prosecuted for violating the
midnight closing law.' At this the saloonkeeper and policemen rushed
upon me and put me into the street; and one of the policemen, grasping
my arm like a vice, hissed in my ear, 'I'll get you a thirty days'
sentence in the workhouse, and then we'll see what you think about suing
people.' He called a patrol wagon, pushed me in, and drove to jail; and,
Judge, you know the rest. All day yesterday I was locked up, my children
at home alone, with no fire, no food, no mother." The judge dismissed
the woman; but the saloonkeeper, the perjured policemen, nor the corrupt
judge were ever prosecuted for their unlawfulness. The whole affair was
dropped because the saloon power in Cincinnati reigns supreme.
"This case is a matter of record in the Cincinnati courts." It is a
disgraceful fact that the liquor-traffic rules in politics to-day. A
saloonkeeper in Richmond, Virginia, overheard some one talking of
reform in municipal politics, when he scornfully said: "Any bar-room in
Richmond is a bigger man in politics than all the Churches in Richmond
put together."

IV. THE PRACTICAL QUESTION FOR US HERE AND NOW IS, How may we openly
oppose this drink evil?

The Churches need not expect a widespread revival of religion until
professing Christians do their duty with respect to the saloon. Mothers
and fathers need not expect their sons to remain sober while the saloon
opens to them day and night. Wives need not expect their husbands to
remain devoted and loyal until the saloon is abolished. What is our
duty? How shall we oppose the evil? How do the American people deal with
evils when they deal with them at all? When Great Britain went a little
too far in "taxation without representation," what course did the
American Colonies adopt in remedying the evil? Their chief men said,
"These Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent
States." The popular voice of the people decided it. When the British
Government unduly impressed American seamen, how was the difficulty
settled? The representatives of the people, their lawmakers, declared
war against the opposing nation, and forced her to cease her oppression.
The popular vote decided it. When Negro slavery darkened the entire sky
of our country, and caused our leading men to realize that we could not
long exist half-slave and half-free, how was the dark cloud dispelled?
The representatives of our people, the lawmakers of the land, in
letters of bl