Letters From The People

F rom eiglit to ten years i?o the reform 1 Club and the temperauce movemont i made its "noii-polltical and ' rian" motto, united iii active work the i mnjority of moral sentiment and of the pastors and people of the cliurches of the city. It was an acknowledged power of good and it had i inarked inlluence in restricting lnteinpcrnncc. It Mked and raoelved pecuniary and moral support f rom democrat and republican, protestant and catholio. lts meetings could fill the opera house even on a paid admission at any time. It collected thousands of dollars in this city in aid of its work. What has become of the club and its inlluence? Has it defaultei!, assigned, is it a case ot' suspended animation, or is it dead? The annivorsanes of its birth are no longer obwiTCd, but neithcr is 1t9 funeral celebrated. Still it must be dead, though no notice of its decease lias been publlthed, yet its estáte seems to have been ulmlolctend, its moral and material asscts diviiled and ilissipated. Yes, it must ba deiul, but was it permittetl to die without the aid of doctors or the beneftt Of derf r f And was there.no inquest? Did it die fiom accidtutal or inherent causes; weie they preventable ? was it the ignorant folly of the "didn't-know itwas-loaded-kind,'1 ir was there a mild conspiracy with accessories before the fact ? lts managers eeeraëd incapable of understanding tliat the chief element of strentli and permanenoe in the movement eame trom the support of persons and orunlsatlom of establisued cliaracter in moráis and temperance. And inflated witli the success tliey attributed to tlieir individual capaclty. beginninj; witli mild violutions of the non-partisan motto of the club soon ignored it altogether, and became an easy prey to politicians who seemed willing a. rtgoroai reform club mlght die, if only they could buiUl political partjT on it3 ruins. Thus a great moral principie was dcgradcd to the U9es of a plank on wuich anibitious politicians could float to notoriety, from whence they assumed a monopoly of vlrtue in general, and the proprietorship of teniperance in particular. From thia plalfoi m(?) they scemed to flnd tlieir chief business and pleasure in intemperately denoiinclni; conservative citizeus and insisting there shall be no tempéranos but our kind - and we are its prophet. And the conservaiirc eitlzeBI do not seein conviiicml tliat wreckers of a reform club wlll make sife sailors to wliom can be tnutod vessel or cargo of value. It is evident that the Keform Club 11 dead and t only remains to siiggest for its neglected years an appropriate epitaph: "DUd of too mncí politics." The history of the Ann Arbor Keform Club is substantially tliat of similar organizations throughout the state and county. It is fortuuate that the c.iuse of temperance is so great, the determination of moral peopleso strongto promote it, with all other virtue?, that even the folly of its misgukled frlendl canuot destroy it.