St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-08-26
A Plea for Prohibition.
Editor CALIFORNIAN:

lIOu an II liNiC III AuN AluCIlCe4A NEAiCNa
Of Reviews by Dr. Ferdinand c. Ingle-
hart. entitled "The Nation Anti-Drink
/ Crusade"
"In eight months Statewide prohibi-
tion has cleared the saloon from an area
as great as that of France. In that area
there is a solid block Of territory 800
miles north and south by 100 miles east
ana west, in which on the first day Of
next January a bird can fly from the
Mississippi to the Atlantic Ocean. and
from the boundary Of Tennessee to the
Gulf Of Mexico, without looking down
upon legallzed saloon. Great Britain
and Ireland can be set down over this
space without covering it. There would
be 10000 square miles of dry terri
tory LETT as a border
Last summer Georgia became the
first Southern State TO adopt prohibi-
tiou When the Georgia Legislature
met in July last there was not the slight
est idea IN the mind Of any friend or Zoe
OF whiskev that prohibitory law
would be enacted. When the result was
announced d scene OF indescribabic en-
thusiasm was witnessed GOV. Hoke
Smith promptly signed the BILL and mas
since vigorously enforced il. %
THE present temperance upheaval is
the revolt Of the American conscience
against what it considers to be wrong
The American saloon can blame itself
largely for the present opposition TO it;
it is essentially bad Aside from the in
gerent danger OF the business under the
wisest possible restraints. the liquor
dealers OF the nation have set themselves
TO do their very worstto provoke alarm.
The saloons are the breeding place OF all
kinds OF vice and CRIME. In them the
thieves. the murderers, ballot-box stuff
ers. Erafters, purchasers OF law. and the
debauched ind their education and
protection. and from them the lawless
hordes go forth to prey upon society
The oniv wonder is that the people have
stood tins menace to our civilization as
long as they have
1T is not only the bad list OF the
American saloon that mas caused TINS
revolution. but also the marked awaken
ing of the public conscience against all
kinds OF law, and hence The saloon comes
in tor IT'S share OF rebuke and opposition
The temperance reiormers and organiza-
lions OF the past and present have been
exceedingly active and each without an
exception mas been an important factor
IN the great moral uphcaval that is
shaking down SO many drinking places
while there are ia. 900 more saloons
than churches while the liquor trat
continues TO take into its treasu
enough money each year to run
every department Of the federal gos-
ernment. executive legislative, Judi
cial. navy. army. post ofhce, treasury,
and every other interest. the whiszey
men will not surrender without a herce
ana long struggle
"WiH prohibition prohibit Relative.
~. yes Absolutely, no. Prohibition
never does absolutely prohibit any
form of crime,--that OF murder, theft.
arson, forgery, or perjury. The courts
and iails all attest the truth Of this The
contention OF liquor dealers thar more
rum is sold IN a state under prohibition
than under license Is hardly 10 be taken
seriously, Tor fit were true they would
be working for prohibition instead of
shiverIng with fear and filing the papers
and conventions with alarm at the tidal
wave OF prohibition and loudly calling
Tor organized help 10 resist and prevent
its destroying them. You cannot make
men good by law SO many people and
papers are saying now. Yes, you can
No people on earth can be good with
out law and order 50 good a type Of
the race as the Anglo Saxon has to bind
himself about with most stringent law
TO keep from becoming a very bad Cit
zen. Gladstone said that the primary
object OF law IS to make II easter for men
10 do right and harder for them to do
wrong
We quote the following from an
editorial IN the American Review of
Reviews. entitled THE Moral Dignity of
Prohibition IN the south
"What is behind prohibition IN the
South Religious interests and energies.
A proposition to restore the liquor
traffic would receive almost the same
response from the churches as a PROPOSE
ton TO restore a state church establish
ment Educational forces are behind
prohibition. The ecoIlomic conscience is
behind prohibition The truth mas at
last been recognized in the South that
the whiskev traffic belongs to the
category of economic wastes-hOods,
famines, wars, and disasters OF nature.
The social peace and progress OF the
South are behind prohibition When
they tine saloons had been closed for a
week in Atlanta the people asked
'Whv not a wear and forever"
prohibition Is not on the defensive
1t is a great, broad, deep movement of
the most commanding proportions and
with an inspiration at its heart. 1t will
be recorded as the most important and
influential moral deed achieved in
American civilization during the FIRST
quarter OF the twentieth century
1.-THE spectacle of the South in making
a demonstration Of sufficient social