The Pacific Commercial Advertiser

THE ISSUE
OF LIQUOR
"Civis Secundus"
on Temperance
Saloons.

Editor Advertiser: In your article of the 6th inst. on "The Saloon Substitute."
you say "the young man does not usually
crave alcohol.
This is probably quite
true of nearly all young men.
The craving
is almost always, the outcome of its
use for a longer or shorter time. depending
very much upon the physical
and mental idiosyncrasies of those using the
drug.
It, the craving, however, most certainly
never would be developed if men
would abstain from drinking, which they
will not do until they become sufficiently
well-informed of the cruel and uncompromising nature of alcohol, and hence a
tremendous responsibility is upon those
who teach that, in "moderation," alcoholic
beverages are innoxious, and teach,
moreover by earnestly expressed wish
that would-be reformers should draw a
distinction between the terms temperance
and abstinence.

To fight this demon of drink and escape
from its clutches, clutches enveloping and
dreadful as the serpent coils of the Laocoon, what have we to do? Do, sir, simply not do: leave it alone, and it will
never harm us or distress those we love
"A voice forever sounding across
the centuries, the laws of right and wrong,"
counsels us to this course, nay demands
from reasonable men that they run no
foolish risk or do aught to undermine the
glorious gift of health. I cannot agree
with you, Mr. Editor, that the glitter of
glass or the sheen of silver will appreciably keep men from saloons where alcoholic intoxicants are sold. You underrate
the power of the seductive and deceiving
drug.
The two great professions, with
the help of the press, could do more
good than all the temperance saloons for
which money could be found. Is the
manhood of the nations to be bribed, cajoled, enticed or drawn away from the
use of alcoholic beverages by "mahogany
and nickel plate and cushioned seats, fine
pictures, electric lights, cut glass and
silverware, good cigars, finely mixed 'soft'
drinks, a tempting lunch, respectful service and convenient visiting and wash
rooms."
Have the races of mankind so
little learned the lessons of life that all
these most desirable things have to be
provided to draw them from the luring
seductions of alcoholic drinks, "whose influence to impart a flush of transient
pleasure is an infinitesimal advantage, by
the side of an infinity of evil, for which
there is no compensation, and no human
cure." (Sir B. W. Richardson.) Total abstinence is the one
great remedy. Let it be preached and practiced and not ridiculed or decried. Let
those who not yet have passed under the
pestilent power of this most direful drug
and who find no difficulty in abandoning
its use, keep from it. Improved health
and increased mental and business capacity will be theirs. Having given up its
use, men will soon learn what they knew
not before, that such giving up was a
duty owed, not only to themselves, but to
all others whithersoever found. "Every
duty we omit," says Ruskin, "obscures
some truth we should have known."

Mephistopheles may perhaps be not inappropriately quoted in conclusion by one who has
broken a lance in defense of those accused of doing "devil's work." To Faust