Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1888-04-16
gx-GOv. ST. JOHNS ARGUMENT.
lie Tells Funny Stories and Amuse'
His Audience.


guagr. and be has the information
Of an auctioneer. He fails to inn
press the hcarer with his sincerity
He has adopted the conventiona
platform tricks, and may he se
down as AN average temperate,
lecturer.
He set out by dividing society
into three classes; total abstainers
moderate drinkers and habitua
drunkards. Vital statistics show
that i'm the United States 72,OO
persons fall every year the victims
to rum. Where is this vast army
recruited from? Temperance people
furnish no recruits, moderate
drinkers are not apt to die of the
habit; it is your bar room bummers
who fill these dishonored graves.
He inquired how this supply was
kept up, and assumed that a proper
ton Of moderate drinkers go over to
the hummer ranks, and a contingent
Of abstainers fall into the habit of
genteel tippling. This is not well
thought out. A slaughter of 10
600 innocents annually by the
demon alcohol is trihe over one
tenth Of one per cent of our popula-
ton. This comparatively small
waste can he sloughed off from our
population and the loss repaired 10y
growth and natural increase.
The lecturer said the habit of
was increasing in the
country, and to sustain this quoted
from some brewers journal showing
that the increase i'm the manufacture
Dffermented liquors last styearamount-
'd to y, ,OOO, ,OOOgallons. That is l gal
Ons for every man, woman and child .
II the country. But he said nothing /
lbout the decline i'm the use of dis |
illed spirits. The report of the .
of internal revenue,
made Nov. LIST last, showsa decrease
n the tax receipts for the fiscal year
nding June 30th, 1887, from dis
He'd spirits, of SO, l23, ,s6S, while the
Increase in the tax receipts from
liquors, during the same
Ime is g, 229, 79S. Mr., 1t. John did
ot tell the whole truth; he was
utility of suppressio ven. 1t would
e discouraging to the moral senti-
lcnt of temperance reformers to be
net with the fact that their efforts
lWards restraining the use of strong
Kinks, 10y II pervefse law in human
allure, led To its increased con-
But the stand OIL above
.vcn is rcassuring. 1t shows that
acr is being substituted as "A bever- I,
q for that subtle spirit of evil !
hisky; and OF two evils this is sure
the lesser one.
Mr.. -. John ndulges in the same !
'rvcrSe argument in regard to high
'ense in Nebraska that the little II
amt did. He insists it has increas- /
the number of drinking places,
has added To the consumption of
luor In the state, and crime and
sorder have been intensified. This
i'm direct conflict with the testi- :
nny borne in the New York Tri- A
ne by a number of the leading .,
IN of the state, who declare that I
' operation of high license is satis- u
tory, and that the effects are ~
cctly contrary TO those given by 81,
SO prohibition orators. \,
But according TO Mr.. Mills arpu- NJ
mt the greater the number of NJ
oous the less the amount ofliuuor p
lsumcd. Our readers remember N
numerical demonstration sort b
inverted rule of three. If Won p,
'c but few saloons, he shows. "A vii
of tipplers will meet at one bar. Y,
y will treat each other allaround. Al
take double or quadruplc the lie
nbcr of glasses they would if
y di>sip0tcd separately.
he lecturer told number of
ny stories, which amused his kn
rrs and answered the purpo>e of rel
lment lie told about a farmer se,
b cavlc>sly leti down the hars of In,
lN~tuN, his CALI got out and was ON,
'd hy a passing train. lie an fes,
d Tor damages and was rcN,sad
hc ground that IL was his own
cvL lie entered suit and lost II
ga>e Then he got towvrtngm mad % %un'
todd his friend. MONS ,~st
on, that hc Was bound to thel
p r''vngv, he would ~et nm, Ia dla,
bridge adjSvnt yo his farm. and o''s
20 l'>, ou the company that i,n,
would pmvmber The deacon excl
'r'od 'hl, 90 his wife, aW. e. this
' Woman, who Was paiubIIy e'''