The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1915-01-19
L. :. DRY BY 1920
The Anti-Saloon League and Its
Highly Efficient Organization.

a
in the United States will be put out
of business"
That is the boast-idle or other
| wise-of one of the most efficient
working organizations in the United
States.
1t has an income-made up entire
ly of voluntary contributions-of ST.
100000 a year.
In Illinois alone it collects and
spends each year from $4,000 TO
800, 900.
1t has the financial support and
| active backing of more churches of
more different denominations and
creeds than any other movement in
the world which is not distinctly re-
ligious.
During the sessions of congress
| and of the various state legislatures
its paid lobbyists watch legislation
| and legislators as closely as those of
any selfish special interest.
III publishes in Illinois a weekly
journal and, within a month. a daily
paper. for circulation all over the
| United States. will be issued from the
national headquarters in Washington
During important political cam
paigns it prints and mails from its
publishing headquarters ten tons Of
| documents each day.
1t is not a political party hough
no political party equals it in com
Ipleteness of organization and eff
cheney of operation.
II is pledged to avoid affiliation
with any political party'-though it
has tied up members of both parties
in bonds which seem TO be stronger
than any other.
1t is pledged to maintain an at
titude of strict neutrality on all ques-
| lions Of public policy" except one
and il is exactly that question which
has thrown the lower house of the
| state legislature at Springfield into a
| deadlock.
1t is the Antisaloon League of
| America and its sole object, as en-
| phatically put in the first paragraph
| of its constitution, is the "eXtermina-
| ton of the beverage liquor traffic. "
Credit for suggesting the forma-
| ton of the a~ntisaloon league is given
to DR.. Herrick Johnson, long a resi-
| dent of Chicago, who in 1898, at the
| Worlds Congress of Religions, held
in connection with the worlds fair,
read a paper urging the organization
Of a great undenominational and
nonpartisan body for putting booze
out OF business.
The same year the league was
formed at Oberlin, o. 1t has been at
work ever since with increasing mo-
mentum.
As DR.. p. A. Baker, national sup
erintendent of the league, put ii in a
speech delivered last fall in Chicago
for the last seven years the saloons
in America have been put out of
business at the rate of forty pei
day"
Whether one agrees or not with
| he object of the league, he must ad
| mire it's practical efficiency. Take,
| IN the first place. its methods OF rails
| ng money for the work of its propa
ganda.
on one Sunday of each year the
| ,e~rvices in lens of thousands OF
| churches of all denominations and IN
all parts of the country is given over
20 the a~ntisaloon league, one OF the
| officers of which delivers the sermon
II ana FO0uuEtE III ~
conclusion the attention of the con
gregation is called to he pledge
| ards placed in every pew, n every
body Is invited TO sci down ms name
for such a monthly amount as ne De
sires to contribute to the cause.
The pledge card itself Is a most ef-
| 6eient document. Attached 10 every
card Is a tiny lead pencil, so that
There NAV be no failures on accoun'
of a lack OF writing material. Ano
ON the back of each card is a smali
I@enyelope containing a blank note on
which NAV be inserted the name ana
other details of the pledge.
Something like $500, 900 a year is
collected in this way. Another halt
million Is collected from people who
are invited by mail and by personal
Icalls to Join clubs of 100 members
each, every member pledging himself
to contribute IS or $40 a month to
the league. The largest contribu-
Itions in Illinois are a few of $500
leach.
The same methods are followed in
each state, a fixed percentage or the
money collected in the states being
sent for the support of the national
headquarters. One business man in
Boston contributed $4,000 toward
the expenses of the flying squadron
of the league.
1t is the boast of the league that
ii has never collected a cent on the
basis of paying a commission to the
solicitor. The books of the league
are audited by an independent firm
of public accountants every three
months and a report made to. and ap-
proved by, the executive committees,
national and state.
in every legislative campaign the
league attempts to pledge the candi-
dates of every party to opposition to
the saloon. In close fights ii some
times helps to finance the campaigns
of candidates who have signed its
[pledge. It's superintendent and
field workers know all the hidden
ways of politics and politicians.
Where liquor laws are violated ii
often puts detectives on the job to Sc
cure evidence.
1t never tries to III far ahead of
public opinion. 1t supports l23
HEADQUARTERS offices in the United
States, with more than 800 stenog-
raphers and clerks constantly at