Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1909-09-22
ADDRESS BY MIR. HARLEY.
The Superintendent of The Anti
Saloon League Addressed
Large Congregation in
the Methodist Church.

The people of Edgeheld have
heard from time to time of the effec-
tive work that has been done over
the state by the Anti-Saloon League,
but prior to Sunday last they had
never heard the active and aggressive
superintendent, Rev. J. L. Harley,
speak of the achievements of this
great organization. He made his
initial visit to our county Sunday,
speaking at Trenton in the forer Jon
and again in the Methodist church
at Edgefeld in the afternoon.
Mr.. Harley stated at the outset
that the work of the league had been
misunderstood by some. 1t is not a
political party but is composed of
men of all parties. Briefly stated,
it is "a band of Christian men from
all of the churches, who through or
ganized effort are doing their utmost
to overthrow the liquor traffic in
every form. Every state in taeun-
ion, except Mississippi, has an An
ti-Saloon League within its borders.
The speaker gave the Woman's
Christian Temperance Union full
credit for having made the existence
of the League possible, speaking of
the w. IT. U. as the mother of
the great organization which he re y
resents.
The speaker stated how the very
signal temperance victory was won
in Georgia. More than twenty years
ago whiskey was voted out, but the
combined forces secured the re-es-
tablishment of the bar-rooms. The
good women of the state then said:
1--WE will yet win Georgia for pro-
hibition. We will rear a generation
of boys who will vote out liquor at
the ballot box" They went quietly
to work teaching their children and
when these boys attained their ma
iority they threw the saloons over
board by their ballots. Mr.. Harley
is of the opinion that the Georgia
bar-room is buried forever.
The speaker said he is not among
those who believe that the good
old days" of our forefathers were
better than the present: To show
what grea1 evil whiskey was in the
{. days of the neighborhood ,distillery
and crossroads bar-room, MIR. Har-i
lev described the conditions that pre-
vailed in the section of Barnwell
county where he was born. In the
days of his boyhood some ministers
imbibed freely, and officers in the
church operated distilleries and bar
rooms. The fight against the evil
began and as the battle was waged
victory after victory has been won.
Having aided very materially In
voting the dispensary out of fifteen
of the twenty-one counties in the re-
cent election, the Anti-Saloon League
will now use its influence to secure
the passage of statewide prohibit
ion law when the Legislature con-
venes in January. In all of the six
wet counties, except Charleston, the
majority in favor of retaining the
dispensary was small, and Mr.. Har-
ley appeals to the dry counties to
come to the relief of the minontles
in these counties. After the passage
of a statewide prohibition law has
been secured the League will under
take to bring about better enforce
ment of the law.
In his closing Mr.. Harley called
attention to the effort on the
part of the brewers and distillers to
subsidize the newspapers OF the coun'
try, having paid henchmen in many
places TO gather and publish false
statements concerning the failure
of prohibition.
A collection was taken for the
support, of the League at the conclu,
sion of this very effective address.