The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1910-09-03
ANOTHER MEETING
IN THE PARK
Rev. Charles E. Stuart Addresses
Large Gathering.
URGES VOTERS TO OPPOSE SALOONS

About 500 people assembled in the
park Tuesday night to hear Rev. Chas.
l.. Stuart, District Superintendent OF
Anti-Saloon League, present the issues
of the local option campaign.
The meeting was opened with sing
ing of campaign songs by a chorus OF
children.
Rev. E. J. Richardson presided by
request and Rev. K. A. Williams led In
prayer.
In presenting Mr.. Stuart Mr.. Richard
son spoke Of his conservation and devo-
ton to the work and the splendid
service he had rendered.
Mr.. Stuart said he had no unkino
feeling toward any who differed from
him. He asked that the audience follow
him with open, candid minds. The liquor
traffic is an evil thing baneful in its
effects.
There are in the country 1000, 0OC
drunkards. They are dying at a terrible
rate. New drunkards are to be made
and the ranks must be filled from our
boys. The chances for making drunk
ards out of our boys is immeasurably
increased by the open saloon. 1t is @
shame to foster an institution that
stands for the destruction Of the boy.
Nobody defends the liquor traffic.
Then why have it? There are three
reasons why men want it.
|. Appetite. Men want place where
they can get liquor without trouble.
Personal liberty, so loudly claimed, is a
misnomer. No man has liberty to do
that which is for the injury of his neigh
Dor. No man has liberty to do what is
wrong.
2. Avarice. The saloon man is in
the business not for the love OF it,
but for what he can get out Of it. The
only business that really suffers by the
removal of the saloon is the business
that ought to suffer-the saloon itself.
A business that steals from every other
business cannot be good thing for a
town, and where the saloon prospers,
legitimate business suffers.
1t brings no real revenue.
1t costs more than it gives.
For every dollar In revenue from the
saloon the cost is five dollars or more.
In revenue from the saloon, the burden
of taxation is on the wrong man, the
poor man and the negro bearing the
greater part.
8. Apprehension. People honestly
doubt whether the plan of no saloon is
as good as the open saloon well
regulated.
Men now view with alarm the en-
trance into the community of few
Jugs by express, forgetting the com
placency with which they viewed the
barrels and cases formerly received by
freight.
1t is better TO outlaw the traffic. A
blind tiger is safer for the boys than
one with eyes wide open. Under mo
license" the drunkards are not newly
made, but are graduates Of the old sa-
loon. Blind tigers should be driven out
and they will be when public conscience
is thoroughly aroused. Illicit sale does
not make hypocrites, 1t only shows
where they are.
Conditions are immeasurably better
with no saloon. There was not a case
in the police court Of dry Lynchburg the
morning after the disgraceful Johnson
Jeffries prize fight on July 4th.
Prohibition prohibits better than reg
ulation regulates. He once killed a
rattlesnake that threatened the life OF
a boy and the only safety from the evil
of the saloon is to destroy it.
In conclusion he urged the voters to
stand for righteousness, to keep out the
saloon and by great majority register
the city free from its blighting in
fuence.
The address was listened to with close
attention and was regarded by many as
perhaps the best yet delivered.
Mr.. Stuart is of commenting pres
ence, has an excellent delivery and is
convincing speaker.