The Washington herald., 1914-03-11
THE OPEN FORUM.
Herald Readers Express Their View.
on Current Topics.

To the Editor: In The Herald recently
noticed New Orleans dispatch which
quoted Cardinal Gibbons as saw
ing; While / am an ardent advocate
OF temperance. j am intuitively pur-
suaded that prohibition cannot be en-
forced In this country. Prohibition new
er VIII De enforced in a Christian coun-
try. IL Is calculated to make hypo-
critics and to lead to the manufacture Of
Illicit whisky. replacing the good ma.
terial with the bad. while at the same
time roooing the government of the
legitimate tax"
/ In reading this declaration the student
mind reverts to a leaf Of history which
proves that Minister John Wesley. fac
ing Isets ana arguments similar to those
prevalent today, expressed convictions
somewhat dissimilar to those of the car
dinal. and of which many of your read
ers will be pleased. doubtless, to be
reminded.
The Methodist Temperance Magazine
of ancient date. referring to Minister
Wesley. said: He anticipated most Of
the arguments Of modern temperance ad-
vocates in his frequent references to this
subject in his writings In his tract, "A
Word TO the Drunkard.' we have a most
powerful exposition Of the sinfulness OF
drunkenness. His remarks upon distiIl-
ing as the main cause of the dearness
of bread-corn in the little leaflet entitled
Thoughts on the Present Scarcity of
Provisions are a model to those who
would deal with the drink traffic from the
standpoint of political economy. The lit
erature of the temperance movement con-
tains no passage more effective than
that In which he demolishes the popular
fallacy that the drink traffic is essential
to the revenue. viz, his memorable let
ter addressed to the Right Hon. William
Pitt. in September. 1884. He wrote:
This duty, the duty paid by distillers
last year. II I am rightly Informed,
amounted to only E2o.0OO: but have not
the spirits distilled this year cost 2O.NS
lives of his majesty's liege subjects. not
to say anything of the enormous wick
edness which has been occasiOned there
by; and not to suppose that these poor
wretches have any souls. But. to con-
slider money alone. is the King a gaineI
or an immense loser? To say nothing of
the many millions of quarters OF corn de-
stroyed. which II exported would have
added more than E2O.0o0 to the revenue
be II considered Dead men pay no taxes
so by the death of 1900 persons year
~. and this computation is far below tn,
mark the revenue loses far greater than
il gains. But / may urge another con-
sideration to you. You are a man-yor
have not lost human feeIings-you do not
4
son of Lord Chatham-nay. il I mistake
not. you are a Christian. 1t is amazing
that the preparing or selling this poison
should be permitted. i will not say in
any Christian country, but In any civil
lied State. S. W. RUSSELL
Disputes Mrs. Harper's Figures.
To the Editor: In the Herald OF Sun
day. March s. Mrs. Ida Hused Harper
SAYS: But figures are one of the weak
points of the 'antis'" Now to my
certain knowledge the 'antis'' never give
figures they cannot prove. On the other
hand I have never seen any given out
by Mrs Harper that she can prove. In
her article Mrs. Harper says There are
about 400 eoa women in Chicago" AccordinE
to the United States census of 1910 there
are ses.sse women of voting age in that city
and 7Oo.5eo men. Letter from William j.
Harris. Director of Census, date of Feb
ruary ., 1910. On February Is the tota,
number of women registered was 15s.5.i
and of that number only F.424 voted at
the primary election. OF those - per
cent lost their votes because of careless
marking. ISee Chicago papers Of Febru-
ary 50 II would seem that the suf-
fragists have a new way Of counting all
their own. either more or less 10 suit
their purpose. Mrs Harper's figures and
the census reports do not agree very
well. According to census reports and
the number given OF the votes in the
Chicago papers, 4ss,1d5 women voters did
not register. and Mrs. Harper says there
are only about 40o,oOo women voters in
that city. Is not that a new sort of
calculation?
II Mrs. Harper will only take the time
or have some of her suffrage friends dc
it for her. to lock up census reports. she
will not make such gIarinC misstate-
ments.
MARY BRINGHURST.