The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-06-29
CHARACTER|zEs LEAGUE
AS POLITICAL SHAM
Local Self-GOvcrnment Ideas Are
FallacieS, Says DIR. Mac
lachlan.
WOULD TREAT LIQUOR AS DRUG
Minister Says personal Liberty" Is
Merely Liberty to Place Stumbling
Block in Path Of NeighbOr-Clninis
Prohibition Does Prohibit

Prohibition Does Prohibit.
Rev. II. ID. c. Maclachian, D. D., pas
tor of the Seventh Street Christian
Church. yesterday preached two ser
| mons on prohibition. AT the morning
service he confined himself TO a dis
cussion OF the hypothesis that prohi-
bition does not prohibit while at the
evening service his remarks related to
what he termed fallacics In tho plat
form Of tho Local Self Government
League.
Iii his evening sermon the preacher
chose the best-known points of con
tention brought out by the opponents
of prohibition. and taking them indi-
vidually, he proceeded to characterize
them as fallacies. One OF the strong
est arguments made by the vets was
that prohibition was undcmocratic, said
the minister. and that true democracy.
with regard to the question at issue.
would pertain to local option.
There are several questions which
should like to ask these friends of
1local option. and they are: IL local
option election was to be held here
tomorrow. how would you vote? IL
the result of prohibition distasteful to
you because of It's effect? Were YOU
for local option several years ago? Did
you not light local option and the
preachers then for tho same reasons
you are lighting prohibition now?
isn't the memory of those who are
interested in fighting prohibition some
thing like the chameleon and just a
trife short? II would appear that II
Is; just AZ II appears that their fight
Is against restrictions on the traffic
which demands so heavy a toll from
the youth OF our homes.
4 POLITICAL SHAM.
SAYS DIR. NACLACBLAN.
The liquor people lighted on a fine
thing I'm the Local Sclf-Government
League. 1t is Il political sham. form
clothed in the garments OF rcspecta-
btlity. Its arguments are based on
statements of physicians who are not
experts. and the highly respectable
people who arc In the league are in bad
company. and should remember that
old saying which relates to the judg-
ment passed on those who are seen In
the presence of questionable company.
1T Is claimed by the opponents of
prohibition that the sovereign State
has no right TO prohibit the sale OF
liquor. II has the same right to pro-
hibit the sale OF this drug as il has
that OF cocaine. The liquor business
state. shown by the fact that II is
constantly under the powers OF the
police. 1t is claimed that local option
Is the solution, but the law which
would allow local option should be for
the common veal and not for any one
particular locality.
The personal liberty argument
which has been advanced was Il fine
stroke of work. II calls to mind
visions OF gettysburg. and IL brings
foremost to the mind Of the drinking
man the question AS to what right the
majority have TO take away his glass
OF liquor. The fallacy here Is very
evident, for no one has moral right
20 do anything which Will injurc his
reigEbor. and III the saloon must lie
licensed TO keep one glass of liquor
then am 7 not responsible for all Of
the heartaches. the ruined lives and
homes which result? Personal liberty
I'm this case is to make "A wrong use OF
H. and TO place a stumbling block in
tho path of "a neighbor. No Christian
man can make use OF this argument
for he must surrender the distract per-
sonal right for the good of his brother
Officers OF Richinond churches are
belyine themselves IN order to sustain
such type of personal liberty. How
long. O. Lord, how long?"
ADVANCING PUBLIC
MORALS BY LEGISLATION
DR. Maclachlan thea took up the
question of advancing the public
morals by legislation. He said that
persons In the penltentiary did not
drink. yet they were not sober: that
honest. He said that II the Legislature
did not make the public moral 1t could
tax: away temptation. and make it
possible to raise Il generation to whom
alcohol would be strange and ulti-
mately to relieve the race of the faint
of the drug.
In closing. he quoting Governor Pat
terson. of New Jersey. who remarked
that II there were no sorrows. liquor
created them: that if there were sor-
rows. liquor Increased them; wherever
1t comes it brings sorrow and when
ever It Is gone ii leaves rcmorse. He
closed by calling attention to the cleo
ton to be held In September, and PRAYED
that God might lead his hearers to de-
eide right.
The morning sermon was q discus
sion of whether prohibition prohibits
Or. Maclachlan said that no law abso-
lut"i| prohibits. and used many sta
ttSticS TO show the effects of prohibi-
ton IN States where II is enforced He
asked why the vets Jailed to compare
the amount OF liquor Clipped into drv
territory with that sold there before
1t became dry He told of an instance
which recently occurred at the Coun-
Try cub, when Il drinking man said
that unless North Carolina loosenad
up in Its attitude toward liquor. the
STATE would again 80 wet but admit
TED that he did not wish to see the
change. The preacher took this as an
Indication OF a changing opinion on tho
part or drinking men toward the sup
preston of the liquor traffic.
Prohibition Workers to Meet.
an important meeting will be held
tiers of the Woman's Prohibition 7 .en &C
OF America, 3l5 South Third Street ~