The Newport miner. [volume] (Newport, Wash.) 1899-current, 1909-08-26


perance waveO swept over the country.
Within period of five years, elgh'
states, viz, the six New England sta'eS'
Michigan and Nebraska, adopted pro-
hibition. New York, Indiana and WIS
consin also enacted prohibitory laws,
which. however, never went into effect'
bov;pn heen declared unconstitutional
by the highest courts in those states'
Now. again, after lapse OF h1ty
wears. the country is witnessing anotner
utemperance wave" which has ALREADY
risen higher than it's predecessor. Nor
is the end yet in sight. While in some
sections of the country, the wave
has spent it's force and appears 10 oe
receding, in other sections 1t IS lncreas-
ing in volume and strength. Ihere are
at present, eight states in which statu-
tory prohibition obtains-four IN the
south. three in the west and one IN Ne"
ENGLAND. Under the local option sys-
tom q number of other states are be-
ing prohibitionized on the instaHllmen1
plan. Not long ago it was estimated
that saloons were being closed at the
rate of thirty day-nearly 1000
year.
The prohibition leaders boast that,
while ten years ago there were only SIX
million people living in "dry' terri
tory. there are now thirty-eight million.
If prohibition and temperance be the
same thing, we are certainly making
prodigious strides toward the mllen'
mum. But minded people have
no faith in the professions and prom
ises of prohibitionists. Fifty years ago,
the leaders of the crusade thought they
saw the dawn of the perfect day, when
there would not be a dram shop nor a
drunkard in all the land. They were
confident that the problem of intem-
perance, which had perplexed and baf-
filed mankind for thousands of years,
was as good as solved. The great
dragon was about to be slain and his
dead carcass hurled into the bottomless
pit. But it turned out to be all a
dream The dragon was not slain; ne
was not even seriously wounded. IT he
disappeared at all, it was only to be-
take himself to the cellar to await the
passing Of the storm. In the course
of few years, the Temperance
wave" passed away, and the frenzy
and hysteria 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
system soon found themselves confront
ed with two evils instead of one, 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 predictions that were
made of old. They assure us that the
present movement means business.
They prophesy that this 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.
Prohibitionists have simplifed the
liquor problem at the expense of truth,
reason and common experience. In
stead of suiting the remedy to the dis
ease, they have tried to make the dis
ease conform to their predetermined
remedy.
The liquor problem is one of the most
complex of all social problems. 1t does
not stand out alone, simple, distinct
and isolated, as prohibitionists would
have us believe. 1t is at once a moral,
an economic, physiological, a psy-
Geological and, in it's final analysis,
purely personal problem. 1t contains
many elements and involves many per-
picking difficulties. When we look be-
low the surface, and study this prob
lem in its deeper aspects, we find that
its roots are inextricably intertwined
with those of other social problems.
So that genuine and thorough temper
ance reform must be conducted along
many different lines.
The liquor problem is not exclusively
nor chiefly legislative problem, and
hence it cannot be solved bv leoisla-
tion alone. The evil of intemperance
is not caused, though it may be ag-
gravated, by bad legislation, and it can
not be removed, though it may be les
sened, by good legislation. The main
lines of temperance reform, the most
potent agencies for the building ,rp of
moral character (and moral character
is the basis of temperance in all
things), lie wholly outside the scope
OF legislation. Legislation has. of
course, its part to play-and a not
nnlmportant part-in any comprehen-
slve program of temperance reform !;
lint vxyh l.,