The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-07-16

| that Cough used such language as
| Come ye Wondering victims from the
tomb; wipe the crumbling grave dus
from, your brow; stand forth in your
tattered shrouds and bony whiteness
and help me testify against the drink
| traffic. Come down from the gallows
| We spirft-maddened murderers, griI
your bloody knives and help me testify
against the horrors of drink Crawl
| from your Shiny ooze, ye drowned
drunkards, and with suffocations blue
and livid lips help me testify against
the drink curse. Snap your burning
| chains. ye deniZens of the pit; come
| sheeted in flames, and with trumpet
! tongues dripping with fire, help me
| testify against the damnation of strong
| drink? But the shame is not ALL 90
| There is also the brutaliZing effect on
| the community of having to punish
| these poor wretches made miserable
| through weak natures set on fire by
| drink. 80 Add to the foregoing the
| great expense of detecting and prose
| cutting crime, the housing and caring
| for the criminal after he is convicted;
| of building and supporting pauper in
| stitutions and asylums of various
! kinds, large percentage of whose in
mates are there through the influence
| of strong drink, and one will ask,
| Wherein is the community benefited?
| 1t is net benefited. What we have
| found to be true with respect to the
drinker and his family is also true of
the community. The curse of one is
the curse of ALL And this is what we
should expect. If there is a God their
fortunes should be inextricably one and
them.
AN ADDITIONAL REFLECTION.
Nor should one imagine that this
harvest of crime is to be gathered any
way regardless of whether there is
traffic in intoxicants. Stop the traffic in
intOXicants and you will also stop
large part of the crime. The editor of
the San Francisco Chronicle has never
been noted for being a temperance
crank. And yet, note that in the edi-
torial from which quotation has al
ready been made, he goes the length
of saying that experiences in San Fran
cisco since the earthquake and fire,
when prohibition has been in vogue,
proves absolutely that the saloons are
responsible for all crimes of violence.
He says: "It is a most impressive OBJ
ject lesson of the value to society of
the restriction of the liquor traffic.
Then he adds, I'VE are promised a
continuance of this peaceful condition
for a considerable time to come, save
only as drunken men may drift over
from Oakland, where the authorities
have been so reckless as to allow sa-
looms to open" Three weeks later We
hear that this peaceful condition" SO
auspiciously promised is seriously dis
turbed by Oakland's continued reck-
lessneSs, and San. Francisco is telling
her that the $4,000 she asks from the
general relief fund can be had only on
condition that she close her saloons
for thirty days. San Francisco's pa
thence is threadbare on account of the
disorder she has to suffer as the result
CT Oakland7s- action. She wants, and
is determined to have, the peace and
quiet which she sees is assured if only
the liquor traffic can be suppressed
She can suppress it within her own
borders. But she has no jurisdiction in
Oakland. One is inclined to ask why
when San Francisco is again on her
feet she should not make this peaceful
condition permanent? What good can
come to the community by permitting
says one. prohibit it and yet you can't |
keep it out. You have got to suffer it. |
Therefore tax and control it. With |
Oakland so near and disposed as she |
is, I confess that this position has |
some weight. However, even :hen San |
Francisco would suffer much less with |
the traffic suppressed within her own |
borders. But what about these islands? |
What about Honolulu, who has no |
Oakland to vex her? Can't You sup
press the traffic here? I say you can.
What the military We're able to do in |
San Francisco in a thoroughly unor-
ganized condition the police can always
do when the city is organized and in
a rCrmal state. The only requirement.
is that they shall Will to 90 It. Devise
some means for taking the police out
Of politics and it can be done But, out
of politics or in, all it needs is public
sentiment and the electing to office a
unSelfsh set of men whose
interest is the public good. OF course
as long as Weakened men of the
politician class are in the places of au-
thority, as long as the best element in
the community is Indifferent or willing
to be imposed on rather than fight. and
as long as the liquor traffic is agrees
sively in politics and keeps it's little
army of ward-heeiers busy, that long
perhaps the only thing possible is high
license with a few other safeguards
However, when the community wills
o stop the traffic it can be stopped. {
An honest. determined, courageous and /
oftfcialdom can do all
Funston and his forces did in San
Francisco. Nevertheless, before we can |
lave this the best elements III the COM
runity must wake up and go TO work
they must give their public servants
a understand that the public good
ather than party politics is a first con- | 4
liberation. In fact, they must seek
zen for office who are themselves i'm =
ued with that old fogy notion. Would
hat we might have a return of the
pirit of the early days when our il
lstrious forefathers staked their for
unes and their lives on the altar of :
heir country's good, and political posi- \
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