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The Temperance Rally

The Temperance Rally image
Parent Issue
Day
4
Month
June
Year
1880
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The county temperance mass meeting exceeded in magnitude, purhaps, the anticipatiou of ¦ the most euthusiasüe. The weather could not har boon better beaaved ; cool and exceedingly pleasant, tho rain of the previous dav had laid the dust nicely, and soemed to be in league with tho cause. At about mi o'olock THE PRO0E8S10N commeiiced filing by the eourt house square, and at about 20 minutes past eleven the last vehiole had passed, taking about one hour in passing. The banners of nearly every club in the county were waving in the line. The Ann Arbor city band headed the prooession, and the following clubs came aftcr: Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Whitraore Lak e, Salem, Leeland's Church, Salem Station, Dixboro, Forbs' Corners, Superior, Hamburg, Paint Creek, Lima Center, Lapham Corners, Salino, Stony Creek, Mooreville, Milan, Lodi, Chelsea, Dexter and Delhi, 21 in all. Tho Delhi dclegation had several wagons artistically trimined with evergreens, red and white ribbons, appropriate mottocs, etc, and the whole made a very pleasing sight, said to be the largest demonstraron since the famous mass meetings of war times. The line of march was up Huron to State to the university square, around whicb they circlcd back to William street, which they descended to Main, down Main to Pontiao, from Pontiac to Ann and from theoce to the opera house, where they disbanded. The red ribbon rooms in the basement of the opera house were thrown open, and all who could broucht in their baskets and partook of lunch. But the crowd was so very reat that many sought the grateful shado of our streets, while others were oared for by friends and rclatives in tbc city. At two o'clock p. m., TUE OPERA HOUSE was filled with as large a crowd as ever within its walls, to listen to the in-door exercises. The four bands present, the Ann Arbor city, Ypsilanti, Dexter and Chelsea, were massed upon the stage, and under the leadership of Con Iloffuian, of the Dexter band, rendered two pieces in a most excellent manner, after which the reform club choir sang the hymn " work, for the night is coming on." Rev. W. W. Washburne, of Ypsilanti, then read a portion of the scriptures, and was followed by a prayer from Rev. Dr. Haskell, of this city. Rcv. Dan. K. Shier, of Saline, liairman of the county temperance comniittec, then announced the object of the meeting, and upon suggestion appointed a comniittee, consisting of J. Sehuniacher, of Ann Arbor, Watson Snyder, of Ypsilanti, and C. H. Kempf, of Chelsea, asa committec to report thfi names of ono from each township and city in the county, to act as an executivo committee for campaign and other purposes. A vote was then taken upou the resolutions passed at the recent congressional temperanco convention in this oity (published in the Courier at that time) whioh were carried unanimously. J. c. bontecou, of Jackson, was then introduccd to the audience. He fmiil lliiH meeting was for the purpose of ¦eeurlna a luw prolilbiilng forever In the state of Michigan, the manufacture and sale of splr lluous, malt or vinous llquors, except for medicinal, taechanlcal or sacramental purposes. The people were tlred of the rum traille and proponed to Het thelr foot upou lts further advaucement. The speaker Iheu read the resolutions heretofore adopted, and a copy of the proposud prohibllory law, and as a temperauoe argument ri-:nl nKn the liquor associatlon platlurin, and extraoU from the circular sent oul by them to dealers and their frleuds, and lald particular stress upon one sentence, lo tin eftect that every candidato should be defeated uuless sound on the liquor and Sunday questloa. He wauted both republlcan, democrut and grni-nbitck party men to taks that home and tmnk it over, laylug particular stress on party men, who woula stand by their party to the detrimeut of good laws and good morala, oiul the salvatlon of thelr chlldren. Hethoughi tlie greal mass ol tuo pjpio wa hmihJ p.m tl tt-mpi-nuii'i' quesliou. and the graud deinonstiiitlon thal day had more than proved lt. THe people were very modest In thelr demanda, Uiey wanted merely the onforcemeut of law; every Citizen deslres the enforceraent ol law whuther he fully believes lt or not ; they all dcslre to live in peace and qulet ; and every ninn wants to b able to send hls boy out upon the street without hls beiug tempted at every turn by the alluremeutA of a saloon. He reforred to politics, and sald there wasn't a pothouse pollticlan