_Question_. What do you think of prohibition, and what do you
think of its success in this State?
_Answer_. Few people understand the restraining influence of
liberty. Moderation walks hand in hand with freedom. I do not
mean the freedom springing from the sudden rupture of restraint.
That kind of freedom usually rushes to extremes.
People must be educated to take care of themselves, and this
education must commence in infancy. Self-restraint is the only
kind that can always be depended upon. Of course intemperance is
a great evil. It causes immense suffering--clothes wives and
children in rags, and is accountable for many crimes, particularly
those of violence. Laws to be of value must be honestly enforced.
Laws that sleep had better be dead. Laws to be enforced must be
honestly approved of and believed in by a large majority of the
people. Unpopular laws make hypocrites, perjurers and official
shirkers of duty. And if to the violation of such laws severe
penalties attach, they are rarely enforced. Laws that create
artificial crimes are the hardest to carry into effect. You can
never convince a majority of people that it is as bad to import
goods without paying the legal duty as to commit larceny. Neither
can you convince a majority of people that it is a crime or sin,
or even a mistake, to drink a glass of wine or beer. Thousands and
thousands of people in this State honestly believe that prohibition
is an interference with their natural rights, and they feel justified
in resorting to almost any means to defeat the law.
In this way people become somewhat demoralized. It is unfortunate
to pass laws that remain unenforced on account of their unpopularity.
People who would on most subjects swear to the truth do not hesitate
to testify falsely on a prohibition trial. In addition to this,
every known device is resorted to, to sell in spite of the law,
and when some want to sell and a great many want to buy, considerable
business will be done, while there are fewer saloons and less liquor
sold in them. The liquor is poorer and the price is higher. The
consumer has to pay for the extra risk. More liquor finds its way
to homes, more men buy by the bottle and gallon. In old times
nearly everybody kept a little rum or whiskey on the sideboard.
The great Washingtonian temperance movement drove liquor out of
the home and increased the taverns and saloons. Now we are driving
liquor back to the homes. In my opinion there is a vast difference
between distilled spirits and the lighter drinks, such as wine and
beer. Wine is a fireside and whiskey a conflagration. These
lighter drinks are not unhealthful and do not, as I believe, create
a craving for stronger beverages. You will, I think, find it almost
impossible to enforce the present law against wine and beer. I
was told yesterday that there are some sixty places in Cedar Rapids
where whiskey is sold. It takes about as much ceremony to get a
drink as it does to join the Masons, but they seem to like the
ceremony. People seem to take delight in outwitting the State when
it does not involve the commission of any natural offence, and when
about to be caught, may not hesitate to swear falsely to the extent
of "don't remember," or "can't say positively," or "can't swear
whether it was whiskey or not."
One great trouble in Iowa is that the politicians, or many of them
who openly advocate prohibition, are really opposed to it. They
want to keep the German vote, and they do not want to lose native
Republicans. They feel a "divided duty" to ride both horses. This
causes the contrast between their conversation and their speeches.
A few years ago I took dinner with a gentleman who had been elected
Governor of one of our States on the Prohibition ticket. We had
four kinds of wine during the meal, and a pony of brandy at the
end. Prohibition will never be a success until it prohibits the
Prohibitionists. And yet I most sincerely hope and believe that
the time will come when drunkenness shall have perished from the
earth. Let us cultivate the love of home. Let husbands and wives
and children be companions. Let them seek amusements together.
If it is a good place for father to go, it is a good place for
mother and the children. I believe that a home can be made more
attractive than a saloon. Let the boys and girls amuse themselves
at home--play games, study music, read interesting books, and let
the parents be their playfellows. The best temperance lecture, in
the fewest words, you will find in Victor Hugo's great novel "Les
Miserables." The grave digger is asked to take a drink. He refuses
and gives this reason: "The hunger of my family is the enemy of
my thirst."
_Question_. Many people wonder why you are out of politics. Will
you give your reasons?
_Answer_. A few years ago great questions had to be settled. The
life of the nation was at stake. Later the liberty of millions of
slaves depended upon the action of the Government. Afterward
reconstruction and the rights of citizens pressed themselves upon
the people for solution. And last, the preservation of national
honor and credit. These questions did not enter into the last
campaign. They had all been settled, and properly settled, with
the one exception of the duty of the nation to protect the colored
citizens. The Supreme Court settled that, at least for a time,
and settled it wrong. But the Republican party submitted to the
civil rights decision, and so, as between the great parties, that
question did not arise. This left only two questions--protection
and office. But as a matter of fact, all Republicans were not for
our present system of protection, and all Democrats were not against
it. On that question each party was and is divided. On the other
question--office--both parties were and are in perfect harmony.
Nothing remains now for the Democrats to do except to give a
"working" definition of "offensive partisanship."
_Question_. Do you think that the American people are seeking
after truth, or do they want to be amused?
