The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-05-15
Another Way Of Rocking
q Boat

The most dangerous thing . man or .
cause can have is fool friend
One can meet his enemy In fair fight and
fight 1t out. but fool friend Is flank attack
thst is bound to cripple
The cause of temperance is on trial before
the people OF this country. The anti-saloon
forces have waged terrific warfare and have
made wonderful progress.
The anti-saloon people are making converts
ovory day, but there are thousands OF men who
are "a yet undecided. 1t is from these that
future converts must come
1t will not be the arguments of the liquor
Interests so much as the conduct of the anti
uiQuor people in general and the operation of
restrictive laws In sections where they have won
that will convert or prejudice the man who is
yot undecided.
Very few men will shy at temperance Very
lev actually advocate absolute drunkenness or
any other excess. But the instinct against
bgotry is second in strength only to that against
tyranny in the breast of free man.
30 when, In the name of temperance, bigotry
and tyranny appear. the cause loses. 1t is q
case Of the harm done by weli-meaning. but
Such is the case of Louis steis, a tenant
farmer at Wilioughby. little town in north
The county went dry. steis a former mill
worker. had met with an accident and was
compelled to leave the heavy labor of the mill.
He rented small farm and with his wife and
ten children took up the tilling OF the soil.
On the farm were some apple trees. Steis.
being thrifty German. additional revenue
In the apple crop. He rugged up a little cider
made as soon as 1t was made while 1t was
sweet') except one barrel, which he reserved
for his own use
This barrel of cider was cured with old
world skill and became clear and sparkling
beverage.
The neighbors. when they dropped in were
often given glass of the cider and a plate of
Frau Steis' "kuchen." And this was set ont in
the spirit of hospitality.
Steis was sober man. His boys are hard
WORKING lads His wife does her share. No
guest ever reeled from the Steis door, and the
to deeds of violence.
The county had gone dry. The honest
farmers of the county had been told how their
boys were ruined in the cheap groggery. They
and their wives had rebelled against the doc
torod poison sold as whisky. They had voted
groggery and the grogshop.
Then one day young mana stranger
came to the door. He had walked far. Would
6tefs let him have something to drink?
Certainly; there the water in the well,
the milk I'm the can the cider in the BARREL
choice
"Cider? Very we'll. Here is cup and
there is the cellar door. Help yourself"
The young man came up from the cellar,
and. thanking Frau Stes. handed back the cup
and coin. Oh, no, she did not want pay. The
stranger was quite welcome. But he laid the
coin on the table and went away.
Then came the officers of the law The
young man whom the old German woman had
welcomed was an antisaloon detective
But Louis Steis was not prosecuted under
criminal law No, It was not the crime for
which he must suffer, but he must be made to
sweat for trying to cheat the county out of the
TAX that Is levied saloons.
Tried and convicted of selling this drink of
cider ne was ordered to pay the Dow tax"