The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1907-12-19
Tho New Antisaloon Crusade.

= No NOW <AutlS61OOu CxUS8O0s
Several years ago body Of very
determined women instituted an anti
saloon crusade and carried on the war
IN the most drastic fashion. Even
Carrie Nations tactics were not more
radical than those adopted by some of
the crusaders in revolt against the
saloon. At the time of it there was a
widespread sentiment in the country
against the abuse Of alcohol, but it was
seldom possible to rally in any great
strength at the polls the lovers and
preachers of temperance. Perhaps the
Indifference of that time and since has
resulted from the American love of
personal independence. Men refused
to go on record as declaring that they
could not control their appetites or
that their neighbors were less manly
than themselves. High license and
local option made Roadway where pro-
hibition could not. The one sounded
like sumptuary law and the other
OueIeu d oIudIC uedl.
Prohibition in this country has from
the start taken lofty ground. 1t would
prevent the manufacture and exporta-
ton and also the importation of alco-
holic beverages as well as the display
and sale of the same over the public
bar. In its way this is as radical as
the abolition of African slavery and
encroaches upon the domain of per-
sonal liberty. For years following the
titanic struggle of 1861 TIE radical
temperance people called for Summers
and phillipses and Lincolns AID Grants
and Shermans to stamp out the new
slavery, but the appeals fell anon dull
ears. Perhaps the nations monl forces
had been exhausted, tut it is more
than likely that somehow the case was
different The great mass Of men who
might have taken the lead aud We'd
with the giants Of the war dSys were
willing to concede the evil Of the
abuse Of liquor, but were no. ready to
so to the extreme of declaring that, be
cause some drinkers went too far,
therefore no man should have a
chance to drink. Apparently all this
has changed, and it is found that in
those very states where the doctrine
Of personal liberty is most jealousy
guarded and the custom of drinking a
part Of the very social system prohibit
ton rightly presented carries the day.
However, the prohibition argument
Of today strikes a different chord from
what it did thirty or twenty years ago.
Timeliness is everything, and we have
drifted at last to the stage when sa-
loon smashing is not only tolerated,
but can be made an issue and win If
the smashing is done il the right way.
Sometimes the crusade takes the form
OF local option, and again, as in Geor-
gia, it goes to the length of n wide
prohibition. But the count against
the saloon has changed since the WON
en- of Ohio roamed the streets in bands
anu By main force poured the liquor
into the cutters. Then the idea up
permost was that the saloon tcmpts
men to drink, and American manhood
Sid let them drink if they want to.
Now the saloon in many counties and
in many precincts of great cities and
generally in some states is convicted
of fomepting Observation-Disclosures which
in itself is menace to individual lib
erty. 1t was not eXpedient to press
were sensitive over the approach of
any sulnptuary legislation 1t is expe-
dent to press prohibition, or what
amounts to the same thing, when the
public sets order and safety above in
dividual convenience and pride. Ameri-
can slavery went down under the jug
gernaut Of expediency, and it will be
no less revolution, though peaceful
one, should the saloon share the same
fate. The saloon has been defended
by pointing to the drinking customs of
Europe. But there is now a war on
against alcohol in every country on the
continent. Alcohol is losing ground
over there. The saloon is losing ground
here IN its struggle against temperance
legislation, and it will continue losing
ground wherever and whenever 1t re-
mains o menace to public order and an
ofense to the public mind.
UNLESS you want to be forever in
debt" says Major General Greedy,