The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1911-02-07
BIG Temperance
DEMONSTRATION
Thousands Of Men and MOme1
Meet at OhiO'S Capital.
PROTEST AGAINST DEAN BILL

cpecial Trains and interurban Care
Brought Crowds In Unprecedented
Numbers, Which Filled and Over
flowed Three Big Audltorlums OF
Coiumbus--overwheIrne Evidence
That the County Option Law ls
Eore Popular Than Ever.
Columbus, o. - Especially - When
5000 persons crowd into three audi
toriums within three blocks Of each
other to listen to speeches against
the saloon 1t indicates interest. When
as many more walk the streets una
BILE to hear the speakers 1t is more
evidence of interest. When $4,000 OF
these 10000 are men 1t proves it is
something more than w. c. T. u.
meeting, and when a large per cent
OF these thousands of men are the
leading business and professional
men OF the state-the manufacturers,
AoSiSuohIo, p1hhSiSt JuuJSS, idWySlS,
physicians, farrners-it is evident
there is nothing fanatical nor hys-
terical about 1t.
We are telling you about the open
ing meetings of the big Law Enforce
ment and County Option convention
held in Columbus Jan. 80 and 81. 1t
was the greatest temperance demon.
stration ever Witnessed in Oiio dur
ing her century and more OF history.
1t was the mightiest protest ever re-
corded by the people OF any state
against the proposition to repeal a
temperance statute.
The most significant thing about
the coLTention was not the speech OF
Billy Sunday or the splendid ad
dresses OF Governor eileen, or any
thing that was said by any person
The biggest thing in or about the
convention from it's beginning Mon
day evening until it ceased Tuesday
evening was the convention itself
When thousands Of men and women
leave their homes in mid-winter and
Journey TO Columbus and spend two
days participating in temperance and
law enforcement meetings it shows
the old Buckeye state Is dead in earn
est in its war On the saloon.
Special trains and interurban cars
brought thousands OF strangers intt
Columbus to attend the opening ses
sions of the convention. Springfield
expected to send 200 men, but more
L. fLak
Portsmouth sent up 1000 men wher
only half that number was expected
Other cities and towns poured thei
population into Columbus. On tht
first evening OF the convention the
streets of the capital took on the ap
pearance Of Inauguration day and thu
hotels and restaurants were taxed Il
the limit.
Memorial hall holds 5000 peopl,
and 1t was packed to the doors o:
Monday evening an hour or more be
fore Billy Sunday began speaking. l
was a meeting for men only. Full.
5000 more men surged about the bi:
building unable to gain admittance
The Board of Trade aU 1itorium wa
RaShSu " hSdi uudoO ADAall aAlu OIl
ers, and hundreds were turned away
and at Wesley Chapel, one of the BIZ
churches of the city, an audience
mostly men, filled auditoriums an
galleries.
But the Monday evening meeting
were not all OF the convention by an
means. The people remained 10
Tuesdays sessions. Every county i
the state was represented, and tn
interest was every bit as great as o.
Monday evening. Tuesday the bi
audience heard Lennon, Woolley, Bs
ker, Wheeler, White. Judge Seward
Shepard, Miss Ensign, DIR. Josep
Clark, Howard H. Russell, d. A. Pc
ling, John s. Rutledge. F. e. Fetc
and others. The convention close
with an address Tuesday evening b
Governor Glenn OF North Carolins
and the speech was worth a tri
across the state. The conventio
adopted strong resolutions OF protes
against the passage OF the Dean bill
The convention was the talk nc
only OF Columbus, but OF the entir
state. The demonstration was so III
precedented, the numbers SO grea
and the men who came up from tn
counties 80 prominent that the test
mony was overwhelming that tn
county option law is more popula
than ever before and that the legi,
iator who gives his vote to the liquo
trust In headed straight for the D,
Iitical graveyard.
VIII Reduce the Coal Bill.