but was opposod to temper anee principies. The rum seller wants au tliorlty to break the laws, and power to make widows and orphans; he wants legal authoriiy to conven our sous luto tramps and paupers ; to rob the woraan of llfe, and love, and home ; to lncrease crime and makt; the public laws and moráis unsafo. He sald they proposed to take the thlng out of party politics, but lo take lt lato the partios, and them see and retognize the justice of their principies. Speaklngof the liquor dealers' principies he asked what they were, and stated that they had none but the whisky barrel. He then askud party men what they thought about the satvation of thelr sous '.' Had not thelr cülldren's salvatlon ought to bc puruinount to everythlng else? They must brlug this thlug home and look at it as individuáis, as parenis; never mlnd the state or county, they would take care ol theinselves and Washtenaw county especlally, he Lbnlnrht. wlipn the llmpi'rtmt"i tor li tj ir mn He wanted every man as a cltizeu to come up aud stand dhoulder U shoulder wUli llieni m thts good osase, tiud help carry forward these principies, whlcli belore tney were through, they proposed to anchor so flrmly in law that they would uever be brought up again. Tlie speaker proposed to vote for no mu n who would not promise him in black and white, that he would use hi inüuence and vote to secure tbe submutsion of thln prohibltlooiuestion to tlie peoj)le. Tliat was what they oskud of the lefiIslative caudidates, and no man could be elected this bil who did not so urouiise. R. E. VUAZKR was next called upon. He sald "he came liere to ank you as men and womeu to favor this constltutlonal anieudnient." This seetned to bea spoutaneous outpouringof the people, and Ue tliought tliat this immenso erowd bid deBIUIM to the assertlou mal the temperance tlm would be tralled In the dust as long as they all lived. Ho thought it high time for action when the whisky men publlcly proclaimed tufiir inUjntiou to btiy up the leglslature. Be spoko ol the insults which hau beun offeretl them that day in mOBt scathiug and cuttiug lerms, and to the alleged reinark tliat the leinperanoe crowd were ¦ all old women, children, or idiotie and iusane persons " sjiid that those present representad agreat deal of property for Ihat clous of people and that as long as they remaiued so that property would be thclrs, but as soou as thoy commenced becoming sane lt would go to the whisky seller. Let the two OUiM bring out thelr array of followers, let thelr opponent go to the poor houses, tho Jails, Uu w'irklunisis, the lnsaueanylmus and bring out thoir victima and the oomparlsou with the temporalice jeople, the ministers, the profSH ors, the Christlan women and mothers, and that aloue would deelde which of the two were in the rlght, and lic lnvlted a comparlson uny time. We ask no party's alleglance and no pollllcians favor; the temperanoe poople were a power in the land and proponed lo inaku thal power feit ; what they wauted was a BUbmiftslon of this prolill.it ion questlon to the people by the leglslature, and no man shall receive tholr vote for that body In elther party onless he does so pledge hiraself; all they asked was the volee of the poople upon thls-accursud trafflc. He said that a liquor man had told blm that they would have a majorlty of the next leglslature f they had to pay 1,(KJ a piece for thein. Thatwasaglowlng tribute to llie honor of leglslators, that they could be so bonglit up. Thelr opponeuts had taken thelr cause luto politics and tliero proposed to flght lt out, and the speaker destrod the temperanoe men to meet them face to race. Aftor paylng a boautlful tribute to the priuclplesof tempurauce and thecltisM oí men, women and chlldron which they liad rallled upon that day- the speaker closed. J. WEBSTER CUILDS was then introduced in very fiattering terms by the chairman. He had reslded In tlils county for TOyears, but never was as proud ol lt before. WhaU'Ver is for the universal good Is iu the nature of tlilngn good, the law of öod upholds it, and the laws of man hould uphold lt ; whatever Is nol for the universal good is in tho nature ol things bad, the law of Ood condemns it, and the law of man should condemn lt. The last Jegislature was potltloned by lUU.OOOof our citiieus, the largest uuinber ever before knowu, to submlt this subject to tho people, but lt was not doue. Mlohlgan Is a temperauce state. Hhe has too many school houses, too many rellglous people, too many splres polut heavenward fnm her churches. for lier geutlmeuU to be other than temperance entlments. Tho people want tho opiortunily to vote upon Hum üuesllon. We wlll meet