The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-24

such a degree? Through those eleven organizations mentionedNe moment ago. but more. iargetyF thfyuEh the Anti-saioon League. than nlIS the rest domitabie purpose worked on the peo- pie until they themselves took hold. and put into the Legislature those whom they knew would enact laws fa- vorable to prohibition. and the result is as you see 1t today. On the first day of January. A. D.. 1908. we have the thing long desired. and 1t will redown to the good of men and to the glory of God. And although. we have reason to be grateful for much. the benign in- ffuence has gone far beyond our own borders, and here would ike to read you something as to what has been done elsewhere. This clipping is from one of the November issues of The Lit erary Digest:
 'In ten months time five whole States have banished their saloons. With three already dry there are now eight, about one-sixth of the States. decade ago 6.0oo.o00 of the people lived in no-license territory: now (in- cludfng States taking effect next Jarl- uary) 3s,Oo0, 900. National Superin- tendent Baker says saloons have been closed thus far thissyear at the rate or thirty per day, and that rate will con- ttnu0 tHTOukH tlS Ip8At fAs feet frontage for each saloon that VIII be a mile frontage a week--hfty miies frontage this, year .'.
 How were these great results ac- complished? Just as in our own state. Public sentiment entered into legisia- ton, and the actual results followed. The tide as we see 1t Is due to the ef- feet of the moon, but the eneet or .he moon on the tide is due to the effect of the sun on the mopn.~ So prohibit ton as such. is due to leg islation, but Iegisiation itself Is due to the will of the people. The people have said, and are saying, Down with sin and up with righteousness Down with ignorance and up with the school. Down with the saloon ana up with the churches" and
 since our cause Is just
 And in God is our trust,
 Conquer we must.
 second-So much, then. for what has been done. but the battle Is not over yet; 1t has just begun. and We are to ask In the second place: What can we do to help the cause? And the immediate answer Is that we can neip to create and maintain this moral conscience of the people by stanoins for the cause of prohibition in our daily contact with our fellow men, and by instiliing this same principle into our children. Here if we knew 1t IS another crucial point. This idea can, and should be, so thoroughly instliieo into our children that when they arow up to take our piaces, as they must do sooner or later, anything otne CT than prohibition would seem 10 them a joke. I tell you men forget nearly everything else they learn Tn itfe. You forget the books and pe- riodicals you read. and our sermons often fall as seed by the wayside oniy to be plucked by tbe fowls Of the ar, but those lessons you learned by your mothers knee are going to be with you when the death rattle sounds in your throat, and you find your breath going, We should tell our children while they are yet young that wiie Is A mocker We should tell them of the bread 1t takes from the orphans mouths, and of the widows 1t turns of the lives that are blighted, and the graves 1t digs, and the souls that are lost, and teach them to look upon 1t as they would upon serpent, We should tell them, you my boys, are not exempt. if you follow. in their course you will go to an untimeiy grave, and will bring your parents
 
 your friends to shame. Tell them of its blight upon society and it's curse of the home, and when this is done the conscience of the next generation will be educated far in advance Of our own, and that there ever was an open saloon in Alabama will seem to them a thing incredible.
 But there Ip another thing we can do, and that is watch the legisla- ture, and see to 1t that no man goes there who lis not favorably inclined to state wide prohibition. We should consider ourselves honored in that we have as a resident of our town the efficient ehairman of the temperance committee and if our best interests are to be served other fear less and efficient must go.
 What was 1t that defeated the Anti Shipping bill in the U. s. Sen- ate? Was it not the influence of one man-the Speaker of the Senate who openly opposed the great cause of state prohibition, and I must say that had the Baptist and Presbyterian churches been as alert to their best interests as was the Methodist church in this particular his reelection would have been a thing impossible. ~sNNN%@O@-~N church advise their constituency to vote against him? Justly so, and had the other evangelical bodies done like wise he would have been out to-day. The defeat of this bin was an out rage to Sate Rights as well as per sonai liberty Why, you people down here in the South are not allowed to ship your cattle across certain line in the North by reason of the cat tie fever brought about by the cat tie tick, but now you have state wide prohibition, and they can ship their liquor in here. What then Is the diff ference? You ship your cattle up there and their cattle die, but any state that will may ship it's liquor in here and our sons die. Is this right? It is a fact whether right or wrong, and you are the blame for it, because you did not put the right man in offlce. Watch the legislature, and if any candidate is not fearles and firm enough to tell you before he goes just the way he will cast his vote. be fearless and firm enough to vote against shim. Who are the people to do this?' You are the peo- pie; if the churches of God do 1t not 1t will not be done. The preacher too should use all the influence he has to see that his people vote the right way. But should the preacher take 1t his place in politics? Oh, yes will tell you that state wide prohibi- lion in Alabama is due more large ly to the preachers of this state than i've times their number of any other men in any walk of life. Mere mat ters of political expsndiency should never concern the preacher. Cues
 E.E E-.N. Vavwr