The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-02-26
FATHER lAWLER
DENOUNCES SALOON
Delivers the Chief Address at
Session of Minnesota Anti
Saloon League.

tended and great enthusiasm was dis
played. The evening was given up en-
t1reiy TO the addresses delivered by the
Rev. ]. ]. Lawler and the Rev. T. N.
McNash, superintendent of the Iowa
Anti Saloon league.
After showing that intemperance is
the source of a very large proportion
OF the pauperism, vice, crime, disease
and unhappiness that afflict humanity,
Rev. J. j. Lawler. in his address last
evening before the Anti Saloon league,
Said,in part:
Travel the world and find that the trail
OF intemperance is over 1t all But it is
not necessary to ransack history or to
visit other lands than this. Within the
messed scenes of drunkenness which are
scarcely surpassed the world over. Such
Is the drink plague. which, like moral
slrocco, sweeps over our country, blight
| Ing. the fairest virtues and leaving in its
wake squalor, vice and spiritual ruin
What is the cause of it? / unhesitatingly
answer, the saloon Is the principal cause
of it,
Other agencies are at work producing
and propagating intemperance, but the
saloon stands out among them all as the
unapproachable chief. 1t is Americas
drunkard factory par excellence. There
excessive drinking is commonly done.
| There the morbid craving for intoxicants
| is created and cultivated. Not the least
| of the purposes of the saloon is the de-
| ,velopment of the drink habit. So nu-
/ merous are saloons that they cannot con-
! tinue to thrive unless they set to work
| to develop the drink habit In the youth
| of our land
Saloons Social Side.
Why is the saloon permitted to exist
| If 1t IS such a destructive force in mod
| ern life? The survival of the saloon in the
face of every opposition must be ex-
| planned On Psychological grounds. 1t has
a social side which must be considered
NJ CT ri Hxr
| teract it, and who would find a solution
| of this difficult problem. In spite Of the
| vast and undeniable evils Of the saloon
| 1t has a firm hold on those whose social
needs 1t supplies. For many of its pa
| irons 1t is not merely drinking place
where their craving for stimulants can
| be satisfied, but 1t is also an institution
which meets their desire for recreation
and fellowship and social expression.
No matter how painful the admission
may be, under existing conditions the
| saloon plays the role of the poor mans
club. In 1T the workingman finds mini
mum of sociability and recreation and
maximum of expense and injury. 1t af-
! fords him a social center such as 1t is,
\ but he unquestionably pays too much for
| his whistle. The sale of it's demoralizing
wares is the saloons chief mission. It's
| power to draw customers lies chiefly in
its alcoholic beverages. Yet substitutes be
found for its social features and let 1t be
reduced to the function of distributing
stimulants and a marked Improvement
| will be noticed. AS it now exists the Sa-
/ loon is an institution into which the poor
man deposits his hard earnings, and from
| which he draws out a small measure OF
sociability and a very large measure Of
harm for himself and wretchedness for
| those around him.
The saloon stands like a highwayman in
| the path of every industry, exacting a
| tribute from its victims far too heavy
| for their income, and keeping them in q
/ state of want and dependence.
| Speaking of the saloons defiance of
| law, Father Lawler said:
Says Saloons Defy the Law.
The defiance Of law. is one Of the most
! dangerous lessons which a nation can
learn, and yet it IS the lesson that the
! saloon teaches day by day. We cannot
| protest too strongly against the unregu-
regulating the liquor traffic which are not
| enforced. 1t is true that you cannot make
| people moral by law, but it is just as true
| that every law which removes tempta-
tons, which minimizes the dangers Of the
saloon, which protects the home is an aid
4 to right living and good. citizenship. Is
the saloon above the law? Love of coun-
/ try would incline us to answer No, but all
! the facts say, Yes.
| What's the matter? It is a common
thing to blame the saloonkeeper and the
| officials of the party in power, but not
the saloonkeeper alone is at fault-not the
| administration alone is to blame but the
lax: dulled conscience of the, community
/ which allows such a deplorable state of
| things to exist. Good people, respectable
people, who are supine1y indifferent-who
! do not demand the strict enforcement Of
/ the law-must share the blame. In the
final analysis it is the man with a vote
/ who is largely responsible. The people
are always in power.
i objects to Discrimination.
Would you realize how openly the sa-
loon defies the law, take q walk
! through any of our large cities on Sun
! day. There is law against selling
| liquor on Sunday. Is it obeyed? No, sir.
| The saloon is open for business. and a
| much heavier business on Sundays than
state has upheld the constitutionality Of
the law passed by our last legislature
| prohibiting the sale of dry goods, gro
| ceries and provisions on Sunday. Our
state labor bureau promises to enforce it,
| In order to relieve Workingmen from the
necessity of working on Sunday, and to
lenable citizens generally to spend Sunday
In quiet. 1t is step in the right d.
rectfon 1t is in defense Of our American
| But IL the grocery store must be closed
in order to protect the interests Of the
| workingman and to safeguard the sanctity
i of Sunday, why should not the saloon
| next door be closed for the same high and
| holy purpose? The Almighty said: Re
member that thou keep holy the Sabbath
| day. The saloon power says, Remember
| that thou close ali other shops but mine,
that thou mayest have the time to bring
thy weeks wages to my till on the Sab
BATH"
Discusses Civic Conscience.
Rev. I. N. McNash took for his sub
ject "Civic Conscience" theme that