The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1911-08-25

all | think | would De pTetly plS
fool if after all these years of travel
and experience, l hadn't seen any
thing on the other side of the ques-
ton before you; l would have been
blind if had not seen: l would have
been deaf if I had not heard, and an
ignoramus if | had not learned some
thing after all the experience | have
gone through. | want to say frank
Nv I have not only altered my views
on this question but on other ques.
lions as we'll For example: | would
not stand before you tonight and
preach some of the things | preached
20 years ago. because 20 years ago
7 preached Hell-ire and Qamnatlon;
thousands preached it, but | don't be-
lieve in that doctrine today, because
7 have got beyond it, and expect TO
STAY a long ways beyond 1t: NOW
here is a Rocky Mountain OF tact
that you cannot cross over or get
around or tunnel through; here is
great mountainous fact, and that IS
that the liquor traffic has always been
here; it is here today and Judging by
experience it is going to stay mere TOT
good many years after You are deao
and gone. Ever since the time that
Noah got drunk and made a TOOL OF
himself before his own daughters, the
LIQUOR traffic has fourished, and MANY
men like Noah have abused their
rights and privileges and made tools
| Of themselves. Yet friends it is a
solemn fact that the liquor trathc IS
here like a great mountain and you
can't remove it. Now I entertained
the idea like many others that TINS
GREAT mountain could be removed. II
f IS removed it will have to be re-.
moved bv removing the appetites Of
men and that is fact that people OF
TODAY haven't figured on very much
| There are over one-quarter OF
million saloons in America today,
thousands and thousands of whiskey
drug stores, thousands and thousands
of blind pigs and thousands of boot.
1eqgers and men by the hundreds OF
thousands engaged in the liquor bust
ness. Now note that please. In the
wear 1909 there were 100000 bar
rels of beer consumed in this country,
there was 1875 million gallons OF
spirits drank in this country during
that wear, the people during that year
spent one billion, $50 million dollars
for drink; the United States govern
ment got something like 1872 million
dollars for revenue out of it, and that
doesn't figure in the revenue for the
cities The city of Chicago alone re-
ceived seven million dollars revenue
from the saloons. Now figure all the
cities in the United States proper
tionately. Think of the hundreds OF
millions of dollars that the people are
getting in the way of revenue from
this one source. Now all of this goes
to show that the American people
want liquor or they would never drink
the millions upon millions of gallons
they are drinking. The people want
the drink traffic or else they would
not spend one and three-quarter bill
/, lion dollars a year for it. The people
want it and the fact remains that as
long as they want it they are going
, to have it, and there will be a med
ium of SOME kind or other by which
I it will be supplied. This is monu
= mental fact that you cannot get
! around. You may argue one way .anC
another but you have to come back tc
&. this conclusion, that the people who
} spend Ia billion dollars a year fol
it do it largely because they want 1t
: Now that is a fact that you cannot
! denv, there is no use denying it; i
! is a cold-blooded fact that men art
S beginning to recognize. Some preach
l ers realize it and they realize too tina
. YOU cannot remove this great Rock
e Mountain simply by passing sumptu
e ary laws; it will have to be dom
e through persuasion, through educa
, ton and through the training OF thu
t appetite of the young people at home
r and | sometimes think the best wa,
: in the world to begin to educate
e boy is to go back to his grandda'
e and begin with him. (Applause.)
n Now friends this is not loca
r matter, this is not a county matter
= this is not a state matter simply, no
e a national matter. have travele'
o through Europe, Asia, Africa, Aus
r tralia, South America, the East In
s dies, and I have been to Caldwell
e Idaho, if you know where that is, an
c in all my travels and in all my obser
r vations. I have seen the drink traffic
e The northern nations Of the cart
e drink whiskey. Why? Because the
: raise corn; they drink beer. Why
/ Because they raise barley and hop:
: They drink wine because they hav
n their vineyards that produce the grap
r juice; they drink brandies: why? Be
d cause they raise fruit that the brand
d is made from. I have gone into tn
:; East Indies where I spent four years
e I have been two weeks in Burmaf
s and the Straight Settlements and ia
e va, and I found people there doin
y the same as they are here, drinkin
e Intoxicating liquors. It would sur
n prise YOU to know that in India Their
n are thousands of trees that produc
y liquor I refer to the date palm an
d cocoanut tree All YOU have to do
e get a government license to tap tn
: tree, hang up jug, and wait Nc
IS only do they have natural liquor pre-
e duced by the trees but they have dis
a tilleries as we'll Go with me to Poi
& to Rico. Cuba. and the Central Amer
o lean states, and you will find that the
4 raise sugar cane to an enormous ex
Il tent from which they make rum. Nov