The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-07-11

and foe that to The Richmond Vfr-
ginan is due larger credit than TO
any other one agency for the winning |
II the prohibition fight in Virginia.
With this powerful ally. the Anti !
saloon League OF Virginia entered
upon campaign to elect a dry /
House of Delegates in 1912. The
II louise elected was overwheim ingly
dry" but the power of the liquor
traffic was so great in the Senate of
Virginia that the ma GRITTY of the SEN
ators declined to bow to the expressed !
will of the people. as seen in the cleo
ton Of the House, and by vote of
l6 to "a rejected the Statewide bill,
which had received a two-thirds ma
| jority In the House, The result was
a bitter disappointment. but the Anti
| Saloon League was not daunted, ana
| began at once campaign of agtta
tion and education. and the Legisla-
ture of 1914, when it met, contained
| over four-tifths of the House Dele
| gates pledged TO the Statewide bill,
| and these delegates represented thirty
| out of forty of the senatorial districts
| Of the State. The House passed the
bin by "a vote of nearly to /. but
when the bill came to the Senate II
was met by the holdover Senators.
who were friendly to the liquor trait
w
the bin The liquor lobby resorted
10 the most desperate tactics, realiz-
I ing that their greatest strength was
| with a small body OF men rather than
| with the people of Virginia. The bill
| was 1oaded down with obnoxious
amendments. some of which were
/ stricken out by the Conference Com
mittee, and 1T was finally passed by
a vote of 10 TO 20. Lieutenant-Gov-
=
| ing in the Affirmative. The campaign
which followed was unparalleled in
the history of Virginia. The Anti
Ealoon League had wisely insisted that
! the election should be held entirely
apart from elections on any other
question SO that the issue could not
be complicated in any way with per-
sonal or political considerations On
the one side were the moral and re-
1 ligious forces of Virginia, led by the
! Anti-Saloon League. the Woman's
! Christian Temperance Union and the
/ Woman's Prohibition League of
America These orga nizations work
ed tremendously without overlapping
throughout the campaign. Perhaps
no., campaign WAS ever carried on in
which there was less friction among
the workers,
! Campaign Orga IMITATION.
/ A most thorough organization was
I formed, beginning with the precinct
and going on up through the election
districts. town, city and congressional
| districts. Stronger leaders were put
/ in charge of each congressional dis
/ trict and chairnen of counties towns.
cities and precincts were appointed
| a captain was appointed in every pre-
cinct for every ten voters. A corps
OF strong speakers was organized, and
was directly under the control of the
I central office. to he allotted to the
various district chairmen as the
needs might require. The literature
department was thoroughly organized
The tracts and charts prepared by
/ the National Publishing House at
/ WesterviIe were used with great eff
/ fectiveness, and literature especially
adapted TO the local needs was de.
! veloped by the State league and put
/ forth. The circulation of literature
during the last sixty days of the cam
paign averaged over 'half-million
pages daily
Liquor Money.
! The enemy was there in force. The
smallest estimate of the amount ex-
pended in Virginia by the liquor traf-
/ fic during the six months of the cam
paign is $S50,000. BY some the estf-
mate is S1,150,000. The National Ii
quor Dealers Association. the brewers
and the dfstillers joined hands with
the State Liquor Dealers Association.
esta blished headquarters in Richmond
i with an entire floor of one Of the larg-
est office buildings in the city. with
/ a great force of employees, under the
i direction of their trained national
| workers. brought in from other States
1 They developed literature which by
Tits mendacity and scurrility astounded