Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1910-12-27
WINOLE: FLAYS
PRO HIBITION


| lACoC pcoplS ~ VIII Ou lHlS QucSlIOu.
They are extravaganza, unreasonable
illogical and Incorporate in the use Of
| language. Turn to the United States
census bulletin, 'S3, pages to "a, and
there you will find that there are about
2.S11 people die from alcohol each
year. Billy Sunday says that 100000
fill drunkards' graves. A few years ago
there were over 5000 men killed by
railroads in this country. What are you
going to do? Abolish the railroads?
No! Sane people believe in controlling
them, not abolishing them. These pro-
hibitionist orators weep crocodile
tears over the drunkards' graves. But
how about the switchmen's graves
How about the graves OF thousands Of
! people who are killed in the industrial
world each year? Why don't they fight
for safety appliances?
/ Where did they apply to any state
legislature for safety appliances to pro-
tect the lives of men engaged in man.
ufacturing the necessities of life? The
proposition was put to person wheth-
Ell he would be switchman or bur-
glar. He said he would have to think
1t over. Look at the poor man who fills
a switchman's grave. Did Billy Sunday
| say anything about him? When the
drunkard goes into the grave he is al
together, while they pick the switch
man up in a scoop shovel. Again, my
friends, fire causes loss of life and
property and much suffering. Think of
the great catastrophe in the Iroquois
4 theater, and the other day in the
stock yards. Fire not controlled is q
bad thing; under control it is good
thing Prohibition releases the liquor
traffic from control and that is bad.
| We believe in control through high Ii
cense. That is good. Again, water
causes suffering and great destruction
wave, and if you believe the bible,
think of the flood. More people were
drowned during the food than would
suffer death from liquor in an eter.
nifty. 1t water bad thing No. Prohibit
| it's use? No. Control it. That is sanity
To prohibit its use would be insanity.
| The Lord drowned everybody but Noah
and his family, and Noah was not a
prohibitionist. He celebrated the abate-
ment of the water by getting drunk.
Prohibitionists are not Gods special
pets. He drowned them. do not care
how strong you make your arguments
against drunkenness or against the
abuse Of liquor I will endorse it, but
when you ask me to abolish its use
because some people abuse it. refuse.
We abuse our right to speak. Billy Sun
day does. Would he like it if we went
out and preached prohibition of Tree
speech? That would shut him up. That
would cut him off from his source of
supplies We abuse our right to eat.
The Gods truth is that more people
dig their graves with their teeth in
one year than drink themselves to
death in ten. A thousand more people
&C to the doctor on account of ill-health
caused by too much eating to where
one takes the Kelley cure or needs IT,
What are You going to do about II?
Prohibit everybody from eating? That
would be prohibition logic. They con-
cede our right to drink but deny our
right to make or sell. There is no harm
making liquor. could make million
barrels and never get drunk. There is
no sin i'll selling it. could sell mil
lion barrels and never get drunk, or
could buy a million barrels and never
get drunk. The evil is not in sellin:, or
buying or in making The evil is not
in drinking, but solely in the abouse
of liberty
Prohibition is absolutely false in it's
logic, and without leg to stand on.
You are going to find out tonight that
there are two sides to, this question.
You are going to find out that we have
the argument. Prohibition is also in
conflict with human nature. You tell
a man he ought not drink too much.
He will merely thank you for it.. Tell
a man that he shall not drink at all
and he will tell you to go to bades. He
will want to know where you get more
authority than he possesses, and by
what right you command a free citi-
zen, your equal in republic Take the
story Of Adam and Eve, and you dem
onstrate absolutely that prohibition is
contrary to human nature.
No Guardian Needed.
Prohibition is based on the idea
that the citizen is child and needs
a guardian. I want to say here to-
night that believe that the citizen Is
a sovereign, and that in the realm of
personal liberty he is a king. Take
your choice between the child idea and
the sovereign idea of American citizen
ship. It is an insult to manhood.
There is another thing No boy can
look up with any degree of pride into
the face of his old dad after hearing
the old man confess his need of a
guardian by joining the prohibition
ranks. Every man stands on his own
responsibility. You do not stand for
me in the court If get into trouble.
You cannot stand for me at the bar OF
God. You cannot take my disgrace If
abuse my liberty. Every man must
stand for himself. Prohibition is not
only an insult to manhood, but de-
structive to human equality. You
know that this old world was hardly fit
to live in until Jefferson declared that
all men are created equal. Now l do
not argue that all men are equal,
morally, because some Of us are good,
some Of us are bad and some only
half and half. What did Jefferson
mean? He meant that we were all
created equal with reference to our
rights to life, not existence. You can
;; have existence under prohibition.