Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1910-05-17
Evils OF Prohibition
''' Is Theme OF Divine
REVEREND WILLIAM WATSON IN rEARs0Ns MAGAZINE

bnCt wave swept over the country.
within n ner,oa Of Ave- vears o,sh,
- -
$3.50 III. "e ' ave" s""'
ooa'es' micnisan ana NEBRASKA, adopt'
ed prohibition. New York, Indiana
and Wisconsin also enacted prohib.
itory laws, which, however, never
went Into effect, having been declared
unconstitutional by the highest courts
in those states.
Now. again, after lapse of fifty
years, the country is witnessing an.
other Temperance wave,' which has
already risen higher than its predeces.
sor. Nor Is the end yet in sight.
While in some sections of the country,
the wave" has spent its force and
appears 70 be receding. in other sec.
tons II Is increasing in volume and
strength. There are. at present, eight
states in which statutory prohibition
obtains-four In the South, three In
the West and one In New England.
Under the Local Option system. u
number OF other states are being pro.
hibitionized on the installment plan.
Not long ago II was estimated TINT
sa oons were being closed at the rate
of thirty day--nearly 1000 year.
The prohibition leaders boast that,
while ten years ago there were only
SIX million people living In dry" ter.
ritory, there are now thirty.eight mil.
lion. If prohibition and temperance
be the same. thing, we are certainly
making prodigions strides toward the
millennium. But sober.mlnded people
have no faith in the professions and
promises of prohibltionists. Fifty
years ago, the leaders OF the crusade
thought they saw the dawn OF the per.
feet day. when there would not be n
dram shop nor a drunkard in all the
land. They were confident that the
problem of intem perance, which had
perplexed and baffled mankind for
thousands OF years. was as good az
solved. The great dragon was about
to be siain and his dead carcass hurled
into the bottomless pit. But II turned
out to be all a dream. The dragon
was not slain; he was not even seri.
ously wounded. II he disappeared Of
all. II was only to betake himself Ia
the cellar and await the passing
storm, In the course of a few years
the Temperance wave" passed away
and the frenzy and hysteria that caus
ed 1t. and was caused by II. died out
The crusade not only did not solve
the liquor problem, but It complicated
the problem with new difficulties. The
states that adopted the prohibitor,
system soon found themselves con
fronted with two evils instead OF one
the old disease of intemperance and
the new remedy" OF prohibition. And
now, the successors OF the men that
rallied around the standard OF Neal
Dow are making precisely the same
promises and predictions that were
made OF old. They assure us that the
present movement means business
They prophesy that this wave viii not
subside until IL has swept over every
foot of American soil and has done q
rum trafhc what Jehovah did to
the Egyptians In the Red Sea.
Prohibitionlsts have simplifed the
liquor problem at the expense OF truth
reason and common experience. In
stead OF suiting the remedy to the dis
ease, they have tried to make the dis
ease conform to their predetermined
remedy.
The liquor problem Is one OF thf
most complex of all social problems
It does not stand out alone. simple
distinct and isolated, as prohibition
lists would have us believe. II Is Al
once moral. an economic, a physio
logical, q psychological and, In Its fina
analysis, a purely personal problem
II slontains many elements and III
wolves many perplexing difficulties
When we look below the surface. en'
study this problem In Its deeper az
poets, we find that Its roots are mex
tricably intertwined with those OF oth
er social problems. SO that genuine
and thorough temperance reform mus
be conducted along many dineren
lines.