The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-22
ON LIQUOR TRAFFIC
PROHIBITION CANDIDATE
 PRESIDENT SPEAKS.
John G wooley Says That Liquor ia fhe Advance Agent of Physical, Social and Political Degra-
 datf0m.

Saratoga. June 2l.-The evils of the Iouor trafic and the progress or the wave of prohibition were themes dwelt upon by John G. Wooley of Chicago, candidate for President on the prom bition ticket in 1900. In address today before a meeting of the Worlds Tenn perance Congress.
 Many of the local churches gave over their pulpits today to temperance workers. The important events In the two concluding days of the Congress will be a decision of the army canteeh question and the annual contest Tor the intercollegiate oratorical society or the Eastern Star with contestants from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio. lndi- ana, Illinois. Michigan and Louisiana.
 MT. Wooley in his speech today said:
 "At every stage in the settlement and development of this nation. the uouor trafic was ana is the advance agent of physical, commercial. social and political degradation. In the light of medical science at the present time there is good reason to suspect that the poor bodily stamina of the James, town colonistsi was due to strong drink. There is no doubt at all that the appalling increase of ins&pity at present Is due to that cause
 'The catastrophy of business In high finance, that has left the sense of trus- Ee mere rudiment, like the vermiform ap- pendix. comes from many causes. But undoubtedly the public policy of dis- counting conscience and moral courage for cash. as declared. advertised and practiced in the licensing system. has been the stroke oar in the team of crooked athletes that have reduced and iebauched the legal profession, and hippodromed elections Into contempti- AeTa uvh fha nnffAd a0- cietv of camp followers plan and di- rect the movements of both parties.
 ''The seeds of the commercial whtrl- wind that we are reaping now. how ever sown, have been watered and fer tIlized. even in the mind of growing youth, not only with the poison out put of the liquor trade, but also, and chiefly, with the poison principle that money getting is the chief end of civil Iibertv. If is even clearer that the conn bination of job-chasers and captains of knavery that have fooled and heeced the people, all these years. have had the tap root of their dirty despotism in the liquor traffic.
 'Hrhe rape of the franchises in New York City was made possible by the procuress, Tammany; and Tammany IS politics run by saloon power: ram many handles the knock-ou drops for the pocket picking. while the big thieves cart away the hard earned cap itai of the people. The bold continu- ous robbery of the State of Pennsyl- vania and tho city of Philadelphia would be unimaginable in the absence of the saloon -centered general corrup- lion. Everybody knows how, after the earthauake and the fire. San Fran cisco laid the whirlwind of disorder and crime, by summarily closing the doors of the liquor trade, at the mug gle of Federal guns.
 "A dive Is simply saloon that has made progress in it's own logic, a greedy, boozy crazy. prostitution of the law of supply and demand, where the house rake-off is a hundred per cent, couning the short-change and the larceny: and the public takes care of the offal by general taxation. Sums are complete saloons, where demand and supply. rake-off, bi-product and debris. precipitate in metropolitan catch basins. But back of all. worst of all, wickedest of all. wretchedness of all. are the distiller. the brewer. the wholesaler. do not exaggerate, and I do not speak extempore, when l say that relatively to even things in the big problem. the saIoon keeper with his barrels and demijohhs and bottles and crockery and bulldogs and slot-ma- chimes, and chattel mortgages and brass buttons blackmailsrS. staggering ma-