Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-21
The National w. G, t. u.
Bv Frederic j. HaSkin

in recent years it has also directed
attacks upon the saloon on economic
grounds.
It is said that there is a billion dol
lars invested in the liquor business in
the United States. According to zeal
Gus friends of the w. c. I. u, the
nations annual drink bill amounts to
almost two billion dollars a year. AS
this is more than three times the esti-
mate made by business men, 1t is prob
able that zeal has led to some exag-
geration. However, 1t is asserted that
the figures upon which the business
estimates are based are wholesale
prices. and that the drink bill is paid
in retail prices. Under any estimate
the figures are large enough to furnish
the W. c. 7. U. with good ammuni-
tion.
II is said that even after the power
ful crusade that has been carried on
against the saloons there are still $4,000
more of them in the United States
than there are churches. 1t is also
stated that for every missionary the
United States sends abroad there go
also 1900 barrels of intoXicants. The
total amount spent in civilized coun-
tries for drink is said to be ten times
greater than that spent for all litera-
ture, including newspapers and maga-
zines.
One of the Unions chief arguments
is that the abolition of the saloon re-
suits in an economic saving of vast
benefit to the community. In some
portions of the country, notably the
South, the women have converted many
leading business men to their views of
this phase of the liquor problem. But
in a great part of the country the
belief still persists among opponents
of prohibition that it Injuries business.
Nearly half of the people of the
United Staes live in dry" territory,
where the sale of intoxicants is pro-
hibited by law. These laws are en-
forced with varying degrees of strtn-
gency, but everywhere the w. G. T. u.
is fighting for strict enforcement. In
the southern states 25,000,000 people
live in a saloonless territory. The
liquor question Is now the most acute
political issue in every state in the
country west of the Alleghenies and
south of the Potomac, and the w. c.
T. U. claims responsibility and credit
for making it so. The Union has ac-
complished the greater part Of its work
through the distribution of literature.
The publications of the organization
number high into the hundreds, and In
many parts of the country every
newspaper has a w. C. T. U. depart
ment through which the women preach
their doctrine to the public. Many
newspapers now boldly advocate pro-
hibition.
The temperance movement in it's
modern manifestation is the growth of
a century. Last year the various
temperance organizations celebrated
the hundredth anniversary of the first
public movement in this direction. In
1903 DR.. Billy Clark, a physician Of
Moreau, Saratoga county, N. z,
reached the conclusion that the human
system was subject to irreparable in
jury from the prolonged use Of intoxi-
cants. He organized "The Union
Temperance Society OF Moreau and
Northumberland" In those days whis-
ky was as free as water and earnest
evangelists preached the gospel with
a "drap of the cratur" handy on the
rostrum The ministry of the evan
gelistlc protestant churches was first
to take up the movement, which gained
great impetus during the third decade
of the last century. 1t soon reached
the stage of prohibition and in 1886.
under the leadership of Neal Dow, the
state of Maine went dry" 1t has
remained so, in a technical and legal
sense, ever since that time.
other New England states followed
the example. Even New York went for
DrOnlDlLlOll, out IH6 supreme COulL dS-
cided the law was unconstitutional.
Horace Greeley in the New York Trib-
une led the great newspaper fight for
prohibition, but it was swallowed up
in the slavery controversy. 1t was in
those days that the word "Maineac"
was coined to apply to the prohibition
advocates, who promptly retorted with
"saloonatic" The latter word is still
used in liquor question campaigns.
Soon after the civil war there was
another wave of prohibition sentiment
which reached high tide about 1888.
Then there was a temperory cessation
of the crusade until about seven years
ago when the present wave began to
sweep over the country. The opponents
Of prohibition declare that this wave
also will recede. The w. c. T. u, the
Antisaloon league, and kindred or
ganizations declare that 1t will not do
so, and base their contention upon the
economic phases of the controversy,
Whatever one may think Of the wis
dom of the prohibition movement 1t Is
impossible not to accord the w. c. L.
u. a high place in the social and po-
liticaI life of the country. It's influ-
ence has been nationwide, and 1t has
accomplished much more than its lead
ers and founders dared to hope when
they began their work. Whatever one
may think of their judgment and dis
cretion, it is impossible not to admire
their courage and devotion to the cause
which they believe is right.
Tomorrow-Passing of Poor Lo.
o~na, n.,ooioo+art Tr,,+h hos he1IIp