re unselfish love of a
wife, enthrones the shadow of a drunkard's poverty upon the
hearth-stone, makes the empty cupboard echo the wail of hungry
children for bread, with its bloody talons marks the door lintels with
the death sentence of an immortal soul, and then stands off and
_mocks_ the home. It goes to the Congress of the United States and
says: "Put upon me the harness of taxation and I'll pull you out of
the mire of national debt, and make the administration of the party in
power a financial success." Then with a government permit, it proceeds
to take out of the pockets of the people five times as much as it pays
the government; creates three-fourths of the country's crimes,
four-fifths of its pauperism, sixty per cent. of its divorces, dooms
to poverty and shame a great army of children, blights rosebuds of
beauty on cheeks of innocence, shatters oaks of manhood, leaves its
polluting taint upon all that it touches, and then stands off and
mocks the republic. Was there ever more meaning condensed into one
brief utterance than in Solomon's warning, "Wine is a mocker, strong
drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise?" Is it
wisdom in this republic to deliberately, for revenue, set in motion
causes that neutralize its progress, waste its forces and destroy the
fireside nurseries of the nation's destiny?

If I were an artist I would now place before you a picture of an ideal
American home. I would not make it the fine mansion on the avenue, nor
would I make it "the old log cabin in the lane." I would make it a
neat country home with garden of flowers, orchard of fruits, a barn
lot with bubbling spring and laughing brook. In the door of this home
I would place an American mother with the youngest of four children in
her arms; the oldest son driving his tired team to the barn, the
second one the cows to the cupping, the daughter spreading the cloth
for tea, and the head of the house sinking the iron-bound bucket in
the well for a draught of cold water when day's work for loved ones is
o'er. Approaching the door a commission appointed by Congress on
political economy lift their hats as the spokesman says: "Madam, are
you mistress of this mansion?"

"I am the wife and mother of this humble home, gentlemen; the man at
the well is my husband."

"Madam, we are commissioned by Congress to investigate the home life
of the country and would like to learn what this home is doing for the
republic."

"