The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-27

| is such a demand for an article, which
can be easily manufactured people Will
| be found to engage in the sale and to
| pocket the large profits thereon. punish
| ment or no punishment; that where
| prohibition exists. whisky and other
strong distilled spirits are sold to the
exclusion of beer and other light drinks
on account of the greater ease and safety
| in handling the former; that the pro-
portion of drunkenness. insanity, crime,
general degeneracy, and lack of thrift
which comes as result of drink, is
due almost exclusively to the use OF
strong distilled spirits, such as whisky,
and not to the use of light fermented or
malt liquors. which on account of their
bulk are practically excluded from pro-
hibition States. Does the above furnish
the true solution of the trouble in Maine
and Kansas. or is it to be found in the
following clipping from the London
Spectator"
1T is the methods of the temperance
people and their arguments which some
times repel US. not their cause. We are
unable. no doubt to believe, in the teeth
of Christ's order for the rite which was to
keep his memory eternally alive. that al
cohol is in itself evil. or to forget that
humanity owes everything worth having
TO the races which use 1t. The Jew drank
and gave US monotheism and Christianity;
the Greek drank and gave US literature
and art: the Roman drank and gave US
law; the Teuton drank (hard) and gave
US the passion Of freedom What have the
two great races which rejected alcohol
the Hindu and the Arab-done to counter
weigh the benefits conferred by their
drinking rivals?"
In Montgomery County, Md, prohi-
bition law has existed for about twenty
years. Everyone familiar with the con-
ditions knows that this law has been for
years and Is today violated almost openly
throughout the county. and Is a source of
great expense to the taxpayers. The rec
ords of the last term of court show a
greater number Of murders and other Sc
rious crimes than ever before known in
the history of the county. This condition
deserves special notice in view of the
great Improvement promised about a year
ago. by the local branch of the Anti-Sa-
loon League and the apparently extreme
efforts of its officers to make that prom
Use good. aided as they have been by
weekly PUBLICATIONS as to the nature and
extent of the violations of the liquor law
which have been contributed to the county
press by numerous citizens.
Upon such showing is it strange that
many thoughtful people who have no in
terest. directly or indirectly in the liquor
traffic and approve OF true temperance. as
they do Of the other features OF the Chris
tian religion. should honestly become con-
WINGED that prohibition laws are imprac-
ticable and expensive. under the most ia
vorable conditions, and that they are pos
sibly productive of much more crime and
moral degradation than they prevent.
1t is true that large proportion Of the
ministers and members of some OF the
churches advocate laws of this character,
but truly good people may err in judg
mcnt in relation to many OF the affairs of
life. otherwise the great conflict of views !
upon religious, as we'll as temporal mat |
tiers, as daily witnessed among them, can |
not be explained.
WILLIAM ri LAMAR