TEMPERANCE COLUMN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14632, 18 September 1909, Page 4

TEMPERANCE COLUMN

f CTHE .VICTORIAN PREMIER'S TEMS PERANCIS SPEECH. Tho following is culled from the '■j 'Argus report, of tho address given by tho Hon. John Murray, State Premier, at the anniversary demonstration of the Brunswick Tent. Mr Murray, who was received with -enthusiasm, said, in advocating the cause of temperance wo are united in thu closest bond of friendship, in that ,we aro fighting tho greatest enemy that civilisation has ever known, and this I say without reserve. 1 am one of yourselves now, remember—(cheers)—-and I want to say that we temperance people are not the ferocious monsters that tho other side say we are, going about seeking whom we may devour, and trying to do all the evil wo can to others, but if stamping the heel on the neck of the greatest curse that mankind has ever known is doing evil, then I am prepare ! to go on doing that every day of my life, and 1 am glad to bo ,i worker in •such a cause.—(Applause.) I was clad 'to hear what John iVale had to say about cigarette smoking, Tho papers a'ffcct to sneer at. me over my efforts to put it down. But I will not only try to put down that evil, but also any other that threatens the community, ,We put down opium smoking. Why* Not so much Lecause of tile ovil it is to-day, but because we thought it might become—as it has become in America—an evil that would sap the very vitals of our people. To come to this causo of cigarette smoking. It is no now fad of mine. It was a hard-headed trainer of horses who first put mo on to it. He saw it among his stable boys, but it is not confined to the stable by any means—still, even the stable boy is worth saving. This trainer of horses said to mo, " You ought to stamp it out; you ought to legislate for it, and then we would have no mure sleepy, idle, listless boys that can't raise enough energy to strap a horse down!" Jiut the first thing we have to do is to educalo public opinion, and when wo havo dono that, wo will find these papers who now sneer at us—these great press organs that' employ childhood to sell their wares in the streets of the cit.v at times when they should he at school ov Jiome in bed—yes, we will find them on our side. And thero is only one way to treat it, and that is to treat it as we treated opium smoking, by absolute prohibition, and nothing short of it. I have said nothing yet about temperance. Cigaretto smoking and dram drinking go hand iu liand. It always seems strange to me that tho other side put up no arguments, oratorically at any rate, in answer to what we have to say for our sido of tho question. The fact is, they have none—only n f e w empty old excuses that won't hold water.— (Loud laughter.) They may eay it- is aj very excellent medicine—it has saved "vos. I should like to know how niauy lives " King Liquor " has saved in this country. Do you see how many fingers of my hand I am holding up—two—and I believe that is two too many.—(Laughtor.) On llio other hand, how many .wretches has " King Liquor " slaughtered, .ruined, degraded, and sent down to ail ignominious and dishonoured grave? They say again, what about the revenue it brings in? I myself could Dover seo that it was revenue to foster .trade for which the community had to pay so dearly with its life, or that- it .was revenue to grant a privilege to ,i class to dispose of their fellow creatures. Abolish drink, and is there any sane 1 man who can say wo would be the losers by the transaction? No! the economic gains aro nothing—it is just destroying V'hat would bo otberwiso good food, and tonverling it into something insidiously evil. They talk a lot about vested interests. iWhy, supposo that Bomo man had had granted to him in the past a right to Jicep a quagmire full of typhoid germs, that' Was a menace to tho life of those . who lived ov passed near it. In these : '(lays what would happen if the health offibcr came along? It would go—vested or not vested. Suppose somo hideous Itiud of demon wero to come Irom tho depths of tho Yuira, and seize a victim every night from the bank, why, the people woidd rise np and never rest until they had destroyed the monster, even 'f they had to drain our beautiful Yarra tc do it.—(Loud laughter.) Tho man wo want to get on to our side is the moderate man. It is not the "other side," but tho moderate party, which holds the balance of power, and I ask the moderate man, " Do this for us. ■ .It means 60 little to you and so much \ tor your poor, helpless brother." I 'began by being a moderate drinker my- . self, anil" then I went over to the othor , sido-tlic, wrong side. But I'm on tho j .-right side now.—(Cheers.) The ranks j't>f the drinkers aro recruited from tho I moderate nlan. j I want to say something to these young I Ifellows licro to-night, these Naval Brigade boys who received me to-night. It j is tho young people we want to get at. i You cannot do much with tho real old j boozer, whose conscicnce is as hard as ,■ the edges of hie liver—and that's pretty j.hard, I can toll you! No. Get hold of j'.tlw young, and how better can wo drivo •j "it homo to them than by placing tho i - bleary-eyed, helpless, doddering old \ boozer in contrast with the sane, hoalthy .man, who has been temperate all his 'lifo. Moderation is the cause of all the trouble. First it bogins by young men . going into an hotel and having lemonade, then a lill-lo light wine with the lemonade, then wine that is a, little strong, nnd then something that is a great deal stronger than they arc. I speak from the depths of a long and bitter experience. The so-called pleasures of the game are all illusory, so much so that all tho real pleasures of a lifetime can scarccly compensate for one of those " next mornings" of abject misery. -iThcre is no greater bell to bo pictured by the human mind than that for tho drunkard who has not lost evory atom of his self-respect. Besides, it is a most selfish habit. A man leaves his home, his wife, and his family to go nnd enjoy himsolf—alone, or by pouring down the throats of himself ana his companions the raiment of his wife and children, It destroys any natural feelings a man may possess. You know I have tried it ail myself. I have drunk in three continents (I am not proud of the boast, mind you), and found it. all much alike. The misery of waking up is just the , same after champagne as after the sheoak juice of the back-blocks. They say champagne is the " nectar of the gods." The gods never thought anything of the kind—they had more sense. Anyway, whatever it is called, it . is all the eamo next day. The cause of temperance has . no more whole-hearted supporter than I I am.—(Prolonged applause.) 1 ALCOHOL IN WAR. What Sir Fredk, Treves says.—Sir Frcdk. Trews, the King's surgeon, and the greatest surgeon in our Empire, left his valuable practice for a timo during the South African war so that lie might help to cure the wonnded soldiers. After ho went back to London he said : " I was, as you know, with the relief coluniu that moved on Ladyamith, and, of course, ■it was :n> extremely trying time by reason of the hot weather. In that, enormous column of 30,000, the first who dropped out were not the tall men, or the short men, or tlio big men, or the little men—they wero tho drinkers, and they dropped ont -as clearly as if theyhad been labelled with a big letter on their backs." IT all the soldiers had been drinkers the relief column might not have reached Ladysmilh in time t and the garrison might iavc been compelled to-surrender. What Donald: M'Donald says.—Donaid M'Donald, who'writes the notes for boys in the Argue, was shut up in Ladysmith with the soldiers,, and he told us another side of the story. Tho supply of strong drink in the town soon became exhausted, and ho wrote in the Axgus : " Temperanco advocates can get a text ont of Ladysnrith that cannot bo excelled in any place in the world—tho total absence of* crime because of tho absence of drink." One of tho Federal members of Parliament, Mr Pago, from Queensland, was able to tell the House of Reinesentatives. something .oa J this i»int.

