Arizona republican., 1908-04-05
SELECTION OF AN EVIL
 10 ERADICATE ANOTHER
A Statement That Teetotalism Makes More Drunkards to Redeem.
Jefferson Davis.


 That it Gntemperanee) is at the root of many social disorders is con- ceded; but then the question arises, what is the appropriate remedy, and what the present necessity? T0 destroy individual liberty and moral respOnsl- bility would be to eradicate one evil by the substitution of another The abuse and not the use of stimulants, it must be confessed, is the evil to be remedied. l might appeal to men not as old as myself to sustain the assertion that the ConviVial use of intoXicants and the occurrence Of drunkenness had be- come less frequent within the last twenty years than il was before. The refining influence of education and Christianity may be credited with this result. Why not allow these blessed handmaidens of virtue and morality to continue unembarrassed their civil izing work"
 Thaddeus Stevens.
 ''I should be glad if legislation could cure intemperance. but l have seen il tried and tried in vain. l do not be- lieve that sumptuary laws ever had any effect to stop abuses in any coun- try. When l was d young man l was in a state legislature, and moved that the sale of liquor be prohibited in my district, and the motion was carried. did not find that I thereby made one drunkard the less-they would only drink the more when they had chance. There is no other way than by moral suasion for the reformation of the world on the subject of drunk enness.''
 Colonel George E. Warins.
 If anything has been proved by third of century of prohibition it is that il does not prohibit. It prevents the regulation of the liquor traffic and the collection of public revenue. It does not prevent the excessive and de- mOralizing use of liquor in open and uxultant violation of law. No fair view can be taken of the situation without bearing constantly in mind that this is a land of absolute religious freedom; that one has as much legal right to be- lieve one thing as another or to believe nothing. The church may persuade a man; it cannot force him."
 pr. Reid, Editor of the Lancet"
 ''Teetotalers make more drunkards to redeem. Wherever they succeed in securing coercive legislation against alcohol. they swell the tide of inebriety. Among the southern nations of the world. where alcohol is found as one of the everyday beverages of the people. excessive drinking and consequent drunkenness are reduced to a mini mum. London, Chicago and New York, which are without prohibition have respectively only :. 13 and 23 drunkards per 1000, while Portland, Me. the classic prohibition state, has 42.''
 Lord Salisbury.
 You wish to prevent a certain num- Der of people from getting drunk. Therefore you ask us to prevent four. five or six times as many, who are sober consumers. from having an op- pOrtunity Of the free indulgence to which they have a right. Why are We to punish the innocent in place of the guilty? The rich who possess or can possess wine cellars are free from the attacks of the prohibition reformers. It is the poor the working people. that the law inconvenience. This kind of legislation is absolutely of a class thar acter."
 Oliver Wendell Holmes and 126 Doctors we, the undersigned physicians of Massachusetts. while advocating tenn perance among our people, and all ap- propriate measures to promote il, be- lieve that the adoption of the proposed amendment to the constitution prohi- biting the sale of intoxicating liquor would not accomplish its intended pur- pose, but would lead to the surrepti- tiOus sale of inferior wines and li- Quors.
 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
 HENHY J. BIGLOW,
 AND 125 OTHERS.
 Gail Hamilton
 Speaking of prohibition in Maine. says in the North American Review:
 "The actual result is that liquor is sold to all who wish to obtain it in nearly every town in the state. En- forcement of the prohibition law seems to have but little effect. For the last six years the city of Bangor has prac- tica r. had free rum. In more than one hundred places liquor is sold. and no attempt is made to enforce the law. In Bath. Lewiston, Augusta and other cities no real difficulty is experienced in procuring liquors. In Portland en- fOrcement of the law has been faith fully attempted, yet the liquor traffic fOurishes for all classes from the high est to the lowest"