Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-02-21
DR.. CRAIG DELIVERS FOURTH AID.
DRESS IN "oTTuMWA GATES
OF HELL" SERIES.
"The Business Folly of Wide Open
Policy" Announced AS Most import
ant Address of the Series For Next
Sunday Evening.
From Mondays Daily.

u ntioH Was luG Topic VI lle lOuTlu du-
dress last evening in the "Ottumwa
Gates of HELP series of sermons being
delivered by DR.. A. e. Craig, at the
First Methodist Episcopal church. The
address was delivered before an audi
ence which packed the large church in
both auditorium and In gallery Many
stood Throughout the entire service.
"The Business Folly of Wide Open
Policy" will be the topic for the SER
mon next Sunday evening. DR.. Craig
announces that he considers this ad-
dress the most important one of the
series.
The address of last evening was as
follows:
Il also was standing by and con-
senting." Acts xii, 20.
So Paul describes his attitude to.
wards the mob that stoned the first
martyr, Stephen. So might the city adj
ministration describe it's attitude to-
wards the lawlessness of the saloon
element of our city for the past num-
Der of years. 1t is impossible to gain
balanced estimate of the saloon stu
alton in our city without reference to
the history of the temperance move.
ment in the state of Iowa. Iowa once
had a worthy pre-eminence in a tenn.
perance way among her sister states.
She was among the first to adopt the
in anything like vigorous way Cen
orally speaking this policy was a sue
cess and satisfied very large portion
of her citizenship, but not all. At no
time during this prohibition period
was the law enforced with anything
like success in the river towns. Many
of the inland towns had only spas
modic temperance conditions Ottum-
wa was one Of these. Many of you
here tonight can vividly recall that
old fight for total prohibition in the
city of Ottumwa. need not rehearse
the story
1t is all over and the prob
abilities are that the day is remote
when we will again have our city
freed from the presence of the saloon
Dissatisfied with the law as it was,
many of the then dominant party in
the state broke away from the ranks
and a campaign was conducted on the
line Of affording relief from the pro.
condition. The boilers car.
ried the day, and we're only enticed
back into the ranks with the assur
ance that some sort of relief would be
granted them. The outcome was the
present mulct law. The argument In
favor of enacting this law was that
the conditions prevailing were lawless
and bred the spirit of law1essness.
which all recognized as detrimental in
itself. Many good temperance people
who deplored the backward step as
they regarded it, consoled themselves
with the fact that now that the liquor
men had what they wanted the fight
ought to end, they had the open saloon
with such restrictions as all agreed
were proper and met the requiem ents
of the case.
Many Law Abiding.
Imagine what must have been the
feelings Of all law loving citizens,
whether they were In favor of 'prohi.
bition or not to find that when the sa-
looms received the very privileges
they demanded that they paid no re.
spect to their own law, but ran just as
recklessly as If there had been no re-
strictions placed upon them. Now L
do not wish to lay all liquor dealers
under the broad imputation Of being
lawless in their disposition. I believe
there are many men in the business
who have high regard for law and
would prefer to conduct their business
within the limits of the law, especially
since it is liberal enough to satisfy
all reasonable demands and imposes
neither upon the business
nor upon the customer. I say there
are doubtless many among them who
would prefer to live within the re-
strictions Of the law They do not
wish to be deprived of the Sunday
with their families or the privilege of
spending it at such leisure as they
may elect. They do not want to con.
tinue at their places Of business to all
hours of the night. They do
not need the shelter Of screens to
shield them from the scrutiny of pub
lie inspection. But such do not com.
prise the entire liquor fraternity
Some way there is something in the
saloon business that attracts other
men Of the baser sort. They have no
regard for the law, they have no re-
spect for public opinion or public con.
venience. All they care about is to
reap as much gain out Of the business
as possible, irrespective of law,or pub
lie opinion. 1t is not difficult to see
how this class of men could readily |
demoralize the entire situation. They
set the pace, and others must step in
keeping with them or suffer the con-
sequences. We all know how sensi.
tive business is at that point. 1t is
not simply the saloon business it is SO
with every business. Let one barber
shop open on Sunday and all feel con.
strained to do the same. Let one
merchant keep open to s o'clock and
his competitor feels compelled to fol.
low suit This is especially SO in the
saloon business. When one set of
fellows come into the competition run
ming at all hours and on all days OF
the week it is almost impossible for
the others to refrain from doing the
same.
Have Assumed Prerogative.
Now right here is where the law is
supposed to come in for the protection
of the law abiding man. He ought to
be able to appeal to it's protection