He said : " When I was with the troops in South Africa we were kept seven months without grog, and during that time not one man was sent up for punishment, But when wo got to Dundee die men were able to get liquor, and the first night there were 37 in the guardroom for drunkenness." While the wog was locked up the men were free, hut as soon as '.lie grog was put. ill their way the men were locked up. It would be better [<i lock up llio drink than to lock up the drinkers. What the Duke of Wellington said.— The great Duke of Wellington taid : " I am convinced that if a system of temperance could he generally established in the army, it would be greatly for th-i advantage of the discipline and efficiency of the troops." During the Peninsula war, the I)uke heard that a large magazine of wine lay on his line of march, and fearing more for his men from barrels of wine than batteries of cannon, he despatched a body'of men to knock every wine barrel on the head. What Viscount Wokeley said.—Viscount Wolseley sjaid : " Our men enjoyed splendid health in the Soudan, and this is due- to the fact that from the time they entered the Soudan until they quitted it, they were not supplied with spirits." What Sir 0. Napier said.—Sir G. Napier, at Calcutt a, reviewing the British' troops, said to his men, " Let me give you a bit of advice—that is, don't drink! I know young men do not think much afiout advice from old men. They put their tongue in their cheek, and think they know a great deal better than tho old ' cove ' who is giving them advice. But if you drink you are done for." What Stonewall Jackson said.—ln the story of the Civil War in America we are told that General Stonewall Jackson was remarkable for his strict abstinence. On one occasion, when much exhausted, he was.asked by a brother officer to join in a glass of brandy and water. " No," said he, "I never use it; I am more afraid of it than of Yankee bullets." A Toetotal Triumph.—During the Indian Mutiny there was a night attack on Sir Archibald Campbell's forces. The soldiers first called suut were drunk, and unable to respond. " Then call out Havelock's saints," eaid the general, " they aro always sober, and can be depended on, and Havelock himself is always ready." And so it proved, for, as soon as the bugle sounded,'they were under arms, and the enemy promptly repulsed. " Havelock's saints " were teetotalers,