Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-03-31


statements of the brewers associa-
ton concerning the effect Of prohibit
ton and temperance agitation on tho
business of the country the pastors OF
the city have been requested to
preach on the subjects.
1.-The brewers claim that the min
listers were unfortunate in quoting the
commercial clubs as authority for the
condition of things In Kansas City,
Kas., because they wanted to boom
the town. If 200 leading business
men with the assistant attorney gen
eral, the governor OF the state, VIII.
liam E. Curtis Of the Chicago Record
Herald together with many others to
like standing can not be believed, how
do the brewers association expect de-
cent and sane people to believe the
hirelings whom they have sent down
to Kansas City with no higher purpose
than to pave the way to bring saloons
and dives back to town from which
they have been driven out?
Liquor Worse Than Opium.
"The brewers claim that prohibition
is a failure. That more liquor IS
drunk in prohibited sections than
where it is under license control Then
why do they put up money by the
thousands to fight it? From that
they ought to look upon temperance
cranks as their best friends For their
chief concern is to sell the stuff and
the more they can sell the better they
are pleased. The liquor men claim
you can't prohibit the sale of it. That
argument advocates lawlessness and
is but one step removed from an
archy. The president has asked con-
gress to pass laws to control the
opium trade aud has asked for a con-
ference of powers to control it
throughout the world. If that can
be done with opium why not with
liquor? The latter Is more deadly to
the nation. 1t has more victims than
the former.
"The national crime of this country
is it's partnership in the liquor traffic.
whose only finished product is 100000
men sent to drunkards graves every
year. All this besides the other
shame and wreck too great for any
census figures yet to compass. 1t is
claimed that the liquor business helps
the business of town. The Morrow
murder case in this city was caused by
drink with over $4,000 criminal costs.
Other crimes and conditions growing
out of the traffic with liquors with
all attendant expenses show that the
city year by year was loser in dol
lars and cents to say nothing Of the
wrecked homes and blasted lives"
Liquor Men Scared.
| The speaker then read an article
from a Washington paper saying chat
one bottle Of whiskey with the murder
| it inspired cost that city $4,000 and
the end was not yet" He said ut was
no compliment to mans intelligence
to say that town had to have a
| business which made drunkards, de
mons and murderers of it's citizens to
prosper Then quoting from the Chi
cago American he said, "Nine-tenths
Of the murder and crime were caused
| by the drink business"
! He continued, "The leading secular
papers all over the country are com
ing out boldly against the liquor bust
ness. Not because they feared tenn.
perance agitators but because they
saw the traffic was the worst enemy
to the peace and prosperity Of the
| SopitiS AC udy vi Jill ulS 10 oNCt
and the day of prohibition is coming
and nothing can head it off. Maine
Delaware, North and South Dakota
Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and
most of the southern states are drv
Most of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio
Indiana, Kansas and Texas are going
dry by leaps and bounds under local
option law. The liquor dealers see
this and know this. Their own pa
pers say their business is in danger
and threatened with destruction This
is the meaning of the playcards in the
city,
Talk Of Rev. Hargett.
At the services held last night al
the First Methodist Episcopal church
the subject OF the sermon was "The
Delusions of Drink The pastor was
listened to with close attention
throughout the address. In part he
said as follows:
Never has the interest in temper
ance been greater than at the present
time. Nearly two-thirds of the area
of the United States is free from the
saloon. Nearly one-half of the popu
lation is living in prohibition territory
The movement Is not the result O.
temporary excitement but of the ap
p1ication of Christianity to the prob
lens of the age. God is in the move
ment. His spirit is convicting mer
of sin, of righteousness and judgments
to come
THE liquor men are reading the
hand writing on the wall, they are
weighed In the balance and fount
wanting. They are alarmed and thor
ougly aroused. They have strong Or
ganization and vast sums of none!
with which to fight the battle. Theil
only hope Is to deceive the people
The fatal delusion they foster is thu
following:
THE saloon can be reformed an;
made respected and law abiding. 4
certain amount of liquor is good fo1
man. If prohibitory laws are passed
they cannot be enforced Prohibition
ruins business, increases taxation, de
prives the farmer Of market for his
grain, turns vast numbers of men on
of employment and would tend to pro
| duce a panic with hard time wors: