The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-07-05

ed at the leagues headquarters as among
its allies. The very Indebtedness of the
voting strength which 1t can rally makes
its threatened opposition more terrifying
to the office-holder in many cases than
would be that of an organization with
a specified membership. The various
churches which extend their hospitality
to the orators of the league are entitled
to vote in the selection of state boards
which act in an advisory capacity, but the
actual responsibility and authority In car
rying on the leagues work in the various
states rest with the state superintendent.
These are nominated by Mr.. Baker, and
as this nomination Is practically equiVa-
lent to an election the control of the entire
campaign from that of the national work
ers down to the district superintendent
working under the direction of the state
leaders Is concentrated in the national
headquarters at Columbus.
1t would be hard to devise a more
powerful machine for conducting a spe-
cialized camapign of this sort than has
been evolved by Mr.. Baker in the Anti
Saloon League. The league is q self
constituted, self-centered self-continuing
body. 1t cannot be disrupted iby a
schism Of its members because it has no
members. 1t is responsible only to itself
and nobody can exercise any authority
as to how it spends its money or con-
ducts its work. Naturally enough this
auotcratc plan or organization has sub
! jected the league to some criticism and
attack. There have been charges of i'm
/ proper use of funds and of loose man
agement But Mr.. Baker and his asso-
ciates have steadily maintained the ad-
vantages of q form of control which
makes 1t possible to shape campaign
plans without the necessity of securing
the> approval of committees boards of
tr,to xpi6
| ship.
! In any fight that the league goes into
| It assumes the leadership If local or
ganization of citizens conducting a no
! license campaign desires the aid of the
league II must work In conjunction with
| the speakers and workers assigned to 1t
by the league headquarters and must
contribute 40 per cent of the funds 1t
raises to the league treasury. If these
terms are refused, as happened in one
of the county fights recently waged In
Michigan, the league declines to partic-
pate in the struggle Another position
that the league has adhered to steadily
/ is that 1t will support any candidate re-
CARELESS of party who will pledge him
self to vote for the measures which the
league is seeking to have enacted into
law in his particular state. The candi-
date need not hold in personal belief or
practice to the principles of prohibition.
/
| promise of support of its measures AS
] soon as this is received 1t begins an
J active campaign In behalf of the cand-
date. Its speakers are put into the dis
J trict to campaign in his support, speak
ing In the churches wherever possible:
lists of church attendants are obtained
and are circularized in his behalf, and
! no effort is spared to secure every posi-
| BILE vote in his support.
| This plan has caused some criticism of
| the league because of the personal char
acters of some of the men 1t has sup
ported. The Rev. DIR. Peters, one OF the
most prominent workers for temperance
| and civic betterment in New York, re-
Gently declared Indignantly that PRO
vided a man vote for their measures. he
may be as corrupt as possible elsewhere
and yet receive their commentator and
support" The league leaders do not deny
this Mr. Bakers position is that he Is
! not concerned with the publication of
j politics or with any other fight except
+ that for the determination of the saloon
+ so far as legal enactments can exter-
! inmate it. The league admits that there
! are other worthy causes, but so far as
1 it's own activities are concerned every
other consideration is sacrificed to that
! of securing anti-lquor legislation.
| Another salient point in the campaign
methods of the Anti-Saloon League Is
! the adoption of up-to-date and even SON.
| sational methods of arousing interest.
! Circulars, pamphlets and personal letters
are called into play; billboards. and
! fences are utilized for signs in glaring
| type; parades of women and children
/ are organized. The old-time horrible
example" is replaced by toddling young
sters bearing signs reading: Vote to
keep my papa from drink" @Don't let
the saloon ruin your homes" and similar
embems. In some cases, however, these
| methods haze been carried too far by
| over jealous campaigners as when the
inmates of a Virginia orphan asylum
were marshaled in a procession as a liv-
ing exhibit of the results of drink. re-
| Election on the character of the local
community which its citizens promptly
resented. Stereopticon lectures and NOV
ing picture views are other up-to-date
! campaign Instruments adopted by the
! league
The Anti-Saloon League for the most
! part has refrained from Joining forces
with other bodies holding that its ono
object of securing prohibitory legislation
! might be endangered by such alliances.
Between 1t and the prohibition party
! there exists a perceptible GOODNESS. The
prohihtionists accuse the leaguers of sac
! rifcing principle to policy, while the lat
| ter retort that the third party leaders fol-
4
| of accomplishing any results of conse-
| quence. In New York the league strongly
| opposed the bill advocated by one of its
! former allies, the committee of fourteen,
! in the fight waged by the latter against
the Raines law hotels and the chairman
| of the committee himself clergyman.
criticised the league for supporting prob
ably the most dangerously corrupt man in
| the entire assembly (of New York;
! through whom all the ubiquitous sneak
| thief legislation of the railway corpora
! lions was introduced" Likewise an at
tempt to align the forces opposed to child
labor with the league fell through when
| 1t was shown that the statistics on this
! subject widely distributed by the league.
! which charged that 100000 children were
| forced into mills and factories by the
| laws permitting the sale of liquor were
| incorrect and that more than 40 per cent
of the children so employed were In pro-
| hibition states.
| AS a result of the difficulties attending
| attempted coalitions the league now fol-
| lows pretty consistently go-it-alone pol
| Icy, striving in every local contest to raj
| ly all possible elements of voting strength
to its standard, but avoiding all perma-
! nent alliances. Its position in the anti
| saloon war is somewhat like that of the
| professional evangelist who conducts re-
| ligous REVEALS for the churches. When
| the fight Is won in one section it's forces
| move on to another battlefield, leaving
| the problem of maintaining and enforcing
! the laws 1t has secured to the people Of
| the community concerned.
| While this sharp dividing line between