The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-21
Hunger tAe CAlef Problem.

Hunger is the enemy of the humar race. As long as men shall not have conquered this cruel and degrading | enemy, the discoveries of science will appear only. as irony on his sad lot It is like giving a man luxuries wher he is not even provided with the necessaries of life. 1t is the law of nature, and the crueiest of all hei laws. She forces mankind to contrive to torture itself and destroy itself to preserve at any cost that supreme good or evil called life.
 Other lives dispute mans right to life. He defends himself by organiz- ing into communities. To his physi- cal weakness, the first cause of his defeat. is now added his social weak ness. And now the question can be i asked. Have we arrived at such { degree of civilization that we can con. ceive of and establish social organi ration in which the possibility of deatt by poverty or hunger may be e1imin- ated? q shall prove that prohibition will not.)
 l Prohihitien as . Remedy.
 The advocates of this remedy show statistics to prove that much of tho trouble and poverty of Christendom are traceable to the liquor traffic, and they aver that If 1t were abolished. peace and plenty would be the rule and not the exception. Ga pack of nonsence. as we shall see presently However heartily sympathize with much that Is claimed along this line: Drunk enness Is certainly one of the most noxious fruits of civilization; 1t is rapidly spreading. too. to the semi-civilized and bafbarOus.
 We would all (no doubt. even the Arrffa Ir a Rdal raf0frnN fa if ahn1iaha1 now and forever. am willing to grant, that its abolition would relieve much of the poverty of today. and that by it hundreds of millions of wealth are annually far worse than wasted But this is not the remedy to cure the evils arising from present. selfish social conditions. and to meet and parry the grinding pressure of the Law of Supply and Demand, which would progress as relentlessly as ever, squeez- ing the life-blood from the masses. ask. Who, indeed. squander the mill lions of money spent annually on H. quors?-The very poor? No. indeed the rich specially and secondly the middle class.
 If the liquor trafic were abolished tomorrow, so far from relieving the financial pressure. upon the very poor 1t would have the reverse effect. Thou sand of farmers who now grow the millions of bushels of barley and rye and grapes and hops used in the man ufacture of liquor would be obliged to cultivate other crops and in turn fur ther depress farm produce in general The vast army of tens of thousands of distillers. coopers. bottlers. glass workers. teamsters saloon K eepers, and fbar-tenders. now employed in and by this traffic would be forced to find other employment, and would (conseQuentiy) further depress the labor market. and hence the scafe of daily wages. The millions on millions of capital now in- vested in this traie would enter other lines and force business, depression.
 All this should not deter us from desiring the removal of the curse, if 1t were practical. and possible, to get majority to consent to 1t. But a majority will never be found (save in exceptional iocalities.) Prohibition wifi not be established until the Kingdom of God is established. q merely point out here that the removal of this curse even if practical, would not cure the present social-financial-malad or relieve the worlds hunger)
 Fourth and Last Side.
 What some poole demonstrate by experience others know by inductive reasoning. based upon knowledge Of human nature. Any one wanting a les- son on the futility of hope from such a quarter while selishness still con- trols the hearts of men, can get his experience very cheaply by board Ing for three or four weeks at three or four different second class "boardinR houses" I do not say that this Is jus tice. Nature knows no justice. Her machinery pounds remorsely along in a Set of hard conditions. but after all pounds out of these conditions the best they will yield. True she has evolved in us intelligences to slightly direct her course; and 1t is in using them for func- ton of justice comes up.
 But we can direct her in channels fitted to her own currents. and in less than three years. all will begin to realize this and very forcibly.
 Yes 1t is well that all should learn that these two laws control in our present social system and that 1t is not In the power of man to change nature or natures laws: (for God is letting these present evils exist to give the human family an experience. that they will in all future rememberl and hence that 1t Is impossible for man to do more than merely tinker present social conditions. anu pro bably temporarily improve them a little Tine new and more desirable laws necessary to the perfect the ideal soeIafv 1yIll reouire euparnafural ,,o,.,