St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1907-11-30
Prohibition Movement.

sdiOOuS anu thc llQuOt lEauIc uOI
is this NOV ement confined TO the
United States. Great Britain has
also taken up the matter, and while
it will not be pushed with the I'M
petuosity that characterizes the
American onslaught, it shows that
there exists all over the world q
feeling that the sale of liquor Is
entirely too unrestricted, and, if
some check is not put upon it,
posterity will suffer for our sins
both of commission and omission.
There is no use Sinking the re
sponsibility. 1t is no longer a
question whether this movement
will be success, but simply a
question of how soon.
The greatest opponent of this
movement is likely to be the re-
action resulting from its radical
methods. You cannot make a man
good by legislation, nor can you
subdue his appetite for liquor IN
like manner. If the movement
should be so successful as to close
all the saloons, would not the re-
suit be that liquor would find ite
way into the home, where in many
cases 1t IS never known, and would
not private clubs spring into ex-
iStence throughout the land, where
drink and cards would be shielded
behind social entertainment and
literary development? This seems
TO us inevitable. We do not wish
TO extenuate the evils resulting
from an unrestralned traffic IN in
toxicatlng liquors. We fully rec
ognize that existing conditions are
such as 10 require some effort to
curtail the damaging influences to
which the youth of to day are sub
jected but hasty and irrational
measures will only end in defeat
ing an object that Is much desired
to- day even by many msn who are
in the saloon business.
Many, in their anxiety for re.
form, do not stop to consider the
result that would follow the dis
placement Of the vast capital that
is employed in the distllllng and
in the saloon business throughout
the United States, amounting to
millions and millions of dollars;
nor do tEey reflect that thousands
of families would be without sup
port or means of obtaining o live
lihood
1t Is a mistaken idea that all
saloon keepers are immoral and
corrupt. There are many of them
to, day who would willingly lend
their aid to any movement looking
to a proper control of the business,
and who advocate laws that if
properly enforced would not only
largely eliminate the eorruptlng
influences of the saloon and place
the business upon a higher plane,
but would make 1t impossible fol
dives and barrel houses to exist.
There are saloons IN Covington
where drunken man cannot OBJ
tain a drink, and 1t would be well
If it could be said of every saloon:
but until proper laws are enacted
and enforced, the drunkard will
always find place to drink II
public. No law will prevent hsi
drinking IN private. The best thai
can be accomplished 10 that he shall
not parade his degradation nor be
menace to society.
We do not believe that q mar
should be governed by law au e
what he shall eat or drink but We
believe that he should be RESPONSE
BILE for his actions as 3 unit Of
society, and that he should bt
amenable to laws that are enacted
for the protection of society and
which should be enforced.
We would suggest that no surel
| deterrent to the development OF
the movement that 10 now pro.
gressive and surely moving toward
Covlngton could be devised than
demand by the saloon men that
proper laws be enacted for their
control and government and an
agreement among themselves that
there should be no violations Of
these laws.
The evil of selling intoxlcants
10 minors, the violation of the