The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1914-03-27

written for the Philadelphia Pub
lic-Ledger by Edwin c. Dinwiddie,
National Superintendent of the Anti
Saloon League of America.)
The present activity and marvellous
success in connection with the temper
ance reform is sometimes thought to
be, by those unfamiliar with it's his
tory, spontaneous outburst of en-
thusiasm. To those who know the
genius and history of the form in this
country it is more like the natural
outgrowth of well-grounded, consist
ent and persistent education through
long period Of years in it's funda.
mental principles and in the demon
strable effects of individual absti
nence from liquor on one hand and
communal prohibition of liquor selling
on the other. In the early days of the
Republic liquor drinking was well-nigh
universal and liquor selling was not
regarded as disreputable. Officers and
members of Christian churches were
frequently engaged in it, and the col
porteurs of those days not infrequent-
ly carried Bibles and samples Of IL
quors on their journeys, selling both
without thought Of inconsistency or
conflict. The first temperance pledges
which were advocated and signed by
temperance people in those days were
generally for moderation only in the
use of liquors, and those requiring
abstinence not infrequently specifically
permitted the indulgence upon occa-
sion. That all this has been changed
is within the knowledge of the read
ing public of today. Men and women
in increasing numbers in the religious,
social, business and political worlds,
and including what in the vernacular
we would call "top-notchers" in each,
have made intoxicating liquors tia
boo and are fearless advocates of
the prohibition of the traffic by the
state.
1t is not within the province of this
article to attempt to parcel out their
proportionate credit to each of the
factors in our country that has con-
tributed to this result. 1t would be
fair to say that the Washington move
ment, followed hard by the Sons of
Temperance, and directly thereafter
by the Order of Good Templars-the
largest total abstinence and prohibit
ton organization in the. world-the
work among Catholics in
stituted by Father Mathew, and con-
tinued in an organized way by the
Catholic Total Abstinence Union Of
today; the wonderful impression by
the Women's Crusade, which was
followed by the organization
of the w. c. T. u, most helpful fac
tor in the REFORM the persistent and
influential work of the Prohibition
party advocates, albeit their vote in
national elections has represented a
pitiful minority, numerically speak
ing; the Anti-Saloon League move
ment, which has made a most power
full appeal to the church to take the
burden of this reform on it's heart,
and yet by its practical and conserva-
tive methods of operation has strong
ly appealed to the business sense of
the public-all these and many other
helpful agencies, like the National
Temperance Society, the American
Medical Temperance Society, ali Or
eanization of physicians and scien-
lists, and the Scientific Temperance
Federation, have contributed to the
sum total of private and public knowl-
edge of and conviction upon the sa-
Don question which has made the
present situation possible. Too much
,redit cannot be ascribed to the life
insurance companies and the railroad
and other large industrial corpora
ions which have discovered and have
lad the courage to proclaim the ad-
,antages of total abstinence and pro-
libition.
Progress of Prohibition.
Despite the handicap of personal ap-