Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-08-23
So Says Or. Wadman in AID.
dress at Christian Church
Yesterday I

e . g
At the Christian church yesterday
morning, DIR. John w. Wadman, super
intendent OF the Anti-SaloOn League.
addressed fairly good sized audience
en- the question Can you make men
and women moral by lawg The speak
er took for his text Matthew and IL,
Lead us not into temptation. and
applied the teachings CT the text to
tire ccmncn statement made by liquor
people aDent the subject CT iegisla-
tion as IL refers to their line OF bust
ness. The first point the preacher
made was that this slogan of saloon
ism" is in itself reflection upon the
business which the liquor people seek
to defend in making the same. II sa-
lconism were moral, why should the
liquor people endeavor to defend il by
stating that no legislation can made
men and women moral?
There is no one institution Mr..
Wadman claimed, that is the cause
OF so much sin and crime, misery and
sorrow as the saloon Fully Is per
cent of the crime committed against
society is traceable directly or indi-
reetly TO the liquor traffic and we
claim that society has perfect right
to protect itself against the output OF
the saloon on this account. Saloonism
claims that the law protects them.
That Is true, but society has a perfect
right to change that law, for the law
itself encourages immortality. 1t is an
open door to weak men and women to
commit crime.
I'VE may-endeavor to shift the re-
sponsibility from our own shoulders to
that of the police, and claim that we
pay the police to protect society and
punish crime, but the police puniss
crime after the crime Is committed
and the wrong is done to society, while
the criminal himself with those de-
pendent upon him frequently becomes
burden to the community. If you
and as upright Christian citizens did
our duty as faithfully as we should,
these saloons would have no longer
any legal right to exist and the shut
tiers CT the devils headquarters would
be hung UP forever more.
But we can make men and women
moral by law in this way Today we
are considering the relation Of mans
know that a mans conduct is largely
governed by his outward circum-
stances. Little children bred and rear
ed in vicious surroundings almost In
variably become criminal, while the
wholesome influences of our well or
dered homes create good citizenship.
Indeed, there are many people in so
ciety who would quickly fall away
into crime were a life OF crirle maze
easy are. safe. So that when saloon
ism claims that you cannot make men
and women moral by Law, we claim on
the other hand that We can do so in
so far as social environment is con-
cerned.
1T is not true that it is unwise to
legislate in advance of public opinion.
Take the case OF Lincoln. or take the
case of Moses. who, in his great work
OF creating splendid nation cut OF a
mass of poor. degraded slaves, lifted
up a standard of law before he began
to teach them a system of morals, and
after the PRONUNCIATION of his code OF
laws came his splendid. system of
morals. The result was "a nation born
in day
I'VE can point to Russia where the
law prohibiting the use and sale OF
vodka was promulgated year ago,
tar in advance of public opinion, and
now we are reading in the daily press,
accounts of the regeneration of Russia.
We can legislate in advance of public