The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-03-05
Prohibition Anvil
LIQUOR As a National Issue.

A West Philadelphia liquor dealer recently
consulted an acquaintance in the real estate
business about the advisa bility of transferring
ms license from sidestreet location to Mar
kct Street corner TIE change would involve
an increased investment.
Stay where you ara" counseled the real estate
expert. You would get more prominent stu
alton by moving; but that in my Judgment. is just
W hat you shoald avoid Better stay where you're
tolerated II you try to get Market
Street, you'll only attract attention and stir
mp opposition. Public opinion Is getting mighty
sensitive about the saloon business. and you'd
run the chance of losing the place you've got"
Il guess you're right said the saloonkeeper.
Il PIT the proposition up to of the biggest
men in the wholesale trade Don't think OF
it he said. Don't invest another dollar And
make all YOU now. for inside of ten years
we'll all be put out of business
Fhe notable thing about this story-whch Is
perfectly true--is that will question it
The conditions referred to by the real estate
man and the wholesale dealer are apparent
to every observer. The liquor traffic is doomed
signs Of this great change have multiplied
with amazing rapidly in recent years. They
have been seen in the enactment of stringent
prohibitory laws in many States; the spread
of local option, which invariably makes wide
territories dry the increasing strength of anti
liquor sentiment in State legislatures and in
Congress, and the great economic uprising
against the evil. in behalf of efficiency, public
safety and public health led by railroads. In
dustriai interests physicians and life insurance
companies
These movements are in themselves conclu-
lstVe. They disclose the operation Of a force
Iof public opinion which system. however
powerful in the past, could hope resist But
none of them is more significant than the dec
laration made the other day by United States
Senator Cun;nins OF iowa
He was asked what he consi ,ered to be the
vital public problems CT the time, and named
these: Tariff reform readiustment Of bus-
ness laws to curb monopoly and equalize oppor-
tunity: justice to WORKERS and elimination of
child labor: extinction of Nhe saloon; rural
credits; development of natural resources under
conservation principles international arbitra A.
Jon The fourth demand of the nation he stat
ed In these tcrse. uncdmpromising terms:
The saloon must go. Sobriety must be the
rule Of conduct for the future.
The statement itself is by no means novel.
EUt 1t IS stfikingly important because of its
source and circumstances under which 1t is put
forth
| Senator Cummins for twenty years has been
prominent figure in American public life He
has been the ablest leader of the movement for
a rational tariff system and is an authority
upon the public phases of railroad and industrial
regulations.
But he is more than these things He has
been. and viii be again. widely supported as
possible nominee for President of the United
States. At the present time he is recognized
as one OF the most commanding figures in the
Republican party and in the Judgment OF
many Americans, would be the strongest presi-
dental candidate that party could put in the
field two years hence.
He is, Of course, we'll of the possibili-
ties that lie before him. and of the Importance
which for that reason attaches to his formal
ptterances on political subjects His statement.
therefore, may be regarded as tentative an
have wrecked his career by making such state
nouncement Of his platform. AND 1t is as the
prominent leader or one of the historic parties
that he declares that important issue In
I EI1N
the liquor traffic.
Ten years ago---five years ago--any public
man, unless an avowed prohibitionist. would
ment. Ever since tho temperance movement