Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-04-04

significant part as far as RESPONSE
bility for crime is concerned He.
showed that of all the great crimes
mentioned in the bible, liquor occupies
a very minor role. In this connection
he mentioned the fall of Adam. at
tributed to ambition; the first murder,
attributed to hate and jealousy; the
sin of David, inspired by coyetous
ness; the wickedness of Sodom and
Gomorrah is not assigned to the use
of liquor; nor was the great crime
told of in the new testament, the be-
trayal of Christ by Judas, for a few
pieces of silver. From these instances
he concluded that crime is not caused
by the object which man covets. lut
is due to human nature. He quoted
Milton on this point, and said, There
is the whole error of prohibition; it
thinks external things can make a
man virtuous" He declared that
is more often an effect
than a cause.
History of Nations. t
Dr.. Mangasarian took up the his
tory of the rise and fall of nations,
to show that while powerful govern
ments have risen and fallen, drink
has never played a role in their fall.
Rome and Greece were spoken of
and the reign of terror in Paris was
also cited. Drink has never caused
such evil in the life of any nation"
he declared.
ut is also true" he said, that the
nations That do not drink, that are
total abstainers, have not made an
enviable record" He cited the Mo
kammedan countries which for 1900
years have practiced prohibition.
Germany, England, and others of the
progressive nations which are drink
ing nations were referred to, as Illus
trations of unhampered growth and
progress. France today, licensing
nation, is second to none in art, in
science, lin literature-and in finance.
''The prohibitionist's attention ought
TO be called to the fact that in at
tributing all the evils to the drink
habit he is fighting fiction. The
IdSlo VI Illc are dSdtlol MIL ne 10
fighting this fiction with fictitious
weapons" said the speaker.
Relation to Religion.
To prove this point, DR.. Mangasar-
ian took up again the question of the
position of the bible on the use of
liquor and argued that the prohibition
list is not doing Gods service and that
the bible is squarely against the doc
trine. He showed that wine is spoken
of in the bible as the usual drink of
the people, and that Christ found
wine so essential to the merry making
of the wedding festivities that He him
self made wine from water, at the bid
ding of a woman-his own mother The
bible, he declared, does not; show that
the wine was unfermented. but wine
had just as much alcohol in it in those
days as it has now
Continuing, DR.. Mangasarian point
ed out that the Ten Commandments.
omit any reference to the use of
liquor, and he challenged the right of
the modern prohibitionist to place at
the head of the decalogue a command
ment that Diety left out altogether.
Dr. Mangasarian went further to show
that Christ made use of wine as a
symbol of he most sacred sacrament
of the church.
DR.. Mangasarian said that since
there are no prohibitory enactments
in Christianity's teachings, he did not
think it would follow that an argu-
ment could be made that heaven
would be prohibition territory.
DR.. Mangasarian argued that the
practical course is the education of
the people to teach them how to use
and not abuse the good things of life
Education is the path to salvation, y
he added.
He then concluded with the quota
tons given above.
ID. ID. Connolly Presides.
B. D. Connolly presided over the
meeting, and introduced Dr. Manga
sarian in brief and happy speech
The chorus of united singers rendered
vocal music of high order during
the evening.