The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-06-15
TESTIMONY OF do LEWIS AGAINST PRO.
,s-- HIBIToRY LIQUOR LAWS.
Misstatsment of Rev. Mr.. HOleombe Cor
reeted.

In this paper will be found letter from
Dio Lewis, at one time the great leader of
the woman's crusade against saloons, which
will cause some of the prohibitory law IA
natics to pause and consider. That he is
sincere advocate of the cause of temper
ance no one will more strenuously claim
than the people who clamor for prohibitory
laws; that he is intelligent as he is jealous,
observant as he is outspoken, the women
whose recent crusade he led will enthusi-
astically claim. Even the great bulk of
people who felt inclined to ridicule his con-
nection with that movement, know, if they
know anything at all about the man, that
there was.much justice in the estimate
made OF him by his friends His views,
therefore, especially those upon the tenn
perance question, to which he has given
much attention, are worthy of considera-
ton. The result of his observation in
States where prohibitory laws prevail, is,
generally stated, that they promote rather
than retard drunkenness.
In Maine, he spent week in examining
the results Of prohibition. What did he
find? Bangor has fifteen thousand inhab-
tants. One of its most honored lawyers
a temperance man by principle and Ii
would seem a prohibitionist against his bet
ter judgement, declared to the doctor tina
there were three hundred places in Ban
COR where drinks were sold, simply because
there was patronage for that number o.
places Thus in this city of Maine, where
prohibitory law has all the effect whict
such law can have, there is a drinking
saloon for every fifty of the inhabitants.
The Rev. Mr. Holcombe, in his essay OIL
temperance, in Trinity church, on Sunda.
the It'll, speaking of Rock Island, said :
This city is distinguished above other
for the number of its saloons. The,
blotch and dishgure almost every stree
and business block in the city
Mr.. Hocombe is greatly mistaken. w
have So saloons, which, at our present pop
ulation, is only one for ege,y t,co hmdreC
inhabitants, while Bangor, for twenty year
a prohibitOry law city, has one for eUer
Iftfy inhabitoatS Mr.. Holcombe Wi
therefore perceive that This city is" no
only not distinguished above others 70
the number of its saloons" but 1t has no
one. fourth as many an proportion to IL
population as Bangor, sOhere prohibition
has been the rule for tDenty years An
Rock Island has always been license Cit
DR.. Lewis admits that he did not Sc
an open drinking place while IN Maine, bu
asserts positively that while the traffic ha
been driven under cover, the consumptio
of liquors in the State is enormous TIL
moral Of his letter is that moral suasio
may accomplish what prohibitory legisl'
ton utterly fails to do, and that peopI
who are sincerely DESTROYS Of spreadin
the cause of temperance will seek to edl
ucate individual sentiment not force who'll
sale morality by the machinery of legisl
b ton. Coming from such an apostle {
Lewis, these ideas ought to have the
weight with the enemies of the liquor ira
fc. 1t is too much to expect that the
will acknowledge prohibition wrong
principle that they shall persist to igno
that it is a failure in fact will not be Gre
liable to their common sense. If thu
would but see soberly what is apparent
6 all the rest of the world they would a
t knowledge that prohibitory laws increa
drunkenness rather than retard it. II
case Of Bangor is not exceptionable.