The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-09-03

engaged the attention of the American
people for the past hundred years, the
question of temperance is perhaps the
greatest. Many great minds have
thrown the weight Of their intellect on
one side or the other of the drink
problem Shall we regulate or prohibit,
has been the question that has agitated
those who wished to cure the evils of
intemperance and is today the storm
center Of debate on the liquor problem.
Either solution if it be a solution, has
many stanch adherents who preach with
might and main their own particular
theories. The clergy of the country are
in the forefront of the temperance
movement, and are. as a rule, over
Jealous if anything in their vehement
language against the liquor traffic. 1t
is something unusual to hear one of
that profession espousing the regulation
theory for the very good reason that to
do so draws down Il storm of criticism
from his brethren of the cloth who be
lieve in nothing but the utter annih-
lation of the liquor traffic. The Rev.
William A. WATSON, an Episcopalian
clergyman, has lately written upon the
subject and his contribution to current
temperance literature is one of the most
powerful articles ever written upon any
phase of the question. His article is the
result of years of study and personal
observation and even his opponents must
admit that he writes with the absolute
certainty of man sure of his ground
and the moral courage to speak what he
believes to be true The article in ques-
ton was written for Pearson's Maya
zine and appeared in the August num-
Der. We reproduce the article in full
and we think our readers will find it
intensely interesting whatever their per-
sonal views on the matter may be-
During the decade Immediately pre-
ceding the Civil War, a great temper
ance wave" swept over the country
Within a period of five years, eight
states, viz, the six New England states,
-liNlllGdIl anu -NtBIdSkd' duOpltI pro-
hibition. New York, Indiana and Wis
consin also enacted prohibitory laws,
which, however, never went into effect,
having been declared unconstitutional
by the highest courts in those states.
Now, again, after lapse of fifty
years the country is witnessing another
Temperance wave" which has already
risen higher than its predecessor. Nor
is the end vet in sight While in some
sections of the country, the wave" has
spent its force and appears to be re-
ceGing, in other sections it is incroas
ing in volume and strength There are.
at present, eight states in which statu-
tory prohibition obtains-four in the
South. three in the West and one in
New England Under the Local Option
system. a number of other states are be-
ing prohibitionized on the installment
plan. Not long ago it was estimated
that saloons were being closed at the
rate of thirty a day-nearlv 1000 a
year
The prohibition leaders boast that,
while ten years ago there were only
six million people living in dry" ter
ritorv. there are now thirty eight mil
lion. If prohibition and Temperance be
the same thing we are certainly max
ing prodigiou- strides toward the mil
leunium Bur 7obermiuded people have
no faith in the professions and promises
OF prohibtionists. Fifty years ago, the
leaders OF the crusade thought they saw
the dawn of the perfect day when there
would not De "a dram shop nor a drunk,
ard in all The land They were conf
dent that the problem Of intemperance,
which had perplexed and baffled man
kind ior thousands Of years, was as
good as solved. The great dragon was
about to be slain and his dead carcass
hurried into the bottomless pit But it
turned ont to be all a dream. The
dragon was not slain he was not even
seriously wounded. Ii he disappeared at
all, il was only to betake himself to the
cellar to await the passing of the storm.
In the course of a few years, the "tem-
peranee wave passed away, and the
frenzy and lysteria that caused it, and
was caused by it, died out.
The crusade not only did not solve
the liquor problem, but it complicated
the problem with new difficulties. The
states that adopted the prohibitory sys-
tenn soon found themselves confronted
with two evils instead Of one, the old
disease Of intemperance and the new
remedy" OF prohibition. And now, the
successors OF the men that rallied round
the standard of Neal Dow are making
precisely the same promises and pre-
dictious that were made of old They
assure us that the present movement
means business. They prophecy that
rhis wave will not subside until it has
swept over every foot Of American soil
and has done to the rum traffic what
Jehovah did to the Egyptians in the
Red Sea
Prohibitionist7 have simpified the
liquor problem at the expense Of truth,
reason and common experience. Instead
of suiting the remedy to the disease,
they have tried TO make the disease con
form to their predetermined remedy.
The liquor problem is one Of the most
complex of all social problems 1t does