The Detroit times., 1914-02-20

he travelled more than 100000 miles
and spoke SIX thousand times. There
Is no record Of the aumosr ne induced
10 quit drinking. ~
John .. Cough.
Among those who heard Hawkins
speak In New York city was . ragged.
berotted bookbinder. This man had
snnk through the different degrees Of
drunkenness until he spent al his
time In SALOONS, singing, mimicking.
doing sleight Of hand tricks for
drinks. sleeping on the door. One
night heShad shambled up the rickety
stairway OF the Howery tenement %
the bare room where his wife and
baby were. to zoe II there was some.
thing left that he. could pawn for
whisky. He found his wife and baby
dead Of starvation and cold. He stum.
blod out, TO drink again. They were
hurled In p0tter's neld.
TREMBLING on the verge of collapse
from delirium tremens this man. with
a ragged coat buttoned around his
shirtlsss body. passed the open door
of hall whore Hawkins was speak
ing. A man pulled him In and led
him up 70 Z front seat. When Haw.
kins finished speaking this drunkard
arose and told some of his expert.
ences; how he had leaned over the
pallet Of rags In the dark Of his tene-
ment room and passed his shaking
hand over the cold, dead faces Of his
wife and child, and men and women
wept az they heard him.
Thus was born to q new life John
b. Cough. the greatest temperance
orator that ever lived. II was In 1924
he signed the pledge, and thereafter,
until 1885, when he was stricken with
paralysis while featuring, he travelled
and iectured everywhere, the greatest
individual force the cause OF temper
ance ever had. He had intense dram.
attic power and talent a. q mimic, and
millions wept and laughed with him.
In 1849 Father Mathew. the Catho-
lie apostle OF temperance, came from
ireland and stayed for two years, lee.
turing and organizing everywhere the
temperance societies that bear his
name.
The following year. 1850. Neal Dow.
mayor OF Portland. Me-. had q neigh.
Dor with q large family. good man
and In the main good provider. but
he was addicted to going on on long
drunken sprees and then he neglected
his family. Finally this neighbor lost
his Job. His wife appealed TO the "a
lonkeepers not to sell him any more
liquor. They laughed at her. She
appealed to Neal Dow. the mayor. and
he went to see the several saloon.
keepers and they laughed at him. too.
secrated his life to lighting the liquor
t-amc. He began making temperance
speeches all over the state and IN
1851. through his work, the legisla.
ture OF Maine enacted the Hrst state
Law prohibiting the liquor trafic. In
1884 Maine adopted q prohibition
amendment to Ito constitution. It Is
yet q. dry state.
Whisky IS Cents . Gallon.
Before the war there was NO tax
on. whisky, and no license was impos-
ed for selling II. Nearly every gro
Gerry store In the country sold It open
ly. and Il was drunk Just al openly.
Whisky was cheap. Its cost by tbs
barrel was about Is cents gallon.
The retail price Of the pure article of
3-year-old bourbon or rye was about
forty cents . gallon, fifteen cents a
quart. ten cents Z pint. I've cents Q
drink. The government put q tar on
whisky. and other liquors to raise
money TO help pay the cost Of the
Civil war. This increased the price.
And then the states, counties and
cities began TO impose . license tax
on ssaloonkeepers, providing severe
penalties for selling liquors without
license. and this was the greatest
blow the liquor interests ever receiv-
cd. 1t contracted the sale and per
capita consumption everywhere: but
on the other hand, II formed q means
Of uniting and STRENGTHENING the fight
Ing force OF the wet army, and every.
where they drew together In associa.
ton at Wholesale and retail liquor
dealers, brewers and distillers, with
campaign funds Of millions of dollars;
and paid vigilance committees to
watch for and try and head on legis.
lation antagonistic to the liquor in
terests.
In 1879 there Was remarkable up
rising Of NplAen In Ohio against the
saloon. whOBh became known q the
Temperance Crusade. Women In.
vaced saloons Ia sFostorfa. Findlay,
Sandusly. Cleveland. and other
towns. kneeling In the sawdust of the
bNrro0m floors. praying and singing
They were tremendously 10 earnest
Ia this Sacred War;" and thousands
signed the pledge. and $50 saloons
were closed In northern Ohio.
Out Of this movement sprang the
w. c. T. U. In 1874. with Miss Frances
p. willard - secretary and afterward
president. The influence Of Mrs VIII.
lard In the war against the saloon
chnot be estimated, Il has been going
On for years. and II yet Q mighty
force. Miss willard originated the
phrase:
"Ths right Of . child to be we'll
born."s which became Z slogan In the
temperance cru6ade. = r
In 1876, following hard upon the
heels OF the women's crusade" came
Francis Murphy and HE blue ribbon
movement Murphy had been Z boot
Logging whisky seller Ia prohibition
Maine. and aftcrward . saloonkecper
In Pittsburgh, Pa. He was Q drunk
ard. too. but he reformed and became
q temperance lecturer, the fourth Of.
the great ones this country has had.
Murphy did not know that he hal
any power Of oratory; he was simply
and vividly in earnest In his opposl.
ton to the saloon and ne hired old