Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-01-28
Wednesday, January %, 1914.
Liquor Business Doomed.


American. It is a great publication
with an editorial staff of the aeiest
men in the business. Matters of ma
tionaI interest are treated by them IN
q big. broad way. That our readers
NAV better understand our meaning
we offer the following specimen oil
convincing fact. under the caption
Nemesis of the Liquor Traftlc;
We have the good fortune to number
among our acauaintances a gentleman
of discreet age and mature Judgment
who is so exceptionally we'll informed
that we find his opinions of the highest
value.
The other day he remarked that the
most interesting development OF the
time is the steady growth of the ma
tfon-wide opposition to the trafhc IN
liauor. He finds it active in every sec
tion of the country and among all
classes of the population. Moreover 1t
is different, not only in extent but IN
character. from that of former days.
He said:
am old enough, you know, to recall
the famous Temperance movements OF
the past. But the present movement is
unlike those of former days Ihey We're
stimulated largely by religious feeling,
although all denominations were COR
cerned in the work. But 1t Is no longer
a religious question, and the agltatiol is
no longer led by or greatly strengthened
nv the churches There is some greater
force behind it which I have not peen
able to identify or understand. one thlng
is clear. however. The movement Is
firresistible | am convinced that this
generation will see the liquor trafflc SUB
merged and carried away by ndal wave
of condemnation.
We agreed with our friend that the
traffic is doomed, and there is a good
deal of warrant for his belief that the
end will come within comparatively.
short period. But we dissent from the
view that the old-time religious spirit
is absent from the opposition and that
the churches are less active than IN
the past. za.szz. .=.s=z-==.s--=
But the fight has broadened in its
inspiration and it's following. Eco
nomic forces have joined with religious
conviction. The latter element has
gained rather than lost in vigor, but 1t
no longer has exclusive leadership.
The great new force which the OBJ
server dscerns behind the present
movement, and which is reinforcing
the religious sentiment so effeetually
comes from many different sources.
II comes from medical colleges and
hospitals, from the operating tables of
surgeons and the laboratories OF
chemists, where cold-blooded men OF
science study the marvellous structure
of the human body and measure with
minute accuracy effects of alcohol in
weakening its tissues and deranging
its functions.
1t comes from asylums for the in
sane and the feeble minded, from aims
houses and prisons, where experts an
alyze the effects of degeneracy and
trace the cause of countless instances
to alcoholic excuses. 1t comes from
those who work to alleviate misery
through desertion courts, children's
societies and charitable organizations,
and from those who study the sunken
lives in the slums and the dreadful
victims of vice
II comes from publication of the re-
ports of county commissioners and
other officials, which show how large a
part of the taxes paid by the people
Is absorbed in caring for criminals
and dependents created by the liquor
traffic, and from the testimony of busi-
ness men that decrease in the num-
Der Of saloons is invariably followed
by an increase in prosperity.
It comes from the changed attitude
of thinking persons toward the drunk
ard and the delinquent of tainted an
cestry, which regards them as victims
of heredity and disease rather than as
wicked violators of moral law.
II comes from railroads. banks, mer-
camille houses and industrial establish
ments, from every place where eff
cheney is demanded, the operation OF
which shows that users of liquor are
Enthusiastically. inefficient and source
of danger.
II comes from wider understanding
of eugenics. This is a new science, and
its truths have been exaggerated by
the misinformed; but it has at least
established the principle that much SO.
cial degeneration is due to alcohol. ant
that the marriage of those tainted bs
its poison should be discouraged.
IL is from these and thousand 9th
err sources that the new force behind
the anti-liquor movement is derived
II is the awakened sentiment thus in
formed that has changed tho character
of the Temperance" news which our
friend now finds in the newspapers.
He reads. for example, of a con
1,