_Answer_. We have all kinds. Thousands are earnestly seeking for
the truth. They are looking over the old creeds, they are studying
the Bible for themselves, they have the candor born of courage,
they are depending upon themselves instead of on the clergy. They
have found out that the clergy do not know; that their sources of
information are not reliable; that, like the politicians, many
ministers preach one way and talk another. The doctrine of eternal
pain has driven millions from the church. People with good hearts
cannot get consolation out of that cruel lie. The ministers
themselves are getting ashamed to call that doctrine "the tidings
of great joy." The American people are a serious people. They
want to know the truth. They fell that whatever the truth may be
they have the courage to hear it. The American people also have
a sense of humor. They like to see old absurdities punctured and
solemn stupidity held up to laughter. They are, on the average,
the most intelligent people on the earth. They can see the point.
Their wit is sharp, quick and logical. Nothing amuses them more
that to see the mask pulled from the face of sham. The average
American is generous, intelligent, level-headed, manly, and good-
natured.
_Question_. What, in your judgment, is the source of the greatest
trouble among men?
_Answer_. Superstition. That has caused more agony, more tears,
persecution and real misery than all other causes combined. The
other name for superstition is ignorance. When men learn that all
sin is a mistake, that all dishonesty is a blunder, that even
intelligent selfishness will protect the rights of others, there
will be vastly more happiness in this world. Shakespeare says that
"There is no darkness but ignorance." Sometime man will learn that
when he steals from another, he robs himself--that the way to be
happy is to make others so, and that it is far better to assist
his fellow-man than to fast, say prayers, count beads or build
temples to the Unknown. Some people tell us that selfishness is
the only sin, but selfishness grows in the soil of ignorance.
After all, education is the great lever, and the only one capable
of raising mankind. People ignorant of their own rights are ignorant
of the rights of others. Every tyrant is the slave of ignorance.
_Question_. How soon do you think we would have the millennium if
every person attended strictly to his own business?
_Answer_. Now, if every person were intelligent enough to know
his own business--to know just where his rights ended and the rights
of others commenced, and then had the wisdom and honesty to act
accordingly, we should have a very happy world. Most people like
to control the conduct of others. They love to write rules, and
pass laws for the benefit of their neighbors, and the neighbors
are pretty busy at the same business. People, as a rule, think
that they know the business of other people better than they do
their own. A man watching others play checkers or chess always
thinks he sees better moves than the players make. When all people
attend to their own business they will know that a part of their
own business is to increase the happiness of others.
_Question_. What is causing the development of this country?
_Answer_. Education, the free exchange of ideas, inventions by
which the forces of nature become our servants, intellectual
hospitality, a willingness to hear the other side, the richness of
our soil, the extent of our territory, the diversity of climate
and production, our system of government, the free discussion of
political questions, our social freedom, and above all, the fact
that labor is honorable.
_Question_. What is your opinion of the religious tendency of the
people of this country?
_Answer_. Using the word religion in its highest and best sense,
the people are becoming more religious. We are far more religious
--using the word in its best sense--than when we believed in human
slavery, but we are not as orthodox as we were then. We have more
principle and less piety. We care more for the right and less for
the creed. The old orthodox dogmas are mouldy. You will find moss
on their backs. They are only brought out when a new candidate
for the ministry is to be examined. Only a little while ago in
New York a candidate for the Presbyterian pulpit was examined and
the following is a part of the examination:
_Question_. "Do you believe in eternal punishment, as set forth
in the confession of faith?"
_Answer_. (With some hesitation) "Yes, I do."
_Question_. "Have you preached on that subject lately?"
_Answer_. "No. I prepared a sermon on hell, in which I took the
ground that the punishment of the wicked will be endless, and have
it with me."
_Question_. "Did you deliver it?"
_Answer_. "No. I thought that my congregation would not care to
hear it. The doctrine is rather unpopular where I have been
preaching, and I was afraid I might do harm, so I have not delivered
it yet."
_Question_. "But you believe in eternal damnation, do you not?"
_Answer_. "O yes, with all my heart."
He was admitted, and the admission proves the dishonesty of the
examiners and the examined. The new version of the Old and New
Testaments has done much to weaken confidence in the doctrine of
inspiration. It has occurred to a good many that if God took the
pains to inspire men to write the Bible, he ought to have inspired
others to translate it correctly. The general tendency today is
toward science, toward naturalism, toward what is called Infidelity,
but is in fact fidelity. Men are in a transition state, and the
people, on the average, have more real good, sound sense to-day
than ever before. The church is losing its power for evil. The
old chains are wearing out, and new ones are not being made. The
tendency is toward intellectual freedom, and that means the final
destruction of the orthodox bastille.
_Question_. What is your opinion of General Grant as he stands
before the people to-day?
_Answer_. I have always regarded General Grant as the greatest
soldier this continent has produced. He is to-day the most
distinguished son of the Republic. The people have the greatest
confidence in his ability, his patriotism and his integrity. The
financial disaster impoverished General Grant, but he did not stain
the reputation of the grand soldier who led to many victories the
greatest army that ever fought for the liberties of man.
--_Iowa State Register_, May 23, 1885.