Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1891-02-28
NATIONALIST CLUB NO. 3.


Interesting Debate ON Temperance, Pro-
hibiti"n aud the Labor Question.
"WiIl Prohbitionism Solve the Labor
Problem !" was the question debated be-
fore the club at its last Sundays 's meet,
ing. Moses Oppenheim held the neg
atiye, Prof. Wright the affirmative.
MIR, Oppenheimer's exposition was COM
pIete and exhaustive, He showed how
under the present system prohibitionism,
where put upon the statute book, is
simply II means of backmail, hence a
source of immortality; he referred to the
pauperism in Kansas and other States
where Prohibition was in force and
where, If the theory was correct,
wealth should prevail; finally he pointed
out the economic reasons for want and
crime and showed these to spring from
causes very different from intemperance.
Prof, Wright read anumber of reports
purporting to show that where prohibi-
ton was enforced crime and pauperism
had declined; upon these facts he re-.
peated the. well-known Prohibition
theory, and without entering upon the
economic question spoke extensively
and eloquently upon the virtue OF SO.
briefly,
After the djsp1tants had had two
rounds, the floor was opened to the
audience. Mr. Bahan stated the An.
archist position. A man. he claimed, had
the right to make hog of himself if he
so chose, the injury he did to himself
was nobOdy's but his own business. MIR.
Quinn thought Temperance was well
enough, but it was not deserving of the
efforts PrOhlhtiOnists put forth in its
behalf seeing that iutemperanCe was not
the cause, but one of the results.
Mr.. DeleOn was called upon to close
the discussion and in doing SO he said
that lrohibltiOnism, az stated by Prof.
Wright, seemed somewhat to have shift
cd its original position. Prohibiti0nsm
in all its purity was not a crusade against
IuAtIu lJtl dLlNt, Jhb an " bilNllllt iIlttl(
purp0rting TO establish that the cause OF
poverty and crime was liquor, hence
the cause being removed the COnse-
quences would cease With such
position the speaker disagreed funda-
mentally, and he referred to the state
ments Of some Of the previous speakers
to substantiate his view. At the same
time he claimed that when attacked
from the Anarchist standpoint, upon
Anarchist politics, PrOhibltionism was
irrefutable. Referring to Mr.. Bahan,
for instance, Mr.. DeLeon observed that
when an Anarchist spoke one would
imagine there was not another human
being upon the face Of the world. Mr..
Bahan's claim to the right to make a hog
Of himself was correct only in case his
hOgism commenced and ended within
himself. This was, however, impossible.
If Mr.. Bahan chose to get drunk he
endangered the comfort and safety of
others; if he fell on the sidewalk, which
is kept in repair by the commonwealth,
he would be spOnglng upon the com
monwealth and polluting the air with
his Offensive drunkard's breath. No in
telIgent community could or would
allow such liberty" In conclusion Mr..
DeIeon said that misguided as Pro-
hibitiOnists were, there was one point on
which Nationalists and Socialists were
at one with them and should admire
them for. The PrOhibitionist had that
clear insight of matters to convince him
that there was no help to be expected
from either the Democratic or Repub-
lican party, and accordingly he had
emancipated himself from both and
founded his own independent party, to
which, despite of jeers and gibes, he
stuck fast. Furthermore, the speaker
knew Of no instance where Prohibition
lists chose to sail under false colors and
adopt a political designation that was
not clearly theirs. Never had they tried
to catch votes by false pretenses; never
had they gone hither and thither en-
/ dorsing or otherwise aDetting Repub-
| lican or Democratic politicians, and thus
prostituted their fair name. All Nation
| alists and Socialists who spurned the idea
of denying their true name and who
manfully sailed under their true colors
should therefore recognize in the Pro
| hibitionists men whose sturdy manhood
| justified the belief that sooner or later