our opponents at every polut, with argurueuts and upon the tump, in every public hall and in every school dlsirlcl of tbe state, if we can but have the opportunlty; and if thisquesllon be butonoe decided by the people lt will be declded once and forever. The Ypsilanti band then rendered a medley of religious music, which was by far the finest thing in the line of tho day. Mr. O. B. Schuyler was introducen! and spoke a fuw moments only, as a representative of the ladios. Her remarks were exceedingly appropriate and well received. She was followed by Rev. Mr. Haslcell, who rolated an anecdoto quite applicable. The chairman announoed as tbe noxt speaker CAPT. E. P. ALI.EN, tho temperance mayor of Ypsilanti. Mud that In b. government by the peopli they have the. riht to change the orgulc law of tlie land. Tliereare thousands iind Uiih o housands of men In Michigan who bellcve the ,rKanli' law of the state snoilid tC clianged SO is to prohiba Uie sale of llqaor mul latjer I r. f It snould le votcd npou we must of course ui t tolt. If Hshould bo carried we must ee tuut prohlhltlon Is entoreed. Upon tbU quesllou yoa will be obllged to take rhIlií, mul f you are a temperanoe man and act iudifl'ermtly the people will have the right to thlnk hal yon are In the lutttrest of the llquor deal¦rs The llquor men propuse to carry the elecioa tbU lu.lt so that Ihequestlou of a constltulonal amendraont, proliiblting tho sale of lquoi and beur, shall uot besubmlttod to the jeople. Thuso men are well engaged fnr oarryng on the flgtit, RUd H 1 tor us to meet them on their own ground. To-day we sta J lace to face wil li these men whote business UieycUini :¦ belng interferid wlth. Wheu we look upou a business tliat uU ltseye upon the child, tliat ;ays lts hand upnn hlm wlieu he has reacbed raanhoods estáte; thftt cause poverty aud crime to stalk through the land, that causes deatli to follDw In lts train, I say tliat somothing should be done to extermínate such a trarne. The powers of heil, supplanted by the llquor dealen, will uot prevalí ogalnst us In tin great battle of reform. For one, I aiu In favor ol hearing the people say whether w shall llquor up or llquor down. After this speech the meeting adjourncd uütü "è o'clook in the evening. During the remainder of the afternoon the people busied thernsolves in various and sundry ways. The banda did an admirable share of the entertaining, playiog in turn scveral pieces in a most excellent marnier in front of the opera house, and also upon the court house balcony. As evening approached many of the delegations wended their way homewards, notably those from a distance. The bands, however, all remained, with the exception of the Ypsilanti band. At THE XVENINO EXERCISES the orowd at the opera house was not quite as largo as in the afternoon, yet the auditoiium was well filled. The bands were again massed upon the stage, rendering stvoral pieoes, alter whioh tho choir and audience sang that enlivening hymn "Hold the Fort," a portion of the scriptures were read and prayer offered by Rov. J. Alabaater, of the M. E. church of this city, followed by the song, " What frioml we have in Jesus." Tho first speaker for the evening was PROP. J. BEAL MTEERE, of the university. The professor spoke directly to the polnt. ReferreU to the foruier prohibltory law, aud to what he attrlbuted lts fallure. He at one time thought all prohlbitory laws fal 1 uros. 8ald our laws were of two kinds, statutory and constltutlonal ; our flrst law was a statutory law, that wao the trouble ; what we want Ir a constitutioual law; we want tbls prohibitlon of the llquor traille engrafted In the conslltutlon of our state, aud lf lt Is done, lt wlll be so flrmly rooted that no legislatura willeverdlgitout. The speaker next referred to the uufverslty people; they inlght becousldered ft llttle tu one slde ; their Interest were not the same as thosu ol'lhe business men, the merchauts, the edltors, anil the dealers ol the city, who were directly eflected In a flnanelal way by the stand they tuke upon these gruat and vital questions; their bread and butter dld not dopend upon lt. He told how the work had progressed wlth them ; spoke of theforce of associatlon among m ii'lents, and how but a few years ago the students viewetl their lifewhlle at the uuivorsity. The helghth of llieir ambitlou then was a rollicklng. Jovial student llfe, with llttlo Idea oí a slrlctly tempérale course, (tlie inajority, not all). Aud tlic two papers publlshed by them were not advocates of tumperance principies. To-day the thlng was ohanged. They had formed temperance socletles and there were over 600 slgners to the pledgo. The sentiment