The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-08-25
The CRUSADE AGAINST DRINK
PROGRESS MADE BY CHAMPIONS
FIGHTING THE RUM DEMON.
The Literary Digest Gives No On.
certain Sound.

wine and Spirit Circular New
York; warn the saloon that it must
reform or go, for the people are be-
coming disguised with it's evils. The
recent Prohibition victory in Knox
Vile is thought by some papers to be
due to a revulsion Of feeling against
the saloon rule of city politics ratjssr
than to the conversion Of voters to
total abstinence; and 1t is the convic-
ton of this weighty organ of the
liquor trade that If the saloon bust
ness throughout the country does not
mend its ways it will "be prohibited
In all places save the business or ten
derloin precincts Of our larger cities"
So serious is the situation, indeed,
that last June the National Whole
sale Liquor Dealers Association IS
sued an appeal for the publication OF
the saloon, and q few weeks ago the
Kentucky Distillers' Association ap-
pointed q commission of five to con-
slider the advisability Of calling a na-
tional convention to frame a license
law that can be presented to the State
Legislatures in place Of the radical
and impracticable legislation" now
being urged. and often successfully,
by the Anti-Saloon League. W. quote
these striking paragraphs from the
wine and Spirit Circular"
with more than one-half of the
geographical limits Of this great coun-
try under laws prohibiting the sale
Of alcoholic beverages; with Tennes-
see passing through her Legislature
a bill that almost amounts to State
Prohibition; with the West Virginia
Legislature passing a measure to SUBJ
NIT the prohibition Of the manufac-
ture and sale of wines and spirits to
a vote of the people; with Texas pro-
viding that express companies trans
porting wines and spirits shall take
: out a $4,000 license; with the Illinois
Legislature considering a county-un1t
l~ocal-option measure, and Indiana a
$1,000 license for the few saloons that
the Remonstrance law will leave in
that State; with Kentucky almost a
dry State and probably facing a leg.
islative session that will submit q
%prohibitory amendment; with an or.
ganization opposing us and sworn to
our destruction that seems to lack
nothing in the way Of money or
brains, enthusiasm or persistent, un.
firing work-what, may we ask, 1s
the wine and spirit trade doing to ar
rest tie current of events or to alter
in any way the radical conclusions
which are being forced upon the PEG.
pie in every State, county and pre-
cipct?
IF there is one thing that SEEING
settled beyond question it is that the
! retail liquor trade of this country
must either mend its ways materially
or be prohibited in all places save the
business or tenderloin precincts OF
our larger cities.
eff the Anti-Saloon League can
maintain it's present organization II
looks as If it will certainly destroy
the legalized saloon In all of the
Southern States, excepting perhaps in
Missouri, and it Is certainly making
| strong Roadway in Indiana, Ohio, I'LL.
nois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and other
Western and Northern States"
Far from sneering at>the Anti-Sa'
loon League, the wine and Liquor
Circular" pays it's respects thus:
1.-The Anti-Saloon League is not a
mob of long-haired fanatics, as some
of the writer's and speakers connected
with our business have declared, but
1t Is a strongly centralized organiza.
ton, Offered by men of unusual abil.
tty, f1nanciered by capitalists with
very long purses, subscribed to by
hundreds of thousands OF men. wo.
men and children who are solicited
nv their various churches, advised by
welI-paid attorneys of great ability,
and it Is working with definite ideas
to guide it, in every State, in every
county, in every city, and In every
precinct.
IF the Anti-Saloon League is de.
feated at any point it Immediately
PREPARES for another attack along new
lines, and when it succeeds it at once
begins work for a more telling VIC
tory. -
"Precinct local option, with the
Anti-Saloon League, is but the fore.
runner of county local option, and
this again Is merely intended as q
stepping-stone to State Prohibition
There Is no question that this organl'
cation has well-prepared plans fol-
controlling the legislative branch OF
the government at Washington, and
! of passing a national prohibitory law
at some time in the future; but before
it undertakes so gigantic an enter
prise it is working to cripple the
trade in every possible way, and
while we sleep-it Is succeeding IN
the most substantial manner."-The