Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1910-06-03
THE PROGRESS OF
TEMPERANCE REFORMS
Denmark.

A deputation of Danish temper
ance leaders waited on the king at
the Fredensborg Castle some weeks
ago to thank him for his action in
sanctioning the prohibition law for
Iceland. King Frederick in return
expressed his satisfaction in having
been the first monarch to sign such |
a law, and declared that he would
with as great readiness sign SINH
lar for Denmark whenever the
Riksdag would pass 1t.
Meanwhile the Danish minister OF
the Interior, Munich, has expressed
his strongest adhesion to the Danish
Alcohol Commissions proposal for
local option law. Until that comes
he has ruled that in case local coun-
ell Is not unanimous on the question
of renewing a license, popular vote
NAV be taken to decide the matter.
This is an executive sanction OF an
extra legal method Of closing drink
shops which has grown up in me
last two years in Denmark. These
utterances, together with the fact
that five of the bitterest leaders of
the opposition to prohibition were
defeated in the recent elections, in
dicate that Denmark is on the point
of moving forward in the direction
of radical temperance reform.
Prof. Harald Westergard, Of the
University of Copenhagen, the great
est living authority on the statistics
of mortality, says "The influence of
alcohol on health Is far greater than
we have hitherto imagined" He
figures that the man of twenty, be-
coming temperate, would, on a gen.
eral average, add four years to his
life, and that one-third of all the ac-
cidents in Denmark would vanish and
two-fifths of the suicides.
Holland.
The first Dutch congress against
alcoholism has just been held in
Utrecht. It was opened by Her Ma
jestys minister for trade and indus
try. Describing his duties as guar
dian of the states industrial welfare,
he declared that these compelled him
to take cognizance of one of the chief
enemies of that welfare, t. e., alcohol,
One of the speakers in describing
the revolution Of opinion as to al
cohol which had taken place in Hol-
land, declared that 25 years ago the
Baptist church in Haarlem decided
not to admit total abstainers to
membership. Now the whole mem
bership is abstaining and It has been
proposed to make abstinence one OF
the conditions of membership.
Queen Wilhelmina, herself an
abstainer, sent telegram of sym.
pathy. Good Templars and Blue
Cross societies are spreading and es.
tablishing consultation bureaus foi
free medical assistance
Germany.
Prince Heinrich, the sailor brother
of the German emperor, is the patror
of the Good Templar movement II
the German navy, and 1t has othel
friends as well among the higher
e officers.
The members of marine lodg,
marched one charming afternoon
' with laughter and song into the gar
' den restaurant of the little villag,
OF l.. The company table was sool
set up in the open air and the heat
' waiter hustling around courteousl,
asked What will the gentlemen
! have? All beer?" The head templa
t put the question who will have beer
General and panied astonishmen
) when none of the Jolly mariners re
piled affirmatiyely. The claw ham
II mered gentleman, surprised in hi
{ turn, stammers; We'll, what then?
Whereat the head templar asks
"Who wants milk" All hands imme
ddiately spring into the air. "Oh,
gasps the waiter When the head TEN
plar further inquiries Who'll TAX
Caffeine-free coffee" he feebl
protests against rubbing It in to
hard, Not an eye but was runnin
tears-of laughter And these ar
German sailors
The Leipsic Mutual Life Insuranc
company has recently declared II
purpose of raising the price Of premI
ums to those engaged IN the brew
ing or drink selling business.
The German temperance peopl,
unable vet to work with more d,
cisive weapons. are using nov,
methods In the development of mil
selling as a substitute for the nation
al drink evil In Hamburg. ON
Writpg a., ov, .,,,,.......r..t, ......