becomes a favorite resort, especially on
Sundays.

There is, however, another side to this question. It is this:
Nothing in the world is more important than personal liberty. Many
people are in favor of blotting out the sun to prevent the growth
of weeds. This is the mistake of all prohibitory fanaticism.

_Question_. What is true temperance, Colonel Ingersoll?

_Answer_. Men have used stimulants for many thousand years, and
as much is used to-day in various forms as in any other period of
the world's history. They are used with more prudence now than
ever before, for the reason that the average man is more intelligent
now than ever before. Intelligence has much to do with temperance.
The barbarian rushes to the extreme, for the reason that but little,
comparatively, depends upon his personal conduct or personal habits.
Now the struggle for life is so sharp, competition is so severe,
that few men can succeed who carry a useless burden. The business
men of our country are compelled to lead temperate lives, otherwise
their credit is gone. Men of wealth, men of intelligence, do not
wish to employ intemperate physicians. They are not willing to
trust their health or their lives with a physician who is under
the influence of liquor. The same is true of business men in regard
to their legal interests. They insist upon having sober attorneys;
they want the counsel of a sober man. So in every department. On
the railways it is absolutely essential that the engineer, that
the conductor, the train dispatcher and every other employee, in
whose hands are the lives of men, should be temperate. The
consequence is that under the law of the survival of the fittest,
the intemperate are slowly but surely going to the wall; they are
slowly but surely being driven out of employments of trust and
importance. As we rise in the scale of civilization we continually
demand better and better service. We are continually insisting
upon better habits, upon a higher standard of integrity, of fidelity.
These are the causes, in my judgment, that are working together in
the direction of true temperance.

_Question_. Do you believe the people can be made to do without
a stimulant?

_Answer_. The history of the world shows that all men who have
advanced one step beyond utter barbarism have used some kind of
stimulant. Man has sought for it in every direction. Every savage
loves it. Everything has been tried. Opium has been u