Useless Agitation

The antl-saloon agitation which has jeen a conspicuous feature of the past week in this city, and which has been ïeralded broadcast over the country, may curtail the consumption of liquor il Ann Arbor, and it may not; but thls much is certain, the Wholesale advertising of a condition which does not n fact exist here will do the Uniersity and, through it, the business interests of the city a great deal of harm. The Democrat challenges any one to name a more quiet and orderly city of 5,000 inhabitants than is Ann Arbor. This condition is more remarkable when our large student population is eonsideïed. Attempts to eonvey a diferent impression from this should be condemned by all right thinking 1 ?le. Estimates of social evils must, I il evil no longer (;xists, always be elative. Why select a community in which those evils exist only in their mildest form to advertise as a horrible pxample of depravity. After all has been said and done that it is possible to say and do, all that can be aeoomplished is the enforcement of the state laws governing the sale of liquors. If there is, as is alleged, here and there an infraction of the law it is a very easy matter for those conversant with the facts to secure a prosecution of the offender. Competent evidence is what is needed in such instances, and that will hardly be afforded by people from abroad who come here to teil us in impassioned language of a depravity which we had not before discovered, and have their assertions used as the basis of a sensational newspaper correspondence which advertises Ann Arbor as anything but a desirable place of residence. In. spite of all alleerations to the contrary those who have iveü in this city for ten or fifteen years know that during that period the drinking habit has been steadily decreasing and the city becoming more orderly from year to year until the old-time orgies exist only in tradition and drinking is the rare exception and not the rule in the student body. The old-time rowdyism and spirit of malicious mischief, which used to be a prominent eharacteristic of student Ufe, is also a thing of the past. If there is rlot and disorder in Ann Arbor at the present time it has not been observed by those of our citlzens whose business takes them through the streets of the city after nightfall, and it has also escaped the eagle eyes of our reporters, and we can boast wjth pardonable pride oL the advantages we have to offer to those seeking homes in a city of rare social and educational advantages. The pulpit orators of the larger cities of the country turned Lincoln day into Cuban day and in their sermons they took occasion to censure the administration for its apparent friendliness to Spain. Dr. H. W. Thomas at the People's church, McVicker's theater at Chicago, said, amid great applause: "For two long years Uie patriots of Cuba have struggled for the r-ights of man; struggled to throw off a despotism too intolerable to be borne. We have -stood by and seen thal beautiful island devasta ted; stood by and seen, but eighty miles from our coast, nearly half of its people dying from hunger and disease; stood by and seen these patriots cut down in battle; seen our own people thrown into prison, and heard the cries of helpless wJmen outraged and children cut to pieces. And this nation haa spent millions of dollars to prevent help from reaching those struggling patriots, and to protect Spain in its work of death. And now, after all this, Minister de Lome sneers at President McKinley. "That may be a grave offer.se against diplomatic courtesy; it may not be pleasing to Americans; but the larger question is our duty to Cuba and to humanity. The time has come when the hold of Spain on this continent should be broken and Cuba should be free. To this it must in some way come at last; nor will the Urne be long. The next century will see arisin? another great republlc- the United States of South America, Mexico, Cuba and the West India islanes." Rev. P. C. Bruner, of the Paulina M. E. church, Chicago, spoke as follows: "Who can ever teil what this bleeding Cuba has suftered? How slavery has cursed it? What damnación In Spanish lust against innocent beauty? Who will ever know the torture of innocent life on that devastated island, drenched in politica! blood? The Spanish government hs ever been the fje of a broad civiliz:tion She has evsr held the dagger at the heart of sighing Cuba to stab to death the liberty-luving pe'ople. Her brave ones die well. They have been crying since 1868, 'Give me liberty or give me death.' She looks to our country for sympathy; we havo paid but little heed to her brokenhearted cry. While our country haa been absorbed with wheat deals, social distinction, flnance for political purposes, in looking after great sugar trusts of our friends and their promotion, the poor, worn-out Cubans havo been grossly r.eglected. "We as a people should moiher this homeskk child, who wants t; shelte under the strong downy svins of Uii republic Radical measures should b taken. How much longer are we goint, to let old Spain spit in our face and tramp on the brave heart of Cuba?" In the Academy of Musio in Xew York, Rev. Thomas Dixon, jr., read a denunciatiom of D-jpuy de Lome, anc spoke of tfee attitude of Spain. His re marks were cheered and the audience shouted, "Let ue get at the Spaniards!' "Let there be war!" "Down with the woman slayers!" and other remarks o: a similar character. "All in all," Mr. Dlxon continued "there is a lot of grim humor in De Liome'e letter and the light it throws on Cubac affairs at Washington. When a government gets down as low in the mire as ours has in the last two year? it is pretty hard to kick it hard enough to make an insult feit. But the question now is, how can the state department have the brazen effrontery to continue a policy of brutality toward the Cuban patriota, now that the mask has been torn off the face of Spain? "The time has come to act. Let our government recognize Cuba. and the war is a.t an end. There is absolutely no longer a single vestige of excuse for our criminal course of assisting Spain to kill hundreds and thousands of women and children at our very doors. The Republican party is walkhig in the center of a smouldeiing volcano. The responsibiiity is clearly fixed on the party. "We are sick of the whlne of stock jobbers and peddlers, who teil us through their pusillanimous press that we are not prepared for a war with Spanish braggarts, who, unable to conquer a handful of Cubans, show their prowess by penning up women and children and starving them to death. The day has come for a genuine revi val of national faith and patrio tism. "It is our duty to stop the murder of women and children in Cuba. We owe it to the God of humanity. It is our duty to recognize the patriots in Cuba. We owe it to our fathers, who thought that freedom is the birthright of humanity. If Spain dare fight us for doing our duty to country, humanity and God, then let her 1raw her sword and die. It has or will come, now or later." The conclusión of Mr. Dixon's remarks was greeted with applause so great that he was forced to request that the de-monstraticn be stopped. He then proceeded with hls sermón of the day.