The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-24

DR.. Lockwood preached a vigorous ser
mon last evening, his theme being The
Rum Traffic" He took the text from
Isaiah V, 22-23:
| Woe unto them that are mighty tc
drink wine, and men of strength to mingle
strong drink: which justify the wicked
for reward, and take away the righteous
ness OF the righteous from himI
Athawart the threshold of the republic
! there falls an ominous shadow. Whereve.
this shadow rests the fire burns low upon
| the hearth: hope fiickers and expires ir
the heart, and the blight of death lays its
Wlthering hand upon each member of the
household | speak of the dark shadow
OIL lntemperance. The rum traffic has come
| to be the greatest foe that the nation
| TO grapple with; and such being the case
IL D6EooVeS every one who loves this
matchless land to use his influence to the
! utmost against our common enemy. The
great difnculty seems to be that so many
good people are unaware of the enormity
OF the drink curse and the alarming ex-
| handed over. to the saloon. The nation
| itself has Drostituted its virtue for gold;
and the scarlet letter of shame burns
upon the bosom of Columbia.
In presenting my reasons for eternal en-
! nifty toward the rum traffic / will not
| speak of the saloon as an obnoxious and
! filthy centre of activity. / will not men
ton the fact that the rotten fumes and
the filthy language that are waited from
| the open door of the saloon are indecent
and nauseating; that our sisters and
mothers and daughters are fairly sickened
by the breath and beaStly conduct of be-
sotted men whom they are compelled to
meet upon the street and in the cars. We
| might overlook these minor incon-
veniences which affect merely our comfort
and taste; but l hate the traffic, first, be-
cause of the enormous waste which it be-
gets. Hon. Carroll D. Wright, one of the
most renowned statisticians in America,
declares that for every dollar the saloon
pays into the public Golfers for license,
| about 81 is paid out by the people. For
a single ten years, according to the official
report of the United States census bereau,
! intoxicating drink has imposed upon the
nation direct expense of $500, 900. 600; an
| indirect expense of $780, o09, 900: has de-
! stroyed 800. 600 lives; has sent 100, 900 chill
dren to the poor house; has committed at
least 10000 people into prisons and work
houses; has made at least 900 insane; has
determined at least 1000 suicides; has
caused the loss by fire or violence of
S1O.OO0.0G0 worth of property; has made
200, 900 widows and 900 600 orphans. Glad
stone says that drink Stays more than
war, pestilence and famine combined. We
this country whose views carry greater
weight than those expressed by Professor
Richard T. Ely. He says: The use of
! liquors and tobacco. when the totally of
| their results Is computed, leave less imam
nothing positive to show for themselves"
can Introduction to Political
Economy" Richard t. Ely, Phi. DR.. New
York, Chautauque Press, 1899, page ~ y
Again he says: Those who suffer the
most from drink are the working classes,
and they are also those who cannot con-
ceal their excuses and misfortunes. But
| 1t is a mistake to suppose that working
men alone furnish the drunkards, or that
there are not great numbers of earnest
temperance men among them The rich
have their social clubs where intoxicants
perform their work as heinouSly as they
do in the cutters, but less publicly. The
! only social mems clubs in the United
States without a bar attached are, so far
as the writer has observed, wOrkingmen S
clubs. These appear to be generally de-
void of that institution. If there is fash
| ionable club house in the United States
where intoxicating beverages are not sold
the writer has yet to discover it Ibid
page $50. The author afterwards learned
of one fashionable club where liquor was
not sold
1 hate the traffic, in the second place,
because it is the constant. insidious and
deadly foe of good government. Its in
fiuence in politics is debasing to the ex-
IRENE The saloon is the centre of po-
litical activity, and the fact is that the
policy and methods in accordance with
| which the governments of our great cities
are conducted are devised and ratified
rum shops This is true of our own
city. 1t is a istake for you to
suppose that youp govern yourselves;
you are governed by the saloon
so bad now as it was five years ago. but
at that time two-thirds of the political
caucuses and primaries held in New York
and Chicago were held in saloons.
Then. too. the whisky forces being or
ganized. and being together INSCRIPTIONS,
tamper with legislation, barter for votes,
and when occasion demands offer immense
b-:bes- There is no influence at work in
politics today that is SO corruptfng and so
difficult to meet. The liquor interest is
alert foresighted and energetic. Take, for
instance, the simple matter of providing
bonds for our men who assume public
offices, where bonds must be given; who
is it that steps forward and politely offers
to become bondmen? 1t is the liquor
dealer. 1t is a very easy thing to see how
an officer would thus be embarrassed
when duty demanded that he should eX-
ecute the law to the hurt of 6his friend
who had kindly offered to go upon his
bond Such complications should not be
permitted to occur; but they Will occur as
long as good citizens are apathetic and
negligent.
/ have been referring only to the cor
rupting influence exerted by the saloon.
But 1t is the bold lawlesSness of the traffic
that seems particularly obnoxious to the
patriotic citizen. Judge Noah Davis says;
Among the causes of crime, intemper-
ance stands out the 'uDapDroachable
chief Over 200 years ago Sir Matthew
Hale, the eminent English jurfst, said:
in this kingdom, have given me oopor-
tunity to observe the original cause of
most of the enormities that have been
committed for the space OF nearly 70
years. and by due observation | have
found that if the murders and man
slaughters, the burglaries and robberies,
the riots and tumults and other enormlueS
that have happened in that time were dl-
dived into five parts, four of them have
been the issue and product of excessive
drinklng-of tavern and alehouse drink
ing
board of charities agrees with the opinion
expressed above. 1t says: The proper
ton of crime traceabie TO this great vice
must be set down, as heretofore, at not
less than four-IifthS.
Go to the police records and see how
many OF the arrests are for the cause OF
drunkenness; look through your newspa-
De-s and see how many OF the bloody
crimes that are daily recorded there oc-
Cured in saloons, or under the influence
of the liquor obtained there; and finally
inquire OF the police officers, marshals
and sheriffs where they first resort when
they are in search OF criminals.
Again, hate the rum traffic because 1t
blients the prospects OF many of the
brightest and most lovabie men OF our
nation. My luminosity does not extend TO
the unfortunate neil who are engaged IL
the ira itic. Alasi None are so likely as
they TO suffer the torment and disgrace
that the traffic inevitably iniiicts. My
indignation burns quite as holiy against
the selfish and induigsnt citizen 10 stand
ing and repute who supports the traffic
with his money and his influence and who,
whether he or his family suffers from the
some unfortunate man shall doom himself
and betray his weak brother by dealing
out poison and death from behind the
bar THOUSANDS of barterders and sa-
loonkeeperS would give their right hand
if they could abandon the business which
they see only too clearly is running them