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he ABSTAINER The Monthly Magazine of the Cardiff and District Temperance and Band of Hope Union. p Communications for the Editor should be addressed to the Offices of the Union 35, WINDSOR PLACE, CARDIFF. Vor,. XXI. I. JANUARY, 1910. ONE PENNY. 7* e7*l*k TO ^8MS AH friends of Temperance should place themselves in the forefront of the battle and remain there until the fight is won. •E make no apologies for urging every lover of Temperance to be up and doing, and to take a part in the fight that is being waged the country over. The issues that confront all lovers of their country's welfare are the most momentous that have had to be faced for many a year. For half a century the Temperance party have been struggling to throw off the shackles of the liquor trade, that curse and crush the well-being of the country at every turn, and inflict more misery than the combined ravages of war, pestilence and famine. In 1904, Mr. Balfour, at the behest of the liquor party, still further bound "the trade" to the country and removed what little vestige of control the people possessed through the local magistrates. Mr. Asquith's Government sought to remedy in some way this state of things, and passed by an unprecedented majority a Licensing Bill so moder¬ ate that it had the almost unanimous support of all the churches in the land, and the great army of social reformers labouring for the uplifting of the people. The House of Lords, at the dictation of wealthy brewers and liquor lords, threw the Bill out, and thus proved itself the shelter of that greatest of evils, which according to Mr. Balfour, meets us in every walk of life and sphere of social activity. The Majority Report of the Licensing Commission, signed by eight liquor representatives, declared: ''That a gigantic evil remains to be remedied, and hardly any sacrifice could be too great that would result in a marked diminution of this national degradation." Nor is Parliament likely to rest satisfied with leaving things as they are. But Parliament can do nothing, nor can "this gigantic evil" be remedied until the House of Lords veto is removed. Without question the License duties of the Budget was the one factor that caused the Budget to be rejected also. The great brewers and distillers undoubtedly have the Peers at their command, in other words, the House of Lords has become the " tied house " of the brewery. The Prime Minister said in the early part of this year, " There is no measure in regard to which we shall appeal more confidently to the people than this measure of Temperance reform. It will be in the forefront of the controversy, and I cannot doubt that one of the firstfruits of victory will be to place that measure on the Statute Book and once and for all to be freed from the thraldom of this dominating and paralysing interest." To be " freed from the thraldom," the House of Lords must be deprived of the power to block Temperance legislation, and it, therefore, becomes the first and primary duty of every Temperance reformer to work strenuously to get this one obstacle to Temperance legislation removed. We thoroughly believe, with Cobden, that the Temperance cause lies' at the foundation of all social and political reform. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that all other reforms together would fail to confer as great blessings upon the masses as that of weaning them from intoxicating liquor. Before this can be done excessive tempt¬ ations to drink must be removed. In this fight we care little for other than the crushing of " this gigantic evil " and we therefore strongly urge all Temperance Reformers to place them= selves in the forefront of the battle and remain there until the fight is won. JOHN GORY CHALLENGE SHIELD Who is in for this Examination ? Prizes £2 2s. 01, £\ Is. 01, 10s. 61 Is YOUR Band doing anything to give the Children definite Temperance Teaching ?