Omaha daily bee., 1915-10-11
"The Trail of the Serpent, is Text
of Sundays Sermon to the Men

with that he fell back "a corpse.
say II is a rotten dirty business that
asks you TO disgrace your manhood and
looks you In the face and asks you to
put your ballot in tho box for H.
II Is great thing to save q drunken
man. II ls worth a life OF sacrifice and
labor to save a man from drunkenness.
But Il is 1900 times better to prevent,
him from becoming a drunkard and from
falling than to help him after he has
fallen.
A man asked q boy n he would tell a
lie for $50 and the kid said No
He said Why"
The kid said when my money Is
gone my lie would stick yet"
Now. 1 will tell you, YOU can reform
Ia man after he is gone down and be-
come a drunkard. but he will never fully
recover; he will never be the man he
would have been IL he had never been a
ldrunkard. Gods grace can pardon him,
and Gods grace can save him. Gods
grace will keep him, but he will never be
the man that he would have been II he
had not gone down
/ can put my hand in the hands OF a
giant and he can squeeze II until he
braeks the bones and mangles my flesh,
and with reeling agony can pull II out
and / can call doctor, and he will dress
It and will heal Il, but my hand will
never be what 1t was il the bones had not
been broken and tho flesh mangled.
wOn't Admit Booze Hurts Him.
Our nation will never be what It might
have been but for this dirty, rotten bust
ness. A man who has been q booze
fighter will never be what he would have
been " he had not been one.
And yet the saloonkeeper will look a
decent man in the face and ask him to
vote for them
You fellows will say. "If find Il In
jures me ! will give IL up" That is an
admission and a conclusion. Your ad-
mission is true; IL will hurt you will ad-
init that, but your conclusion is false.
You say: II will give it up when Il
hurts"
No. you won't give it up then. No,
sir. You don't see that argument about
anything else. You won't put your hand
into q den of rattlesnakes and when they
begin TO hurt you pull it out. No, you
don't
You say you put your hand into a can
of carbolic acid; II It hurts you will draw
your hand out.
You say you will stick your hand in a
furnace and when II hurts you will draw
, II out.
Now, many start out to get to be drunk
ards in that way. You never expect to
be drunkard when you start as q mod
crate drinker. He acts with other things
with common sense, but not a drunkard.
when you start as a moderate drinker.
Ask drinking man If booze is inturing
, him and he'll say. NO" even after he
, has become a drunkard.
, tell you II q man makes mistake
he has sense enough to learn the lesson
II teaches him. A man won't fall down
the second time on that same banana peel
, unless he's fool.
. Some folks ask, What are you going to
: do IL you are defeated? will fight II
again. will fight 1t till we win. will
fight 1t in private, l will fight It In
a pubic.
You and / will not dip our flag in that
I, dirty gang. Compromised No, sir. have
J not a drop of compromise blood in my
veins
Men OF Omaha never. know no defeat
I'll fight it In club or lodge.
great many win be asked 20 vote
! against It or do something against it,
! and then will say: Il have no particular
influence" II were to tell you that was
! true you would get hot
! So when you tell me that you haven't
any influence, that may be true. II you
have anything against the LIQUOR business
stand forth and tell it,
= Taxes Higher where saloons Are.
Somebody says, it will diminish the
revenue Is that so? For every dollar OF
revenue that that gang hands out OF theiI
dirty money, that they hand back, that IL
e stained with the blood Of men and women
: and children, we have to go down In
e our pockets and pay out 500 to pay for
Z the saloons and grog shops.
We have got to pay down 500 for every
dirty one that they give you. They are o
generous gang. They are lying awake
nights figuring out how generous they
: arc.
Read your tax receipts and see what
: II costs you. You don't have to read It In
: the jails and penitentiaries or the insane
! asylums, but read It In your tax receipts
!. There isn't a town in America where
: the taxes are higher than where the sa-
! looms are. Everybody knows that. But
somebody says to me, ''Bill, are you fair
. TO the saloon|'
= VIII 1 De Ldlr 10 IAt lopDoI Nho sue
through my house and steals and robs'
VIII | be fair 70 a highwayman who
shoves q gun under my nose and de-
mands my life or my money? No, sir
pray to God He will lot me live
. long enough to preach the funeral ser
mon over the corpse OF the saloon. God
in His own good time freedIthe slaves
and God in His own good time is goins
u to free this nation from the bondage oi
the saloon.
It's God against the devil; Jesus against
hell, and righteousness against unright'
a eousness. Who Is going TO stop IL
q Nobody.
s No power on earth is doing tho worl
4 of the devil as is the saloon. The devil
sits on a high pinnacle and orders tbs
- saloon to take him men enough 10 I'll
: up his hell.
There Is no power tnat can drag
man to hell as quickly or as surely a'
= the saloons. Men, put an end 10 It all
Treat saloon Keepers and Rattle
u snAkes Alike.
o You say. "Mr. Sunday is II fair Il
= the saloon keeper?"
m leuupoEe YOUR baby or my baby wal