enforce these rules. The general manager, in a recent interview in the Chicago Tribune, referring to the ! matter says: —

' ' The rule or order is not a now one, but strictly speaking, simply a rovised edition of an old rule that has been on our timecards for fifteon or twenty years. The old rule specified, only in a general way, however, that the uso of intoxicating liquors was prohibited to employes while on duty. The new one is different in that it specifies they shall not drink beer ; shall not gamble, nor loaf around low resorts at any time, either on duty or off. We find it necessary to specify against these things, for the reason that men get into the habit of sitting up all day or all night, as the case may be, drinking and gambling, instead of resting and sleeping so as to be in good condition, when it comes to their turn to go out on the road again. Such practices have ruined some of the finest engineers and best conductors we ever had. I notice the saloonkeepers are threatening to boycott us. Well, let them go ahead. We don't care anything about that. The loss of their business will not hurt us a particle. It does not amount to enough to pay one-tenth port the expense resulting from one bad accident. I remember an acoident we had a few years ago, which cost the company 30,000 dols., -that was due, we learned afterwards, to the fact that the engineer had been gambling all night, and was incapacitated for want of sleep. The fireman of the other train was Mlled, and the engineer crippled for life. We believe that by giving the publio the best and Bafest service, we will gain more from the better class of people who approve our course, than we will lose by reason of any saloonkeepers' boycott. I do not consider the rule a hardship upon anybody."