The Moral and Social Aspects of Temperance.

White Ribbon, Volume 2, Issue 25, 1 July 1897, Page 1

The Moral and Social Aspects of Temperance.

A Papf.r written by Miss L. M. Kirk, of Wellington, and read at THE MEETING OF THE WOMEN’S National Council in Christ church. ( Concluded.) W’hat then is the duty which the owes to his fellows and to s ociety ? “ Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” is the simplest expressicn of the law of love, which is to regulate our actions in society. It is difficult to see how the if he is true to the creed that he pro * fesses, can consistently hesitate as to the attitude towards what, on the authorities quoted, must be pronounced

the greatest curse of modern times. The question is not what is pleasant for him, or even good for him, but wrhat is good lor his neighl>our, for the body of which he is a meml>er f and no amount of quibbling can conceal the fact that the appetite of the moderate drinker is the primary cause of the evil. “ If meat make my brother to offend, then I will eat no meat while the world standeth.” It may be said, however, that the evils to which I have refened are those of excess, and that the man who exercises self-control in his indulgence is not justly to be visited w ith the blame. The drink seller and the drunkard, we are told, are the really responsible parties. But to blame them is, as has been well said by a distinguished divine, like blaming the flame and the fuel for the fire. “ What we want to know is,” he continues, “ who set the fire alight ? and who keeps it burning ? " in other w’ords, who permits and encourages the drink-seller to perform the function of tempter ? The State does this by giving the drink-seller leave to sell ; but it does not do so for his sake. For whose, then ? Not for the drunkard’s, for the State disapproves of drunkards; not for the teetotaler’s, for the teetotaler disapproves of drink ; but for the sake of the moderate drinker, whose reasonable requirements the State desires to satisfy. It is on account of the moderate drinker that the liquor traffic is tolerated and licensed And if there were no moderate drinkers *hen there would be no liquor traffic; then that terrible catalogue of evils which I have merely glanced at woulJ be swept away; that Ctopian prophecy of Mr Chamberlain’s would be realised, and more would have been achieved for human happiness and virtue than by the combined labours of statesmen and philanthropists for the last hundred years. If, then, we ask again, Who is ultimately responsible for the greatest

scourge of modern civilisation, who is responsible for the ruthless waste of human life and character, for the impoverishment and degradation of the poor, for the sorrow of the fatherless and the widow, the shivering and the starving ? our answer can only be, unpleasant as it may be to utter: — ‘ Stand forth, O Moderate Drinker, for thou art the man ! ’ This is indeed a terrible responsibility, but it is one from which the moderate drinker, however amiable is his intention, will, I submit, find it impossible to escape, consistently with Christianity and the laws of logic. If he can succeed in doing so we shall be glad to hear his solution. If he cannot then we ask him to come over and join us in removing and fighting to the death the foulest destroyer of the bodies and souls of men known to our day and generation. Speaking as a woman to women in a land where women enjoy almost a full measure of political power, I may properly add a special word in conclusion. I he extension of the fianchise to women has been the ground for many irrational hopes, and many irrational disappointments. Some profound philosopher has observed that there is a deal of human nature in man, and it is strange that, though our humanity constituted the basis of our demand for the franchise, the expectations which some had formed of us as a political force overlooked the fact that there is a deal of human nature in women too. There were women at the last election who voted for drunkards and immoral men, with a full knowledge of their character; there were women who voted for the liquor traffic and other abuses—let us hope with not so clear a perception ot what they were doing. But to say this is merely to say that in the three years of her political power woman has not yet attained to perfection in its exerI cise, perhaps not advanced far beyond

the point reached by men after centuries of practice. Politics is a complex business not to be mastered in a day, nor in three years, and by some not even in a lifetime. But the subject I have been discussing—the subject of temperance in its non-political aspects —is one which demands no laborious apprenticeship, and no pro found statesmanship for its comprehension. It is a subject which anyone with a mind and a heart for the simplest elements of Christian or humanitarian teaching can fathom as easily and as thoroughly as the wisest of the wise. It is a subject, moreover, preeminently fitted for women to take up. In the home, the nursery, and the social circle her influence is still supreme, and, whatever changes politics may bring, this supremacy is one which she is never likely to lose. If her power to mould the minds of the and the social customs of the adult a power mightier than any legislative power, because law is weaker than opinion and powerless without it—if this great power were exerted by herconstantly and strenuously to promote the cause of temperance, women might, without for a moment leaving the private sphere to which some old-fashioned critics would confine her, effect a glorious and bloodless revolution, the like of which the world has never seen. My prayer is that we may shew ourselves worthy of this great trust.