Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-02-28
TOTAL OF LIQUOR BILL
|NTHE UNITED STATES
Speaker Declares 1t Exceeds
Value of Gold, Silver and
Farm Products.

Declaring that the liquor traffic costs
the United States, annually, more than
the value OF the country's total produc-
ton of gold, silver, precious stones, cot
ton and corn; that it costs the city of
Washington, annually, more than $1,000
600, and that it is the cause of nine
tenths of all crime committed in the
country. Representative Edwin Y. Webb
of North Carolina, before the Anti-Saloon
League of Washington, at the First Con-
gregational Church, hammered the demon
rum from every angle, and arraigned the
government Of the United States for its
partnership in the evil.
Statement Wins Applause.
Prefacing his speech with the statement
that he comes from the driest county, in
the driest district, of the driest state
in the Union-a statement that brought
a round of applause from the big audi
ence-Representative Webb metaphorical-
ly took of his coat, rolled UP his sleeves
and waded into King Alcohol, his speech
being interrupted at frequent intervals by
hand-clapping that drowned the speaker 8
voice.
"Nine-tenths of all the murders: nine
tenths Of all the robberies, burglaries,
thievery and incendiarism; nine-tenths of
all the wife-beatings and the gambling
nine-tenths of all the unnamable crimes
that cause men to form mobs and burn
negroes at the stake in the south-nine-
tenths OF all Of these things are directly
due to liquor and the liquor traffic." he
declared. Mine out Of ten of the in
mates of our penitentiaries. our work
houses, our Orphanages our poorhouses
and our insane asylums are brought there
by liquor and the liquor traffic.
Surpasses Annual Tariff.
1.-THE entire tariff collected in a whole
year, in the United States. would not pay
the country's liquor bill for ninety days.
And the government is in partnership
with this infamous traffic. A few years
ago lotteries were legalized in this coun-
try. and lottery tickets were a protected
portion Of interstate commerce, just as
liquor seeks to be today. But the lot
teries were driven back, and back, to the
shores of the Gulf Of Mexico and then
across that gulf, until now the sale of
lottery tickets is forbidden by federal
statute, and such tickets cannot pass in
any way, by mail, express or freight,
through the channels of interstate COM
merce. Not many years will elapse until
liquor Will be put in the same class as
lottery tickets, and states that have voted
by large majorities that they will not
have liquor sold within their borders will
be protected by federal statute from the
invasion of this demon
Senator Kenyon Speaker.
Senator Kenyon of Iowa, author Of the
Kenyon bill prohibiting the shipment of
liquor into dry territory. was another
speaker, saying that he believes the bill
bearing his name will pass both houses
OF Congress and become a law. and that
at no distant Gay. His hopeful remarks
brought forth additional applause
Andrew Wilson, president of the local
Anti-Saloon League, presided at the meet
ing, the invocation being pronounced by
Rev. Samuel III. Woodrow. Other speak
ers we're Mrs. Emma s. Shelton. Rev. DR.
Donald C. Macleod, George NJ. Potter
Edwin C. Dinwiddie and William Knowles
| Cooper.