The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-03-02
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE.
A Curse to Humanity.

The following is an extract from
al able and interesting address, by
Mr.. Guy Hayler, of England, Inter-
national Electoral Superintendent of
the Independent Order of Good
Templars:
How long, how long is the liquor
%hinleri1g the march of progress and
civilization? It's evil has been proved
up to the hilt over and over again;
it meets us at every turn, either in
city, town Oh country. The young are
destroyed, the sober made drunken,
the human race physically deterior-
ated, industry paralyzed, learning de-
throned and Christianity shamed.
John Burns declares, "The liquor
traffic is a degrading traffic which is
being used to chloroform the workers
into acquiescence in their own miser-
able conditions of life" Ruskin
says: Though we are deafened by
the noise of the spinning wheel, hun
dreds of thousands of people have no
clothes; though we are black with
digging fuel, numbers of people die
of cold" Some have the temerity to
odJ IIIdI ~ Iulo i . SouoCo W oNSA
productions; but we declare that it
is the result of under-consumption,
largely the result Of the money
wasted in alcohol and swallowed up
by the liquor traffic. In Northumber-
land, England, I learned of an iron
worker, earning fS per week who,
upon the death of his own child, was
unable to bury it, on account Of his
drunken habits, and a collection was
made through the works before the
funeral could take place; while in
Durham. a %teetotal railway worker
who had never more than thirty-ive
shillings per week, could retire on his
savings-through the advantages en-
braced in building societies-after
less than forty years work. One con-
dition brought about by sheer waste,
and the other by thoughtful thrift.
While the wealthy merchant, the
| prosperous tradesman and the skilled
workman have been transformed into
drunkards through the medium of the
traffic in alcohol, the drunkard-maker
has been elevated to positions Of leg
~islatiye power, protecting the traffic
by law and terrorizing the politicians,
SO that they declare it IS impossible
to adopt Prohibition. 1T is a fail
ure wherever tried" They forget
the success of Prohibition in other
things, or are so blinded by preju-
dice that they will not see its pros
pective benefits. From these men
there is no salvation. We must ap-
peal to the people for the election of
those who will place the interests of
humanity before money, sobriety be-
fore license and progress before par
ty. There have been three effective
methods of destroying the liquor traf-
fc, each resulting in the prohibition
of the sale Of intoxicating liquor. In
the Old Country we have the poyer
of the landlord, by means Of which
such men as Sir Walter Trevelyn, Sir
John S%winburne, Sir Arthur Middle
ton. Baron Dowse, Lord Carlisle, Sir
Wilfrid Lawson and others, have re-
fused to allow any. n to hold a
license upon their estates, with every
good result. Then we have the Local
Veto of the people. a power granted
to most of the United States Of Ameri-
ca, Canada and other British posses
! sions. By this means millions of peo-
pie are living in prohibition areas,
| where crime is much lower and pros
e! perity much greater, than in drink
| selling communicative National
Advocate.