Arizona republican., 1901-05-06
A TEMPERANCE DIVERSION
Men Made to Drink Beer Rather Than
 Rotten Whisky.

There were other attractions than the Major Cole meetings in Phoenix yester- day. By thss ai,: nf few democratic leader the attention of the worldly mnLed was diverted to the vicinity of the Salari property, on South Seventh aw nue. near the $. r.. P. & P. freight de ,ot, where a huge barbecue was in pr ygress during the greater part of the day and where the Christianizing in- flu :nce of Anheuser- Busch beer went stl aight to mems souls, which, as has be en said before .are reached through Il cir stomachs. and where the golden Fight of democracy was pointed out as the great cure for all ills with which the body polite k. erstwhie afflicted.
 There is a large Mexican settlemen in that part of town. and about the only place where any official record of their birth. nativity or anything else can be found Is on the great register, thanks to the dligent and tireless work of the democratic registration officials. It was noised abroad that this important con- stituency was becoming sick at heart and discouraged with maintaining q residence in the Third ward till after Tuesday when no visible means of sup port was offered. and the managers thought that the saving grace of An heuser- Busch would do much toward satisfying them. It can easily be seen therefore that the gentlemen promot- ing the enterprise were not only astute politicians. but were considerate of their fellow men from a huma rian standpoint.
 There was much speculation on the street as to who could have been so thoughtful and at such crisis MT. Dunlap was mentioned. but 1t is we'll known fact that MT. Dunlap does not dance unnecessarily. and whoever got up this big barbecue and baie certainly would not have suggested a dance un- less he could take part in i1. It was hinted that Joe Busch might have had something to do with it. as the inspira- tton of Anheuser- Busch would have a tendency to kee pthe name of Busch uppermost in the minds of voters till election day. But the discussion with reference to all these gentlemen ceased when an old war horse. who spoke with wisdom that could come only from ex- perience. suggested the name of that immaculate reformer. Joseph l.. R. Alexander
 "Reformer?" said one. Do you call 1t reform to get a lot of Mexicans drunk on Sunday? Do you call it re- form to desecrate the Sabbath with feasting and dancing? Do you call is reform to bunch men and inoculate them wholesale with the virus of the serpent that turks in the cup?"
 Yes. that's just what I call it," said the man who had been in the world long enough to look below the surface of things. Didn't Joe Alexander work the biggest kind of reform here last fall? Didn't he head moral crusade that jerked the props out from under several republicans and saved the grand old democratic party? Isn't 1t better for Joe to get all his fren nds drunk on good beer than 1t IS to allow them to stray off into by and forbid den paths and fill themselves up on rotten whisky and unripe wine? And as for dancing on Sunday l never heard any man say that was in con- flict with Joe Alexander's religion and nothing can conflict with his kind Of politics. Thsn. too, there is the bar becue. Some of them fellows we've got down in the Third ward to my certain Knowledge haven't had square meal since We found homes for them. When IL comes to reform I believe We shou d be just as kind to our fellowmen as We can, and if we find homes for them we are in duty bound to see that they have something to eat. They might starve on our hands or apply to the republicans for hslp. and then we'd be in H. of fix As for the sin of drinking beer. you know We cannot drive the drink habit out of the com munity in one fell swoop but we can regulate vice and I think beer Is long step in the right direction. Yes there can be no doubt that 1t was a re- form movement. and I should expect to find no one but reformer at the head of It."
 The serious part of all this business Is that some time after midnight thona who had participated in the days fes- tivities grew turbulent and noisy and on account of a threatened disturbance of the peace the officers were sent for about 1:30 o'clock.