Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1901-1906, 1903-01-30
THE MEDBlER.
"If the coat fits pat it on"

Sunday evenings temperance lecture
nv the Rev. ID. n. Beach of Cambridge
Mass. only strengthens the Meddler .
belief that most of the oratory eXpend e
ed on the liquor question during thls
campaign has been waste of breath
IT would be interesting to know 1u"i,
how many peoples views were chnngeuu
nv the arguments which Mr.. Beach
presented. 1t is fair guess that none
we're. In the first place the audience
was composed mostly of persons whose
beliefs were in coincidence with the
arguments. The remainder attended
simply to hear what the speaker haa 10
saw and how he would say it. me heV.
Mr.. Beach's manner certainly dld NOT
add dignity to his discourse. 10 pegih
with he tried to work upon the sym
pathy of his audience by telling, IN a
hiohly dramatic manner, about MS
yollne son whom he allows to roam
through the town of Bennington with
out fear of contamination, because
Bennington is prohibition town. 1t
hardly seems likely that Mr.. Beach
does not know that there are between
20 and 30 unlicensed dives doing bust
ness in that town.
:.
After this initiative Mr. Beach at
tempted to ridicule the methods of Yer
mont's license believers, and waXeo
dramatic about the fact that the refer
endum was to take place in February
when the weather was likely to be the
worst of the entire year He minated
that those in favor of the bill set TINS
IL +,l, ,rith tho lHpn tnAf
the bad weather, if it should happen
to come, would prevent prohibltlonists
from voting. lit can't be that Mr.
Beach believes Vermont's PROHIBITION
lists any less sturdy or less determlned
than its local option advocates. 10
speak frankly it seemed to the Meddler
that Mr.. Beach depended more upon
language than argument for effect. In
this he disappointed many, for he was
advertised as one who dealt with facts
rather than imprisoned appeal. Yes,
it is safe to guess that Mr.. Beach failed
to make a single vote for his side al
though from the remarks of some OF
his audience as they left the hall II
would seem that his efforts made them
more disguised than ever with prohl-
bition. However, The Meddler is will
ing to vouch that Mr. B earned his
stipend from The Committee of Eff
teen. however much that may be. SUCH
physical exertion as that to which he
subjected himself would have tired a
much stronger looking man.
In this connection it is interesting
to note the assiduous attention which
some women give temperance orator
and the points which seem to impress
them the most. The Meddler happened
to be. sitting near group of middle
aged danes Sunday evening. The argu-
ments directly concerning the question
of LIQUOR traffic control seem to inter
est them but little. Probably their
minds did not comprehend the necessity
of recognizing the evil To them it was
simply a case of stopping ii complete
". But when the speaker began to
draw pictures of the evils resulting
from the iniquitous habit then ii was
that their emphatic mods and exchange
of chances showed what they thought
of the whole business. 1t is all very
we'll to throw up ones hands in horror
at the very thought of such condition
of affairs, but such an action never did
anything toward finding a remedy.
Deplorable as it may be, the liquor
traffic is too strong an evil to be
squelched entirely. 1t can only be con
trolled.
The Meddler