The Dermott news., 1915-01-14
The Great DESTROYER

the Presbyterian Church in Dermott.
Mr.. President. Ladies and Gentlemen:
am happy to speak to you on sub
ject so important to our community as
the one which now calls us together
the great cause of Prohibition. The
subject presents variety of phases
worthy of attention We shall take
time to consider only two of these to
night i. e. First, the moral; and Sec
ond, the Economic aspects of the ques-
ton.
We are going to consider the eco
homie aspect Of the question first. Not
SO much because we must, nor yet be
cause We have to consider them at all.
II the open saloon is indetensible en-
moral grounds. it has no case in the
pulpit and ought to have none any
where What Is morally wrong, | am
not at liberty to vote for. nor aid by
petition or otherwise, and cannot with
out moral culpabiiity. Take 4 ease To
the point.
Here Is town OF thieves. Its in
come Is stolen. 1t depends upon steal
ing FOR livelihood On economic
grounds might favor the perpetuation
Of such a nuisance. | might have
property to rent in that town. and fer
that reason might vote to turn over
one town in all the country to pack
Of thieves So rs To get rent on my
property. But no man could justify
himself in an attempt to perpetuate
such a nuisance on moral grounds. and
dare not. II is written in letters of
fire on the moral conscience of the
world that none but moral leper will
steal But it comes about that the
whiskey business Of this country and
all other countries falls in the same
moral category as theft. The one has
no more standing in morals than the
other. and for the same reason. The
Bible condemns both. Woe unto them
that are mighty to mingle strong drink,
and woe unto them that are mighty To
drink strong drink etc. Thou shall
not steal A." Here is God : moral law
on the subject. Theft and saloons
stand in the same category in the Bible.
The whiskey mixers and the thieves
are on the same moral level in the
Bible. and prefer to leave them where
God placed them. To endure the Ven
geance of God as best they are able.
have no more Justification before a
decent moral code in putting whlskey
mixers up in business than | have in
putting thieves up in business. if am
reading the Right Book.
But not even Roger Q. Mills. nor yet
Ex-Governor Pendleton. two high
priests of the whiskey business of
Texas. ever attempted to defend any
saloon on moral grounds. But they
called attention to the economic bene-
fits of the saloon, and poor old Roger
was fool enough to 90 on the stump of
the state against Il Baptist preacher
Old Roger was running for the L. 5.
Senate In thirty days time Roger @
Mills was as dead a dog, politically. as
ever fed his carcas TO the crows.
|. SUBMIT
The saloon is without economic JUST
hcation You have heard that saloons
improve business. increase population.
advance the price of real estate. and
hasten the Millennium. Let Us see
how the facts tally with these conten-
tons.
|. Monticello, a town we'll known to
YOU all was cursed through forty years
of its history by lot of the finest sa-
looms ever built They We're closed
about twenty years ago, AT that time
the town had one bank, the only one in
Drew county. She now has four, and
every other town of Importance in the
county has one or more banks. The
town had little school house worth
about 500 She had three little church
buildings worth less than $4,000, The
population OF the place was less than
lbnN. keal estate Coulu be houIHi 1T
from 81 to $l0 per acre all over the
county. There was only one railroad
in the town, and not 4 factory of any
sort How stands the case now There
came day when some OF Mouticello's
noblest sons. reared about these sa-
looms, rose up, filled with rum and
wrath, and poured murderous fire Of
lead into the bodies of their lifelong
friends and left them stranging in
blood upon her polluted streets, The
saloons were driven out
Did the town die? She now has
population she claims. of about 5000
people. She has put about $500. 600. 90
into schonls and churches She has two