Temperance Work in Oakland.
The “gospel temperance meetings” still continue in Oakland. We regret that our time is so occupied, day and night, that we have so little opportunity to attend them. A Temperance Reform Club has been organized, of which Dr. Agard was elected President. In his remarks acknowledging the honor conferred upon him, he said:—“The coming physician is not to be the man who can heal the most diseases, but he who can, by setting forth the laws of health, prevent most from becoming sick. So our work in this temperance reform is not so much to save the drunkard, though that is a good work, as to prevent people from becoming drunkards and to save the young to temperance and sobriety.” As an ardent friend of the cause of temperance we congratulate the Club in their selection of a presiding officer. If these words are made the platform on which they stand and act, they will prove themselves worthy of the name of Reformers. There are many of the youth who will be enticed to their destruction in spite of the watchfulness of friends and guardians unless the opportunity be removed. And there is a large class of habitual drinkers, who have lost the power of self-control, whose reasoning faculties and their conscientiousness are weakened by their habits, of which only a small part can be reached by appeals to reason and conscience unless they can, at least to some extent, be restored to a normal condition, which can only be effected by cutting off the supply. And there is a large class of suffering women and children, destitute of provisions for body and mind, abused and degraded, who call for protection. It is an old saying that “Prevention is better than cure.” Sin leaves its impress, even though it be forgiven. Habits in evil leave the body and soul weakened, even though they be discarded. The traffic in alcoholic beverages stands in the way of prevention, and retards the work of cure where the necessity unfortunately exists. Dr. Agard has struck the key-note of genuine reform, to which we hope all lovers of the cause will heartily respond.