THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND NO-LICENSE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14281, 1 August 1908, Page 7

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH AND NO-LICENSE.

Sin;—Tho Rev. Mr Tennent evades altogether the questions which I put to him in iny last letter. I give him credit, however, that lie did not do so of maiice aforethought, but that, having failed lo study the question thoroughly, and not liaving read uo-licensc literature with sufficient ea.ro and attention, ho missed tho claims which his own side have continually made. Boforo I answer Mr Tennenn. however, \ should Uko to examine briefly the mind of a man who could have panned the letter of the 23rd inst. He tells me tho Church fails because she uses carnal weapons, and that I make this charge because the Church tries to use her eitizdUt ship for Christ's jdorv. and that I tried to blacken tho character of tho Church. Had I been arguing with a Mohammedcn 1 I might expect repartee of this kind, but not from a Christian minister. Sis mind savours strongly of being saturated with a spirit bordering as closelv upon fanaticism as it is possible to ffo. If Mr Ten- ; nent wore as fair as I should expect one in his position to be, ho might be able to say that while ono might differ from him on a political question, he is not thereby to be damned as being consciously wicked. To be frank with Mr I 6hould like him very much better if he would think less of" the infallibility of his own position, and less, too, of tho fallibility of others. Ho tells me that my cxegesis_ is at a discount. Ho might take tho trouble to reread mv letter, when he will find that 1 the quotation was perfectly correct, and had very stromr bearing on the subject. Ono more detail before I deal with Mr Tennent's letter: Ho asks mo if-1 should : like to regulate what ho is pleased to ' call a "most awful traffic," that desi. 1 the bodies and souls of men. Mr Tennent's ' languago hero is nauseous. The traffic • never destroyed either tho soul or the body : of a man, unless the man connived at do--1 stroving his own soul and body. It might. 1 be os well, too, if Mr Tennent were to ' remember ■ that ■ the Christian Church «k ' different poriods in her history destroyed ' more bodies and souls, committed more 1 atrocities, racked, tortured, and destroyed ! millions, and, as a matter of fact, in many 1 ways and in several places is to-day guilty ; of murder, rapine, plunder, outrage, in- ' trigue and other unmentionable cruelties. ■ Would Mr Tennent say, therefore, that ' every Christian Church should be peromp- ' torily closed up, and every Christian. • preacher deported to some asylum when [ his tongue should bo kept silent and his ' mouth for ever stopped? If Mr Tennent > will weigh- tho evils which have accom- ' panied profession Christianity against the ) evils caused by tho abuse of liquor he will ' find that drink is not in it. 3 I now come to Mr Tennent's .letter, and ! let mo state that when he spwiks of por--3 sonal abstinence or of moderation, I am 3 quite with, him, But I put the question 3 to Mr Tennent, which I must ask him to J answer: Has he any right, according to k the Scriptures, which he takes as tho -'itc fallible rule of faith and duty, to urge 3 his congregation to vote no-lioense? In fc my judgment he is acting an un-Christion 1 and thoroughly unscriptural part, j I chal- ' lenge him to debate tho question iwith we, • cither here or in Port Chalmers, when I ' will provo that, so far as the Soriptures are I concerned, he has not got a leg to stand 1 on. He tolls us that no-license advocates, | for tho past 20 years, never said such a 2 foolish thing as that no-license would prpfc tcct women and children. This, of course, 3 is an instance of Mr Tennent's lack of 5 knowledge of no-Kcense literature. Quite • recently a manifesto waa published in In--1 vercargill, signed by many no-lioense 3 people, which was drawn up by Mr K. B. [ Nicholls. That manifesto states teat- 'he 3 moral condition has necessarily improved. Theexact meaning of this oannotbe mistaken 5 by anyone. No-licenso is there claimed 1 to have improved tho moral 'condition o. » -the people. A more emphatic statement ; could not bo made by no-licenso advocates. 1 How is it that Mr Tennent is ignorant of s this? He tells ua ono thing, and Mr 1 Nicholls tells us another. If after two years of no-licenso in Invercargill l the moxal 7 condition lias improved, in Maine the • moral condition ought to bo enor- ' mously improved a.ftor 50 years of nolicense. But what do we find? f Maine has lost 22,000 children, between tho years I mentioned. Maine has more divorce ) cases than any other State in the American Union, except .possibly one; Maine pays less 1 to her schoolmasters, and has at least as 1 many liomicdes pro rata, as any North Ati lanti'o State. lam entitled to ask, 'Where , is the moral improvement? If no-licensc necessarily means moral improvement, to r ueo the words of the No-license party, that ' improvement would surely mean tho protec--5 tion of women and cluldrenj So for I have J only'asked these questions from Mr Tennent's own side. Quito recently the No- . license party was advertising a great victory t in an American State. If Mr Tennent will turn to Miss Von Vorst's book on " Ameri- • can Factory Life " he will find tho followj ing:—"Men, women, and children—little t children of live and six,—they crowd into . the anils to get through their daily tasks as e best they may, and fling themsefres, in tboir clothes, down on their comfortless, sheetless beds, till Excelsior summons them I, to another day of toil." Her description s of the little children—unwashed, clad iu , dirty rags with no change of clothes winter j or summer, who are driven into the mills for their 13 hours' daily toil, so weary that j they fall asleep the moment that there is a s temporary cessation of work—is horrible , beyond words. She says the children have | no childhood, no schooling, no play, and j. that they grow old in precocious knowledge ! of the sin and misery of tho .world. She ~ tells of one lad of 14, "poor white .trash," j, who works from 5.45 a.m. to 6.45 p.m., with s three-quarters of an hour for dinner at ~ noon. He hoards with a number of men, r from whom he gets little friendliness. He „ earns 50 cents a day, has not a relation or s friend in tho world; no education, no means [ of getting any; has lost one arm; is worn . to a skeleton, old-looking and ill. He says i. of his pay: "It keeps jno in existence." ,t " He is a type. The lad lias never known a ,[ day of happiness or decent comfort, and has no hope." This surely will make thoughtful people ask: How is it possible j for people to vote prohibition and yet to be >• so callously cruel to their workers? Mr s Tennent might try to explain the enntradiui tion. s If we turn to the other side of die 'iuesfj tion, ami ask positively whether .no-licenso e will save men from drunkenness, and if we e take statistics in any place;—say, Maine, a which has been under no-licenso for 50 " years,—we find that that State is to-day the 5 most drunken in the-whole of America- ,. There are more divorces and persons eom--6 mitted for drunkenness than in any otjier e State. It has only plunged them deep e into the mire instead of saving them. I it am prepared to take the official figures for is Portland, Bangor, Biddoford, Augusta, y Brunswick, Bath, and Lowiston, and prove ;s 'to Mr Tennent beyond a doubt, that noit license has boon productive of enormous 's drunkenness. What comes of his argud ment then? It falls hopelessly to tho n ground. What comes o£ his *>os?. : ion? It is I lias proved. iuwdicseDtaUy $mz. SWiat

BWMiiJiiiiiiimiiiiiiiMiiimuniiivrimaTimMiiiinwiwMa comes of the whole agitation? It Ls shown, to bo conducted on wrong lines, and to be inimical to temperance and morality. I" want clear facts—argument —to bo stated with intelligence and pertinency, without shuffling or personalities, which Mr Tennont is unfortunately sometimes inclined.to use. Again I ask Mr Tennent: Will ho meet mo on tho platform to discuss tho question from tho Scriptural standpoint?—l'am, etc., Wm. Thohson.