Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/141

* TEMPERAMENT. 113 TEMPERANCE. em system of major and minor modes displaced the old Church modes. Two of the most active champions of equal temperature were Rameau and S. S. Bach. The former was chietiy the theo- rist, the latter the practical composer. Bach's immortal Vi oliltemperiertes Klavier was writ- ten with the special purpose of introducing the new system of equal temperament. TEMPERANCE (Lat. tcmperantia, modera- tion, sohriety, self-control, from tcmperarc, to proportion, modify). Primarily, a moderate use and enjoyment of all good things. In modern days the word is often used to designate great moderation in the use of alcoholic beverages, or even total abstinence from them. Among uncivilized races, ancient and modern, intoxication has been associated with religious ideas and has been encouraged as an incident of religious festivity. As a common vice of appe- tite it has always been condemned, and in almost all communities in one way or another punished. The earliest attempt at temperance reform is claimed by the Chinese, who affirm that in the eleventh century B.C. one of their emperors or- dered all the vines in the kingdom to be xiprooted. Early reforms are attributed also to the priests of India and of Persia. The Carthaginians for- bade wine in their camps, and to magistrates hold- ing public office. Among the Hebrews there were various sects and orders which abstained from the use of intoxicants. The Buddhists taught total abstinence. The Christian Church made some attempt to bring aliout a more moderate use of the wine-cup. Saint Gildas dealt out severe punishment to any churchman guilty of drunken- ness. Dunstan is said to have labored in the cause of temperance in England to the end that King Edgar at his instance restricted the num- ber of taverns and the quantity of intoxicants that might be sold. By a law of 1285 taverns in London were required to close at curfew. From 1603 legislation against ale-houses and drunkenness increased. In 17.36 Parliament at- tempted to restrict the use of gin by means of a prohibitory tax, which, however, only brought about an illicit trade. United St.tes. In April, 1808, a society was formed at IMoreau, Saratoga County, New York, consisting of 4.3 members, and providing in their Constitution that "no member should drink rum, gin, whisky, wine, or distilled spirits, except by advice of a phy- sician or in CTse of actual disease (also except- ing at public dinners), under penalty of twenty- five cents ; . . . . provided that this article shall not infringe on any religious rites." This society existed for fourteen years, but accom- plished little. The American Temperance Society was founded in Boston. February, 1826, and the New York State Temperance Society in 1829. By 1830 the latter society numbered 100,- 000 members. In 1833 prominent members of Congress organized the Congressional Temper- ance Society. Before the Civil War a number of secret societies were established for the 'pro- motion of temperance. They required a pledge of total abstinence, advocated prohibition, and tried to educate public sentiment in favor of reform. They also provided the usual beneficiary features and opportunities for self-culture. The Sons of Temperance, founded in 1842, grew rapidly in membership and influence. (See Tem- perance, Sons of.) The Independent Order of Good Templars was started in New York in 1851. It spread over the whole world. (See Good Tem- PLABS, Independent Order of.) The Templars of Honor and Temperance (1845) were strong in the South. Later benefit but non-secret societies are the Royal Templars of Temperance (Buffalo, 1869), and the Templars of Temperance, an or- der strong in England and the Scandinavian coun- tries. After the Civil War the consolidation of so- cieties began. In 1865 the National Temperance Society and Publication House was organized at Saratoga, as a non-partisan and non-sectarian so- ciety, advocating total abstinence. This society published and distributed pamphlets, text-books, and papers, held public meetings, and called national and international conferences. The Women's Crusade led to the organization in 1874 of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (q.v. ). In 1868 a prohibition party was or- ganized in Illinois and a temperance political party in JMichigan. The call for a convention came from the Grand Lodge of Good Templars. The National Prohibition Party was organized in Chicago in September, 1869. (See Prohibi- tion.) Law and Order Leagues were established to see that existing legislation is properly en- forced (Chicago, 1872; New York, 1877; Phila- delphia, 1880; Massachusetts, 1882). In 1883 the general society — the Citizens' Law and Order League of the United States — was formed. Great Britain. In August, 1829, a temper- ance society was started at New Ross, County of Wexford, Ireland, whose members pledged themselves to abstain from liquors, except as medicine. At the same time a similar move- ment began in the north of Ireland. Within twelve months there were sixty societies, with 3500 members. The Glasgow and West of Scot- land Temperance Society was founded in Novem- ber. Up to this time the moderate use of liquor was permitted, but John Daire and others of the Society of Dunfermline pledged themselves to total abstinence and began to form total ab- stinence societies. The first societies in Eng- land were established at Bradford, Warrington, and Manchester in 1830. The British and Foreign Temperance Society, founded in London (June, 1831), through the influence of William Collins of Glasgow, was for some years the leading tem- perance society in England. It was the first to start a crusade against beer. The movement for total abstinence had its beginning at Preston in Lancashire. After the formation of the Youth's Temperance Society at Preston in 1834, and its extension to other forms, a conference was held at Manchester, resulting in the organization of the British Association for the Promotion of Temperance, on the Principle of Total Absti- nence from all Intoxicating Liquors. Thereup- on the total abstinence element struggled for recognition in the British and Foreign Temper- ance Society. In August, 1836, the teetotal so- ciety was merged into the New British and For- eign Society for the Suppression of Intemper- ance. The later periods of temperance work in Great Britain may be designated by: (1) the Father Mathew crusade in 1838, during which in two years 1.800,000 people took- pledges in Ire- land; (2) the beginning of work among children through the formation of Bands of Hope, in 1847; (3) the John B. Gough (q.v.) mission in 1858;