Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1913-11-25
Change Of Front On Saloon Issue.


Columbus OHIO. November Ia.-To-
day was governors day in the Anti-Sa-
loon League national convention. form
er Governor Malcolm r. Patterson of
Tennessee was the principal speaker at
the afternoon session. Twice elected
governor of Tennessee as a wet. Mr..
Patterson came to Columbus in special
accompanied by Gov. Ben w. Hooper,
who succeeded him as Tennessee's chief
executive, to give his Endorsement to a
nation wide program that would have
for its aim the entire elimination of the
saloon. Mr.. Patterson said, in part
The An;i-Saloon League and I have
not always been friends. The paths we
travelled were wide apart. They seemed
so parallel that it looked incredible they
should ever meet. But they have met.
The path Travelled turned in its course.
1t ran into the other ,and we now find our
selves in the same road, M chingl in the
same direction, under the same flag.
actuateG by the same desire to destroy
the traffic IN liquor and redeem nation
from its curse.
II am aware that to have suddenly
changed the views of mature manhood,
which once asserted and proclaimed
from one end OF Tennessee to the other.
has excited surprise and provoked COM
ment. But this is world Of change.
.Stagnation is decay, and progress is the
command of the age and the hope of
mortality. | am neither ashamed nor
abashed to stand before tn great audi
ence and acknowledge the wrong, when
| once advocated policies which would
have made legal trade which | have
come to look upon as having no rightful
place in the scheme and economy of
Christian civilization"
Commenting on Que of his own mes
sages to the Tennessee Legislature in
which he opposed future legislation to
regulate the saloon traffic, Mr.. Patterson,
reiterating that at that time those were
his honest convictions based upon mis-
guided judgment, continued:
Il say TO you, fully co scious of the
meaning and responsibility of the decla
ration, that if this message has encour-
aged lawlessness or even been sought as
a refuge for vio'ators of the law, If it had
to stand as my last expression OH the
liquor question, would consume It in
the living fires and erase it forever from
the minds and memories of men.
"My life has had deep sorrows. My
soul has been tossed on the waves of
angry seas. My nature has been pro-
foundly touched and stirred
II have seen the trail of liquor in the
criminal courts where have prosecuted
crime. know and have been a partici-
pant in its psralt ziug and corroding in.
t1uerce in The social and pub ic life of our
National Capital. AS the Governor of
Tennessee | have seen it verIiable and
raging center of stoim around which
gathered It's defenders ana assailants, aud
from which sprang divisions IN parties,
disputes in families and dissensions in
churches.
"Going through life, l have seen 1t
drag down many of the assoc iates of my
boYhood, blasting their hopes and con.
signing them to untlmely graves.
have seen its forked ishtnlng strike my
first born-the child Of my Young man.
hoo land have borne with him the suf-
ferng ard tried to help him in his brave
but sometimes melancholy struggle for
redemption. AT last have felt its foul
and stea'thy ow as 1t turned upon me
IN its deadly and shaming wrath-upon
me who had pleaded before the people
for its very existence. Men haye called
me strons and while could see its harm
in others, thought myself immune, as
thousands before my time have thought,
and suffered for the thought.
''All this knew and felt without
revelation of the deep pathos and mean
ing of it all. needed help, for l was
groping and my feet were stumbling IN
the dark.
"When logic failed and reason gave no
answer. | cast aside all pride of opinion,
all thought of what the world might say
CT think. and went to the throne of AL
mighty God. There, on Bonded knees,
asked for light and strength, aud they
came. The curtains of the night parted,
and the way was clear. l arose achang-
ed man.
The saloon cannot produce one vera.
cious witness in its favor as it stands in
dicted before the bar of public opinion.
ut stands convicted fe on and must
receive the sentence of the law. 1t must
go, never to return, and with the going
of the saloon liquor itself should go.
Il favor prohibition in any form that
will either reduce or destroy the liquor
traffic. favor it p-rsonalwide, town
wide, statewide, nation wide aud world
wide,
Citizens Insurance Company Grows
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