Tlie legislative reform was resisted at every step, fierce- ly, desperately, and bj' the use of the most unscrupulous means. After the prohibitory law had been strongly approved by a direct popular vote, and passed by both Houses of the Legislature of New York, in 1854 govern- or Horatio Seymour vetoed it on trivial grounds. Gov. Seymour of Connecticut in 18.53 did the same thing under similar circumstances. In both cases the people at the next election carried their point by defeating those who had temporarily defeated them. In several states the law was declared unconstitutional by the courts. In New York it was set aside in 1856 on the ground that it destroyed the value of property, to wit, of the liquors already in the hands of the dealers. In several of the states the law was passed, submitted to the people for their approval, approved by large major- ities, and then declared unconstitutional by the courts, because thus submitted to the people. An attempt was made in 1846 by the liquor interest to settle the ques- tion once for all for the whole country. With Daniel Webster and Rufus Choate as their counsel, the dealers in alcohol carried their case into the Supreme Court of the United States; but the unanimous decision of the court was that each state has a constitutional right to regulate or even totally suppress the liquor traffic.
In 1849 the first Civil Damage Law, as it has been called, was passed in Wisconsin, prohibiting the retail
TEMPERANCE REFORM 248 TEMPERANCE REFORM
trade in intoxicating liiiuors, unless the vender first gave bonds "to support all paupers, widows, and orphans, and pav the expenses of all civil and criminal iimsecu- tioiis, growing out of or justly attributable to such traf- fic." Several other states followed the example of Wis- consin, and these laws have been found to be of consid- erable practical value.
This same year, 1849, the cause received a new im- pulse from the presence and labors of fatlicr Jlathew, the Irish apostle of temperance, who came to America in June, and spent sixteen months of hard work, chiefly among the Irish Catholics. Crowds greeted him every- where, and large numbers took the pledge at his hands. It is not surprising that a reaction followed this swift success. Many pledged themselves by a sudden im- pulse, moved thereto by the enthusiasm of assembled multitudes, with little, clear, intelligent, fixed conviction of the evils inseparable from the habits which they were renoiuicing. The pope, their infallible teacher both in regard to faith and morals, had never pro- nounced moderate drinking a sin, either mortal or ve- nial; and even occasional dnnikenness had been treated in the confessional as a trivial otl'ence. The retail traf- fic, especially in the cities, was more largely in the hands of Irish Catholics than any other class of people. More- over, the Cathohc Church wanted donations of land from city authorities, and subsidies from the public treasury for the support of its sectarian institutions, and it could obtain what it wanted only by a political alliance with the licpior interest. For these reasons the Catholic cler- gv, as a body, seem to have made no vigorous effort to hohl the ground which the venerable fatlier iMatthew won ; and the lairy, of course, have felt no obligation to be wiser than their teachers.
During the period named, while the battle was raging in reference to the legalizing of the traffic, and year af- ter year went on as fiercely as ever, the liquor interest received powerful reinforcements from an unexpected quarter. During the twenty j'ears previous to 1840 the immigration from Germany numbered 155,000 persons. During the twenty years between 1840 and 18G0 the German immigration numbered 1,330,000. This vast multitude brought with them their predilection for beer and Sunday holidays. Under their auspices the manu- facture of beer became a great business interest, and, especially in the towns and cities, saloons sprang up without number, until, in some places, there was a sa- loon for every score of legal voters. The distillers, brewers, and dealers of all sorts, uniting their forces, became a power in the political arena which no party dared to leave out of its calculations, and before which every mean and mercenary demagogue hastened to fall on his knees.
The temperance cause is so pure, its logic so com- plete, so utterly unanswerable, that it might have rout- ed all its enemies had the contest gone on without in- terruption. I5ut while the line of battle, notwithstand- ing local repulses and temporary defeats, was steadily advancing, its progress was stayed by another overmas- tering appeal to the patriotism of the people. The se- ries of events which preceded the late civil war were culminating in an agitation which swept all the streams of popular enthusiasm into its mighty current. The same principles and convictions which made men the foes of the alcoholic curse made them feel keeidy the national peril; while those who were coining their ill- gotten gains out of the blood of their neighbors could be expected to care little for the life of the nation. Thus, while the true patriot laid aside all else to save his country from the awful peril of the liour, the selfish and traitorous liquor interest had the better chan'ce to plot for the accomi)lishmcnt of its own sordid ends.