The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-12-10

, that paper Governor Vardaman said in | part: T do hereby request all good citi-
 zens of the state to support, stand by,
 sustain and give aid to said officers in
 upholdng and enforcing the law" The l governor further says: This whisky
 business Is doing more to debauch the | young men of the state than all other
 agencies for evil combined, and must be
 stopped Such impudent criminality can
 not go unpunished in Mississippi" And
 It must be remembered that the gover-
 nor is still very much in politics, being
 an active candidate for the United States
 senate, relying upon the popular vote al
 the election two years hence for the at l tainment of this ambition. Here we have
 In Ohio and Mississippi, states wide apart, | and divergent in their political, economic and social views, candidates for the high
 est offices boldly proclaiming their ale | glance to the principles for which we stand and deliberately in vting the an-
 tagonism of the saloon.
 | Could there be more conclusive evil dence of the growth and prosperity of our
 cause than this? What aspirant for an
 office ten years ago would have had the | courage in Ohio to make a canvass for l governor boldly defying the powerful
 whisky interests of that state? What | aspirant for the Senate In Mississippi
 ten years ago would have gone out of | his way to deliberately invite the antag- ' onism of these same forces in our sister | state? These men are not sentimental | ists; they are ambitious of success in | politics. Their challenge, therefore, of the whisky interest and influence Is the highest conceivable tribute to the splen- did success of the crusade of the Wo- mems Christian Temperance union Is not such spontaneous recognition a stimulus and inspiration that summons every energy to greater achievement and an early reaching of the goal for which we are laboring in the complete extinc- | tion of the saloon?
 We are marking progress The con science and intelligence of the republic are awakened to realizing sense of the worth of our work, and are responding | to the appeals that we have made for d stronger saner, purer social and civil order. But these successes must not in- | duce sense of complaisance: that would diminish effort. A large work still lies before us; too large for me to even hint at In it's aspects in this greeting. Important Point.
 But I cannot omit to stress one or two important points that need our constant attention as essential means to the end we are striving after, and chief among | these Hes the matter of temperance edu- cation. It is absolutely necessary for the permanent success of the cause of l temperance in the United States, and everywhere, that the children be in structed as to the perils that wait on the use of alcohol. Impressions made upon the minds of youth are more en- during than conclusions reached through mental processes in later years. It was Frances Willard who pointed out to us the fact that if the saloon were to exist in the future the boys and girls of the present must constitute its meat. Teach
 every boy and girl in the land the effect
 of alcohol on the body, the mind, the pocketbook and the country, and no young American who has been so taught will fail to have a lifelong contempt and abhorrence of the saloon. God speed that day and move us all to help bring I 1t about!
 Need you any more proof that scien- tific education Is the seat spring of tenn perance reform. Train up a little child in the way he should go and when he is
 old he will not depart from 1t.
 If white ribbons had their way-and some day they will have 1.-the taint of alcohol and nicotine would not be on any lip or In any atmosphere the world over. To this end let us never cease pre- senting our cause to humanity nor our efforts to roll in recruits, adding force to force everywhere. Let us by faith and prayer equip ourselves anew, that in truth we may be workmen needing
 not to be ashamed. Then, and not till
 that time, will we be able to give what
 
 best. The placing of the statue of Miss Willard in statuary hall marks an epoch In the advancement of women and wo.
 mans cause. How glad and proud we are that the first statue of a woman so placed was our noble white ribbon saint. That statue stands, and always will stand, as the highest and truest embodi-
 ment of what Is noblest and best In the womanhood of America, and our enduring , memorial of whatsoever things are of good report, we rejoice that the public conscience is awakened and that press and pulpit have added their influence in a crusade against the use of patent med icines." According to a recent decision of the revenue department all dealers who handle patent medicines which con-
 tain a certain per cent of alcohol will be compelled to pay a revenue license This is a step forward, which is the re- suit of a well directed agitation along that line.
 I desire to call your attention to the fact that the adoption of the uniform text book system in many of the states yields opportunity for the advancement of our work in this behalf which ought to be improved.
 Against Tobacco.
 Before leaving this question of our duty toward the youth of our land I desire to stress the importance of the agitation
 
 ly cigarettes. We have already compelled wide recognition of the evils of the cig arette habit. Many states forbid their
 manufacture and sale; many large em- ployers refuse to employ men or boys addicted to their use, believing that the habit Is evidence of the impairment of the powers and faculties essential to the performance of good work, and these in- f1uences are calculated to restrict the evil, but it's prevalence is yet very wide and will demand for many years our con
 centrated effort before 1t can be entierly eliminated. It is a fact recognized by physicians and physiologists that the use of cigarettes leads to the drink habit, and as every intelligent remedy is H. rected against causes, wherever discov- erable, 1t becomes our pressing duty not to abate our efforts in this direction
 until the cigarette Is driven our of our state by the combined force of public opinion and statutory law.
 Within our own state a brief review of the growth of temperance sentiment yields encouragement. and in presenting the following data I desire to make ac-
 Acknowledgement for the same to the Rev.
 S. E. Wasson of Decatur, an enthusias- tic leader of the Anti-Saloon league forces.
 At present there are in Alabama twen- ty-two counties under prohibition, twen- ! ty-one under license, fifteen having Gk- pensaries, and nine have both the dis pensary and the saloon. There are 6o4 saloons in the state. They are located in thirty counties. Mobile county licenses 165 saloons, Jefferson county 164, Mont