The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-06-19
PROH|B|T|OE|STS
MEET IN TABERNACLE
Bishop Spalding of the Episco-
pal Church Principal
Speaker.
Continued From Page One.

But. - said the speaker, ''T am at
once confronted with the statement
that i'll the state of Utah any lcgisla-
tion aimed at the liquor traffic is cant
legislation. This sounds to me like
cant itself. Suppose ! vote wet |
am voting for cant The demonstra
tion of 1t is on the bill boards of your
Prohibition makes drunkards and
criminals Could you think of worse
cant than that?
"Another objection and protest that
Is raised against the proposed law is
that If is not strong enough. not ade
quate to cover the needs of the case
and secure prohibition. For me this
protest holds another suggestion. of
cant. Suppose you passed law
that was complete enough and strong
enough to absolutely stop at once all
the liquor traffic in the state. then
they would say to you; why dldn It
you go at this thing gradually and not
make it so radical all at once?'
"But don't think for moment
that by the passage of this law by your
votes on June 81, the battle is over or
won. Then will follow the period which
demands our constant consideration
and attack
Whence Blind Tigers.
And then they say that if we pass
the prohibition law we will create all
kinds of blind tigers and places
where the sale of liquor is carried on
ilIIeltly. Who's going to %, defy the law!
Who's going TO say Il II do Just as I
please, and sell liquor without regard
TO the statutes. Who7 Only the liquor
interest. That's all | tell you that
when some great entrenshed power
stands up and says: T'n do as 1
please, it is time something was done
for the undoing of that power.
' Then they argue that YOU cannot
make men good by law. No more SUI
perflcial assertion was ever made.
Those who base their argument upon
law means. First there are customs,
then institutions, then laws, which
make the rules Of conduct Law is the
rope which men fling out to cling to,
to save them from chaos and destruc-
ton. The laws of a nation are its
stepping stones to liberty. Laws are
intended to create decent environment
and make it possible for men, women
and children to develop under proper
Influences.
Power of Environment.
Bishop Spalding then referred to u
conversation had some years ago with
n, l.
Riis had told him that he believed that
environment exerted 90 per cent of the
influences that formed character, and
with this the speaker agreed. drawing
the conclusion that "where one bov
will be tempted TO drink through the IT,
licit sale of liquor, 10000 will grow up
with liquor out of their lives, and /
am interested in the 10,000.''
The speaker asserted that the envir-
III H.
as was helpful to character formatio
along right lines, and invited any of
his hearers who disagreed with him to
walk up Second South street from the
Rio Grande depot to State street and
judge for themselves.
Taking up the question of so training
children that they would be strong
enough morally TO resist any tempta.
ticn that confronted them, Bishop
Spaldipg held that this was a fallacy
that no person of common sense
moral sense Would any parent, he
asked, train his boy so that the child IS
body would acquire power of resistance,
and then tell him to see how much
muddy and impure water he could
drink without getting typhoid fever?
On the other hand, he would insist upon
pure water and if there was any ques-
tion as to it's purity he would have the
water boiled.
AS to Personal Liberty.
Reverting to the question of personal
liberty, Bishop Spalding said that what
a man "sincerelY beieved' was no
argument as to his rights. The man
who died from eating toadstools sin.
cerely believed that he was eating
mushrooms until it was too late; some
men who sold liquor TO Indians sincere
ly believed they were within their
rights In helping the red men to exer.
else their personal liberty by getting
drunk.
Bishop Spalding then took up the ar
gument that the business interests of
the city would suffer through prohibi-
tion and declared ga city is like an
know there are men who have not a
nickel IN their pockets, but you give
them drink of whisky and they imag-
Inc themselves milionaires. But they
wake up the next morning with an aw,
ful headache and with pockets still
empty. And city can get drunk the
same way and imagine its prosperity,
when the prosperity is in reality like
the pipe dream of the drunkard''
After praislng the natural beauty of
Salt Lake City and its location, the
~
Salt Lake held the delusion that her
prosperity was dependent upon the
liquor interests, the city had too much
liquor.
Liberty and Obedience.
Reverting again to the question of
personal liberty, the speaker declared
that liberty depended upon obedience
to law; that in a free and easy
mining camp, where everything was run
wide open, there was no liberty worthy
the name; that Just as the musician
must obey the laws of harmony in com
posing, so much social liberty rest upon
law,
Bishop Spalding then took up the
phase Of the effect of alcohol upon the
system, disposing of it briefly with the
statement that scientists were practi-
cally agreed that it was deleterious
even in small quantities, and adding
that the only reason that after dinner
speeches made by men who were full
of champagne were deemed brilliant. |
was because his audience had reached
sueh stage Of maudlin intoxication
that they did not know wit. To wipe !