The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-03-25
BITTER WAR ON lNTEMPERANCE
SOLDIERS FIGHTING THIS CURSE
GREATLY CHEERED.
Mrs. Stevens Hopeful - Prohibition
Sentiment is Gaining Ground
Does Not Believe the Army Cam
teen Will Be Restored.

teen Will BE HeStOreQ.
That voters and Legislators are
coming to understand that prohibit
ton is not impracticable, but that, on
the contrary, it Is the best thing,
economically, is what Mrs. Lillian M.
N. Stevens, president Of the National
,Woman's Christian Temperance IN
ion, believes. She is especially en-
couraged by the triumph Of the Pro-
hibitionists in Georgia, which State
she has recently been visiting to at
tend the convention of the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union.
"The country used to think that 1t
could not get along without licensing
the liquor sellers, that the revenue
was too necessary to be dispensed
with for merely moral reasons" Mrs.
Stevens said to O New York Tribune
reporter at her home, near Portland,
Me-, the other day. But now the
truth is making itself known - the
truth that it costs far more to take
care Of the saloons annual crop of
human wrecks than the evenue from
the liquor business amounts to-. That
is what the good people feel more and
more, and there are enough Of these
to carry the day, once they get rid
of the idea that the license system is
an economic necessity.
1.-The two great gains of the year
for the White Ribboners are the VIC
tories in Georgia and Oklahoma. To
have a great State like Oklahoma n
ter the Union with a prohibition
clause in it's constitution, with a ma
jority Of it's people voting for tenn
perance-that is certainly fine. The
temperance people Of Georgia had to
fight for the prohibition law just en-
acted there, but they have it, and
their struggle will help the States
which are still controlled by the liq-
uor traffic to break away.
Temperance has a victory in
South Carolina, too. That Is the abol-
ishment of the ~Gothenburg, or dis
lpensary, system, which failed utterly
as a temperance measure. The Goth
enburg system was the last hope OF
the men who thought they could
stand for license and temperance at
one and the same time. think now:
that about all possible forms Of IL
'cense law have been tried and found
wanting as temperance measures.
Consequently, the path is clear for
out and out prohibition. Nearly all
the Southern States are ripe for pro!
hibition." ,. !
What about the army canteen2
There seems to be a clanor for its
restoration. Do you think this will
be accomplished" ,
II do not believe the anti-canteen
law, so called, will be repealed" said
Mrs. Stevens. THAT law was passed
by a large majority vote and after
the most careful consideration, and
Congress won't undo, its work, I am
confident"
! do you think the hotels will ever
be won over to prohibition? Leading
hotel proprietors all over the country
assert that without bars they cannot
make bookkeeping pay" .
"People do not travel to drink"
said Mrs. Stevens emphatically. "The
great majority Of men, to say nothing
of the women and children, are not
dependent upon liquor drinking;
Even the drinking man, unless he is
far gone in dissipation, prefers for
his family a hotel free from liquor
selling. Some Of the largest and
most prosperous hotelS n LnlS u
try have not attempted to sell liquor.
That is true Of hotels where I have
been in California and other States,
and l feel sure that The Piedmont
and the other large and well
equipped hotels in Georgia will sue
coed under prohibition and will not
break the law.
"In the last few months I have
travelled in many States; and I have
seen less drinking in the dining cars
and at hotel tables in license States
than in previous years. I have no
ticed this in Canada also. Total alb
s%tinence sentiment is advancing every
where. For many years the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union, the
Good Templars, the Prohibition par
ty and other organizations have been
working for this end. Now, CONNER
cialism is realizing that to protect its
interests it must oppose the liquor
traffic. And commercialism can &C.
complish almost anything it wills"