Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1907-08-02
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THE ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE
CAMPAIGN

The weeks campaign of the Anti
Saloon League, opened here last Sun
day. Rev. J. ID. McAlister opened the
campaign with very strong addresses
in the Methodist church at North
Tazewell in the morning and in the
Methodist church here at night. , 1t
is no eXaggeration TO say that, sell
dom, if ever, has the cause been
more ably presented than on this oc-
casion 10y Mr.. MeAIister.
The Anti Saloon League is the
latest of number of societies or
ganized in the country for the sup
preston of the liquor traflic-all of
paratively short-lived. The League
seems TO have come To stay. Quietly
but effectively il is doing its work.
Its objective point is the closing of
the saloons - putting them out of
business through local option, sub
hitting the question always TO the
viii of the people, Gradually and
quietly the work has gone on until
nearly one thousand saloons have
been closed in this state. The League
has secured foothold, and has now
strong grip upon the people of the
country every where. And this has
been reached 10y and through the
adoption and prosecution of conser-
tive and safe business methods. No
mans individual liberty has been at
tackled, or his rights assailed. No
fanAtieal appeals have been made, or
methods adopted. Not the drinker or
The seller personally, but the business
itself, is the point of attack. No
pledge of total abstinence. or promise
of sobemeSs has been demanded as "A
prerequisite for membership i'm the
League. OF course, in the prosecution
OF heir aim the drunkard, and the
effects of drink has been scathingIv
exposed and laid bare, but all obiec-,
tionable personalities and denuncia-
ton have been carefully eliminated
from the plans Of attack, and the
saloon itself and the manufacturers
have been mercilessly yet openly and
honestly, assailed.
The League is, i'm no sense, a Dolit-
zeal organization, but its influence is
felt in the politics of the country.
Partisan politics il ignores, but
through It's quiet work many bad
man has been defeated for office. and
\ good one elected in his place IL
afllliates with all churches and those
al
and those of no party. 1t becomes
ALI things 10 AN men" if il NAV
close some saloon, rid some commu-
nifty OF the curse of an open, defiant
hell, save some woman or child from
poverty, disgrace and ruin, and lift
The shadows from the homes of the
iiquor-ridden and liquor-cursed.
Each annual, semi-annuaI or
quarterly report from the field shows
mat the main purpose of the League
is being ACCOMPLISHING as fast AS
could be desired - not aS fast as
would be if church people were true
10 their vows and would vote rs they
pray. Still the work is growing.
Gradually the white-aproned crowd
is being pushed TO the edge, and the
red lights are disappearing from the
street. Public sentiment first, action
next, has been, and is still the wise
m$tto of this army of life-savers as
they march up and down shores
upon whose rocky lodges are cast the
stranded and ruined of the state and
country.
The question, will the Anti-Saloon
League succeed in accomplishing the
purpose of its organization, is no
longer question. 1t is already
success. The next five years, with
Judicious management, accelerated
hE the momentum of the past five
years, and saloons will be scarce i'm
this country outside few large
cities, and scarcer in these.
Behind this movement is mighty
host. The churches and pastors of
every denomination in the state, the
women and children of thousands of
Sunday Schools, Governors, Judges.
Senators and Legislators of every de-
gree, are in sympathy with this great
reform, and behind all these-God
Entrenched and fortified behind rock
ribbed fortresseS, the liquor traffic
may be, but the forces that uphold
II are nothing compared with those
determined upon its destruction.