Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-05
A DEMOCRATIC BREAK.

One of That Pnrty's LeEions Decides in
Favor of no Whisky-Debafe Among
the Clubs Members-Both sides Quote
From Dispatch Straws.
The Democratic Legion of Lawrenceville
had debate last night on the Constitu-
tional amendment question. The audience
of 150 persons was made up mainly of
Irishmen, and judging by the applause of
each faction, the friends of the move
ment seemed to be in the majority.
j. B. McCally presided. He introduced
the subject with a speech that many per-
sons sized up as against the amendment.
When the question was ready for argument,
T. w. McClelland opened for the affirma-
tive. He is a smooth-faced young man, but
had habit of combing his chin in the most
! approved stump-speaker style when it
was necessary to refer to desk
where his notes lay. He told all about the
atrocious evils of whisky drinking, dwell
| ing upon them with blood-curdling
vivIdness. Financially, he proved the
| liquor traffic to be the country's curse,
$4,000, 900 having been spent for liquor in
Pennsylvania in one year, and only S76,-
600, 900 having been realized in the profits
! of the iron business. By statistics he
proved that fewer workmen are employed to
the million of dollars invested by the liquor
| interests than by any other branch or
interest of commerce in the world.
AS to these few workmen being thrown out
of employment, he ridiculed ''the sympathy
now being wasted upon them, and declared
that less commiseration had been shown
for the thousands of honest coal miners
thrown out of work by natural gas. If pro-
hibition is adopted these same workmen
will spend the money in something else than
liquor, and thus business will be improved.
1t had been written:
He who buys land buys many stones:
He who buys meat also buys bones,
And he who buys eggs buys many shells,
But he who buys whisky buys nothing else.
Another smooth-faced young man, Jacob
Miller, took the floor for the negative side.
He admitted, without enumeration, that
evils resulted from whisky drinking, but
denied that they could be eradicated BY this
method. He then made several bold
charges, supporting each with elaborate ar
gument These were that the 10, 900 or IT,
600 workmen who would be thrown idle by
the adoption of this amendment would
glut the labor market; that the great
State of Pennsylvania would be COM
pletely and utterly ruined financially
by the sweeping of distilleries and
breweries out of existence; that the majority
OF fr0nlOlClonlStS are fanatics; tnat this Is
direful blow at personal liberty, and that
the old Romans, the present France and
Germany, and other powerful nations, are
all liquor-drinking countries. Mr.. Miller
read from The DISPATCH'S recent inter-
view with Ex- Chief ustice Gordon, at Brook
vile, to show that local option would be
better temperance law for Pennsylvania
than absolute prohibition. He tried to
prove that prohibition does not prohibit in
Kansas or Iowa.
William A. Carney, who made the second
speech for the affirmative, also read from
The DISPATCH'S interview with mer-
chants in Indiana, Pa, to show that pro-
hibition there had resulted in wives having
more money to buy groceries, boots and
shoes, drygoods, etc., than they had before
prohibition. Mr.. Carney gave facts about
the national and international medical asso-
Citations tracing the heavy rate of mortality
and sickness to alcoholic drinks.
Thomas Grundy, gray-haired man who
is prominent in the Liberal League, did
battle for the negative side, arguing that if it
was simply to maintain personal liberty
that people should vote against the amend
ment; and that, he said, is dear principle
to Americans.
Mr.. McClelland, for the affirmative, sub
mitted figures to prove that prohibition does
prohibit in the West. The other advocate
of the amendment said saloon keeper has
no right to interfere with the personal lib
erty of his neighbor
The judges, by vote of to 1, decided
in favor of the affirmative arguments.