The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-08-06
PEOPLES FORUM
Socialism and the Liquor Traffic.

Socialism and the Liquor Traffic.
Editor OF The Virginian
Sr.-In your issue of last Monday you pub
lish letter from f. F. Moody the Spirit of
Christ the Bible. Liquor and the State Fair"
Now, that is some text. and Mr.. Moody rightly
Idivided his sermon into four parts and gives us
firstly, secondly. thirdly and fourthly, and in
Wednesdays issue Mr. J. B. Ladd adds flfthly
and hope you will allow me to add sxthly
i don't know just how the brethren stand on
the liquor question. but I'll bet both of the
gentlemen will take It with or without. AS
both writers quote the Bible, I shall do like
WISE and shall take my text I Timothy G:
10: For the root of all kinds of evil is the
love of money" The writer does not saw that
money is the root of all kinds of evil, hut he
says the love Of money Is tho root OF all kinds
of evil No one loves money for itself, but 1t
is what money represents Money represents
wealth; wealth is the stored-up labor of peo-
Pile. Wealth represents the toll the sweat the
blood, the life of people. No wealth is created
without labor, and labor is the unfailing meas
ure or the value Of all wealth. The quantity
Iof labor power required to produce an article
decides it's value. I wish to make this as plain
as L can. wish everyone to understand that
labor creates all wealth. and when anvone ac-
qulres wealth, created by others and for which
they do not return It's equivalent thew have
acquired just so much of the lives of Others
AS l said IN the beginning brethren. no
one loves money for itself, but they love it
Tor what 1t represents
] shall make this sermon as sbor+ nc Vs.
sible In order that the brethren NAV visit the
nearest booze dispensary and be filed with
the spirit that they may be enabled to "a II
down the blessings Of God on the state fair
if you have twenty dollars in your pocket Won
nave -FOUR hundred loaves of bread or an hun
dred pounds of meat or two hundred samples
or John Barleycorn Imagine if you can about
now much bread and clothes one might buy
with million dollars, and If you had hun
dred million dollars you might buy so much
bread that others might go hungry or If YOU
had billion dollars you might buy so many
clothes that others would be naked and II Won
had ten billion dollars you might get a corner
on so many of the necessities OF life that others
would be completely In your power.
Now. brethren, | coming close to nv
text The love of money is the root of all
Einds of evil The power that money gives
creates - love for money. Do you know
that the love OF money the try to get rich quiek
the desire to acquire wealth without creating
wealth causes untold evils. and do you know
that the profit system is the great incubator
that matches out these evils? If things were
made for use and not to sell for a profit there
would be no shoddy clothes, no adulterated
foods and no unsanitary disease breeding shacks
for rent. The love OF money, based on the
profit or capitalist system. is responsible for
ton physical and mental. child labor. the
sweat shop, poverty and most of the disease
1T is responsible for the liquor traffic, the Bing-
hamton fire, the Triangle fire and thousands
and tens of thousands of accidents and deaths in
the mills and mines, 1t is responsible for thou
sands killed and injured each wear on rail-
roads Beloved brethren and sisters here Is
a picture; gaze it moment 1t is not a
pretty picture and this is one where the
best painter would paint the ugliest picture.
In the upper part of the picture is the profit
system. l do not know how to paint system
or how 1t would look. but l think the profit
system would be red because of the blood Of
workers it has she'd ard controlled by II are
millions of men, women and children, poor
diseased overworked underfed, uneducated,
ne RI ryf hat ata 70
worth living. Look on the picture and then
tell me If you love the system better than you
love these in the lower part of the picture. Do
you love the profit system better than you do
the exploited toilers, men. women and little chill
dren, who are putting their energy. their life,
in the things that we USE So long the profit
system lasts and we continue to make things
for profit and not for the liquor question
will be continually before u.s. but never settled
SO long there liz profit in any business
however degrading and contemplate that bust
ness may be. people will engage in It. Elimi-
nate the profit and the liquor question will be
settled for all time Let the government make
and sell liquor at labor cost and no one will
make or sell IT. as no one could produce IT
as cheaply as the government and could not
successfully compete with the government The
country is overstocked with revenue officers. and
yet people make and sell whiskey legally and
illegally They do 1t because there is a profit
in 1t. In the year 1900 there made in this
country one million gallons of liquors. and
in spite of all the prohibition, local option, tenn
perance unions and the like; in the year 1910
there was made more than 1853 millions gal /
Ions or liquors why thlS lncreaSeP Did the \
population increase in proportion? The answer /
Isl the liquor was made for profit. Profit is
that you get for which you give moth |
ing. wish to ask all the anti-saloon and
people what do you propose to do
about It? Are YOU willing to destroy the CAPT. /
talist profit system and thereby eliminate \
the thousand and evils that are its Iegiti- Il
mate offaprings, or will you allow the evils to \
continue because Of your love for the system 4
that produces them7
E II tree bears bad fruit destroy the treA ana n
stop cursing the fruit So.