The record-union., 1894-03-31

Hon. Lot NJ. Morrill,, Hon. Neal Dow and
host of others whose names might be
given. Previous to the passage of the
law there were 800 places where liquor
was sold. There sales equaled $40 per
capita. Now there is no place where
liquor is sold openly in defiance of law,
and instead of $40 per capita, it is reduced
to Is cents per capita. How much there
is secretly sold is matter Of conjecture.
The widest enemies of temperance only
| place it at 81 per capita, making a reduc-
ton OF SIS per capita.
| One Of the best illustrations of the prac-
teal workings of prohibition is the Vine
land tract in New Jersey. The settle
ment began in 1861. 1t now numbers
1900 inhabitants. In 1864, by special
Act of the Legislature, the citizens were
empowered to vote upon license or no
license. From the beginning of the set
tlement in 1861 no traffic in alcoholic bev-
erages has been allowed. Vineland.
therefore, never has had an open grog-
shop. The population consists of manu-
tacturers, business people, farmers and
fruit-growers, gathered from different
parts of the United States, from Ger
many, France, England. Scotland and
Ireland. For the past six years the po-
lice expenses have been S450. For the
same time the poor expenses have been
| $500. These figures speak for them
police expenses, fraction over six cents
per capita. A fraction over 80 cents per
capita for maintenance of the poor.
Again let US turn our attention to Kan
sas and to Greeley, Col. In 1873, place
of 1000 inhabitants, without saloon. In
1873 there was collected by fair for the
poor the sum of S9I. Two years and a
half afterward there still renamed of
that fund and with no calls therefor SS4.
No liquor is sold to-day in the town. A
rumshop was started the first year and
was burned down in broad daylight. The
facts we have cited demonstrate that the
prohibition of the liquor traffic is as
practical as the legal repression of any
other form of crime. May it speedily be-
come the legislative policy of both the
State and National Government.
There is no statute law which has not at
some time been violated. Shall we then
wipe off all laws2 Some time since
clipped the following from one of the
secular papers: Hon. ]. B. Grinnell, for
whom the town of Grinnell, Iowa, was
named, recently said: In Grinnell there
are no saloons, and no one has been sent
to jail, to the poor-house or to the peni-
tentiary for twenty-five years. We can
stand cyclone occasionally if you will
keep whisky from u.s.
My dear friends, we have reached a
point in the history of this question that
calls for strong arms and courageous
hearts to uphold it. Moral cowardice is
it's great bane. Men are afraid to vote
and speak their sentiments in regard to
it because, perhaps their neighbor is in
the business. II your neighbours busi-
ness is numbering those around you, why
hesitate to use lawful means to destroy
it? The eloquent Frederick Douglass
once said: when 1 was a slave l Oft
times, prayed for relief from my bond
age. but not till l commenced to pray
with my feet did 1 get my freedom"
''Show me thy faith without thy works
and I will show thee my faith by my
works." The saloon is batteriDg away at
the very door of the temple of our liber-
ties. One or the other must 60 down.
The saloon must perish, or, if not, then
the State, against whose existence this
war of lawlessness has been waged, must
perish. 1 hey cannot both prosper to-
gether. A business that strikes at the
homes of the State, that trades in the
virtue of our citizens, that debauches our
sons and daughters, that robs the laborer
of his hard earned wages, that organizes
with vast capital to override our laws and
Government, that calls for an annual ex-
penditure in It's interest Of $500, 900, 900,
and offers in return TO corrupt our politics,
terrorize our municipal life, debauch our
homes, cannot live at peace with Amer
ican institutions. If alienism should
dominate our country, rob US of the
Lords day, corrupt our youth, no prophet
is needed to predict the ruin of this fair
land. 1 do not believe that it will be
done. 1 do not believe that the American
people who have learned the lessons of
the last fifty years are going to submit to
it. l do not believe that God proposes
it. If one must choose between his
country and the saloon. and you must do
it, the choice can be easily made. Choose
ye this day whom ye will serve"