of the graduatlng class of the law department was Uuceu just prevlous to their commencunieiit and out of 185 men 143 were temperance men. He thought their work had been crowned wlth great success. In introducing tho next speaker, the chairman, ltev. Dan. lt. Shier, said fhat to-day tbc temperance people of thiscounty had thrown around the university square a living band, representing the temperance sentiment, and had enough left to tie a doublé bow knot. He then introduced PROF. T. P. WILSON, of the homeopathie department, who sald he sliould nol apologise for say i uk what he could not help saylng. He repeatud an aneodote of a man who had been limlted tojustflve minutes u a sjeoh as he had been that evening ; this man told the chairman to stick a pin In hls rlght lee wheu the Unie was up. whlch was done but the speaker never Ulnched and kept righL on; the pin was thrust in agalu and agaiu, and bent and turnml, bul all to no good, and after the speaker got through he lnformed the chairman that it was a cork leg. He likened tho demonstration Uwlay to the anecdote, ouly tho leg wamt OOffc one In this lnslance for the pin thrust In the llquor dealers to-day hurt- and hurt bad. This couvention sot wlth open dewre ; they hail uu secrtt from the public, but were worklng for the public weid ; refVrr.-.l to taking tne questlon lnto politics, and thought tho temperauce qnesllon a grand politieul one; spoke lu vory bitter and denunciatory terms of politics and polillclans, llkeulug the fornier to a muddy pool, and the latter t geese and hogs wallowlng in it, and concludod that they diuu't want tne questioii in Kueli dkrty place. Mpoko of the inalienable rlKt of men to scll lKiuoraud otolpmn t,.rink it, but at ilio sanie lime the lnalleniable rlght of a cltlïen dld not protect tne criminal from puniHhinent; Individual right are foreinost, but wheu we eome together, lntoacommunlty,our Individual i ilits are llmited ; the rights of the Citizen are limlted by those of the commuulty, thoM of the oommunity by thoso of the stat, aud the state by the general government. The liquor traftlc trammels and debases tlie cltlzeu aud oughl to be complelely eitiuot. The speaker referred to the progress of the work umi BlOMd by repeatlng another remarkably pat anecdoto. After a song, "Yield not to temptation," followed by a picecby the band, the report of the committee appointed in the murnitig was read by the chairman, John Schuiuacher, and the folloning CENTttAI. COMMITTEE appointed for the county, and a niocting of the same called for tlie second Monday of June: John Young T.yndon I'atrick Hoy Dexter Henry Olsaver „ Webster rtrit Wall Northneld W'olford Thompsoii Salem R. B. Gates - Sylvau H. Whuelock I.I...U Frank Ooodale Sclo I. N. S. Foster _ Aun Arbor town Thomas Kerns - " " city Jas. Hiuiby Superior Wm. 1. Allen haron O. H. Kempl KrtMjdom Ulover _ Lodl Wm. Burke PltUfleld WutHon Hnyder Ypllaiiti A. E. Hewltt Manchester A. K. Linden BrldgewaUr Klchard Marsh „„ Saline Aarou Hiscock _ _ York J. W. ChlldH Augusta MR. A. R. PALM KR, of Lapeer, who had been both a seller and drinker, was the next speaker. He sald the trouble wlth the old prohibitlon law was with the pcople not the law. and spoke from an experienco ander lt of seveu yeam. Sald tho whisky men were man led to the city, the oouuty, the state, and the ofücers olected by them ; and they dare not enforce the law. Tlie saloon Interest did not represent such a great Nnoantof monuy, but the lnflueuce of whisky was tremendouH, one barrel belng worth $.l,iwo in a cauipalgn. The speaker was very much In earucKt and ni;ule an excellent appual lor the good cause. C. H. KEMPF, of Chelsea, wils next Introdnced. Ho suld be had been Identlfled wltlrllie cause three Vaan ; he vtut a Oerman. anl it had been sald Muit Uermans could not live without beer ; tliat they would plne away and die; liut he had been three years without it and looked anil lelt prettj' healthy. If we wlsh to dig i;old we must go where the gold is, for il wlll not come to us. The name witli fallen man, if we wish to save Mm we must not walt for hlm to eoiue lo us. He spoke very f'eelingly of the cause, but our space forbids furthcr notes. Alter uiusic Michael J. Fanning spoke for a few moments counseling the ineetiog of a solid whisky vote by a olid temperance vote, etc. Judge Gheever also said a few words in advocacy of wonian suffrago as a panacea for the intern pcrance ills, and It. K. Frazer made a five miuutes speech, closing by urging pluek in temperance people to fiplit fur their cauae. Which, after taking a donation to help defray the expenses of' the meetiug, closcd the days proceedings.