The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1909-03-25
The Prohibition Wave.
Economic Force as Potent Cause Moral
and Educational Influences Insufficient to
Effect Such Results as Have Been Wit
messed. Business Interests and the Saloon


Effect Such Results as Have Been Wit
messed. Business Interests and the Saloon
George B. Hugo of Boston, President of the
Manufacturers and Botters' Collecting and
Distributing Company of Massachusetts,.
To claim that the Negro in the South,
the dives in the West, the local quarrels
of brewers in the East, are responsible
for prohibition in many States, is an error
of judgment. While they may have been
contributing factors, it must be borne in
mind that the word Negro was not men,
| toned during the discussion of this ques-
ton in the various legislatures of the
South. The low dives in the Western
States received but scant notice. Petty
quarrels of the Eastern brewers for the
control of saloons had no special bearing
on the subject. These conditions have
always existed. To accept these super
fetal claims, and to repeat them parrot
like without examination, is sheer folly
Closer examination shows that what
appeared to be sudden outburst of tenn
perance reform coming like clap of
thunder from a clear sky, was in reality
Well-directed campaign of the moral,
educational and economic forces working
toward a common end. Either of the
two first mentioned forces alone-or both
together would not have been sufficient
to successfully establish prohibition, eX-
cept in certain localities; but with the
economic or business forces added, the
movement became one of formidable
power.
The discovery has been made that there
exists business side to the temperance
question, so that its advocates are no
longer confined to theorists or-to max t
use of the more popular expression
cranks. This is very significant. 1t
means that the dollar and-cent part of it
has now entered into the fight against
the liquor business. 1t is upon this that
| base my conclusion that the present
temperance reform wave will have more
lasting effect than any that have preced-
ed it. A new precedent has been estab-
lshed, for which the liquor interests are
in a great measure responsible. A few
facts may make this point clear
1t is particularly noticeable in the
many employers movements organized
throughout the country for the purpose
Of combating radical legislation aimed at
business interests, that liquor interests
are conspicuous by their absence, indi-
eating, to say the least, a short-sighted
policy and the possible Inference that by
the very nature of their business they
are allied with demagogic agitators ap-
pealing to the passions of socety's lower
strata for support. From the strictly
moral or sentimental point of view, this
had no bearing on the temperance ques-
ton, but when manufacturers, and EN-
ployers generally, were confronted with
the enactment of employers liability
laws and Workmen's compensation acts,
it began to assume practical proportions.
The fact that under these new laws en-
ployers are held liable in damage for the
acts Of their employees-wit regard
to the employees careleSsneSS or dis
obedience of express orders made it
necessary to reduce all possible risk Of
accident. To Illustrate by a concrete eX-
ample: In trying to induce the president
OF a large manufacturing establishment
to withdraw his name from a petition to
the State Legislature asking for tenn
perance measure, he replied: Il am
liable in damages for the acts of my EN-
ployees. If one goes out at noon and
eats free lunch at the corner saloon,
spending tie money intended for lunch
for bear and whlskey, the chances are
that he will not be as alert or keen as he
would have been without it. The posi-
blllty of accident grows in proportion to
the amount of liquor in his system. If
an accident occurs, we must pay; conse
quently, am going to protect myself, as
matter of good business policy by try
ing to close saloons around our factory"
No logical argument could be produced
to refute this statement. So long as the
saloon did not affect his pocket nerve, it
was tolerated; but when it did, expedi-
ency prompted steps for its removal
This Illustration does not necessarily
imply that the business interests believe
in prohibition, or that they have become
extremists; on the contrary, they do not
favor prohibition, but are simply trying
to find way out between prohibition on
the ore hand and the saloon on the other.
Under present conditions they have but
one alternative, and that is to accept pre-
hibition or the wide-open saloon. They
accept prohibition as the lesser evil even
though it entail the sacrifice of some per-
sonal comforts. Secure in the belief that
they are protecting their interests they
join with the moral forces to make the
community cleaner and more wholesome,
tIluS performing uOuDle service. Sell
interest and community interest become
one. The figures rapidly accommodating,
which show a marked decrease in total
arrests for drunkenness and other crimes
in no-license cities and towns, seem to
bear out and justify this attitude. Stub
born facts like these cannot be ignored
or brushed lightly aside in general way
by evasion of the point at issue, nor by
the expedient of trying to create the
issue of personal liberty. The cry of
personal liberty is no longer taken seri-
ously. Every lawful restriction-such as
splitting on the street, for instance-can
be construed as an infringement on per
sonal liberty.
These new forces, not prohibitionists,
not extremists, but rationalists who
recognize the evils, the misery, shame
and crime caused by the dive and cheap
saloon, and who are seeking middle
course between the extremes of closed
or wide-open town, are the ones to be
reckoned with. They are the backbone
OF the present temperance movement
They will not be deceived by cheap ex
pedients or make-shift policies, but will
require some positive assurance of de-
cided improvement in the method of con-
Quoting the liquor business before reced-
ing from the position they have taken.