Los Angeles herald., 1910-03-01
WOMAN TELLS OF
WAR ON LIQUOR
MISS BREHM THRILLS WITH
STORY OF CAMPAIGN
GREAT FIGHT WAGED IN CHICAGO
is HER SUBJECT
One of Leaders in Crusade to Enforce
Law Relates Incidents of the
Struggle In State
of Illinois

Miss Marie c. Brehm, a representa-
tive of the general assembly OF the
Presbyterian church of the United
States spoke yesterday afternoon in
the First Methodist church under the
auspices of the federated temperance
societies of Los Angeles, her subject
being 1.-THE Chicago Campaign" Miss
Brehm thrilled her auditors with the
story of the fight in Chicago.
Miss Brehm was one of the thirteen
commissioners appointed by the state
department to represent the United
States at the World Congress on Alco-
holism, which met in London in July,
1909. After the sessions of the con-
gress Miss Brehm took part in a
months temperance campaign in the
principal cities of Ireland, speaking
under the auspices of the general as
sembiy of the Irish presbytery. Miss
Brehm has been one of the most prom
inent figures in the four-year war on
the liquor interests in Chicago, which
will eliminate in the election to be
held in April to determine whether or
not the sale of liquor shall be abolished
in that city.
In a vivid relation of the cause and
incidents of the Chicago campaign"
Miss Brehm said:
'sThe LIQUOR interests, as usual,
tation which now gives every promise
of abolishing their business by their
callous indifference to the public well
fare in their greedy chase for every
dollar the traffic would bear.
Reign of Terror
-Four years ago a reign of terror
commenced in Chicago, due to the in
flux of criminals from other cities of
the Mississippi valley, which were en-
forcing the Sunday closing law. Women
were not safe on the streets, purse
snatching being a frequent occurrence,
and one woman being brutally muir
dered.
-Four hundred women attended a
meeting in Willard hall to discuss and
find a remedy for the situation. The
excitement was so tense that the meet
ing lasted all day, no recess being
taken for lunch, and late in the after
noon a delegation Of 100 women waited
on the mayor with a demand that the
Sunday closing law be enforced. The
mayor informed them that he had been
elected on the traction ticket, that he
did not believe in Sunday closing and
that as he had defeated man whose
platform was for Sunday closing he
did not believe that the public was in
favor of it.
tions of the city then circulated petit
tions to which they secured 1900
names, calling for, the enforcement of
the law, and committee of women
waited on the mayor with it. After he
had baffled the other members of the
delegation by taking refuge behind his
previous defenses l, being the last
member to speak, forced him to
acknowledge that he was mayor over
the entire city as well as over those
who had voted for his platform, and
also forced him to send a page for his
oath of office in order to refresh his
memory on which laws he was sworn
to uphold. But even then the most we
could wiring from him was a grudging
assurance that he would consider the
matter.
Public Aroused
prosecution of the offending saloon
keepers in the court proving fruitless,
the allied temperance and good gov
ernment societies reused the public
conscience with a vigorous campaign
of speaking and advertising, and in
September 1908, monster parade of
25, 900 persons, led by 900 ministers of
Chicago churches, marched through
the streets, rousing enthusiasm to a
high pitch, and in the parade in Sep
tember, 1909, year later, Gen. Fred
erick Dent Grant led 10000 men,
women and children in pageant which
will never be forgotten by those who
witnessed 1t.
Carefully kept statistics showed that