New Britain herald., 1915-08-09
JOHN 1. POUNDS : JOHN BARLEYCORN
Ex-Champion Tells Asbury Park
 Audience of the Evils Of Booze

 truly, John l.. Sullivan, stepped jaun- tily out before 3,725 vacant chairs last night at the beach Auditorium-there are 4,OOO seats in the Auditorium and 275 of them were upied-and de- livered his first lecture on the merits of total abstinence. It was sort of tryout, and if business picks up Mr. Sullivan will tour the country, re- forming as he goes.
 There was water, water everywhere as MT. Sullivan of Boston entered the Auditorium at $40 o'clock. Rain had fallen, wetting everything with water The Atlantic Ocean was pounding its waves onto the beach few feet away. Swimmers were swimming in the boardwalk natatorium. Everywhere there was water
 MT. Sullivan, according to his man. ager, Darcy O'Connor, was to have begun his address at 8:10. He didn't. Mr. Sullivan waited around in the rain for a spell and finally mounted the platform half an hour late.
 Ripple of Applause.
 There was a ripple of applause as MT. Sullivan entered the building. To quote Paul Armstrong, he had the clear eyes and red lips of youth. MT. Sullivan also wore double breasted blue serge suit with small American flag fastened in his buttonhole. Mayor C. E. Hetrick, wearing tan Palm Beach suit, went on to the platform with MT. Sullivan and introduced the speaker
 For years,'' said Mayor Hetrick, "1've worshipped at the shrine of John L. Sullivan, the foremost athlete in hic, | he could not come back. He has. (Applause.) Ladies and gentlemen" Mayor Hetrick concluded to the little group of earnest thinkers gathered about the platform, 'I have the honor to present John L. Sullivan
 John l.. Talks, Rain Stops.
 MT. Mayor, your Honor. my friends and ladies and gentlemen began MT. Sullivan. The rain stopped abruptly as the orator spoke. The sound of the surf died away. The Atlantic ocean seemed to think that it was tie to call the day a day. Arguments may go on forever but the fact remains that from the time MT. Sullivan began to address the 275 persons present the surf ceased to boom. Some say that the waves continued to boom inward against the sands of Asbury Park, but beyond the question of doubt no sound could be heard from the well known ocean the minute John began to speak.
 Ut was on the fifth of March, 19O5," MT. Sullivan began, that I took my. last drink. (Applause.) If I hadn't sworn off that night I would not be here now. Instead-John l.. Sullivan. Laughter and app1ause) I don't come here on any crusade, but I come to tell you to leave the stuff alone. My experience has been that when a man says I can leave the stuff alone he always take it. Laughter)
 "When 1 was an athlete it was my resolution and spirit that carried all human antagonists before me. But my resolution and spirit were no use to me when I went against old John Barleycorn.
 Foliies of Liquor Outlined.
 "A rumhound is a peculiar and fa- familiar sort of human being. His common saying is, Let's have another one. The younger generation and the older have seen the folly of the booze game. Take all your athletes of today, your Ty Cobbs, your Christy Mathewsons, your Honus Wagners
 
 them are booze fighters. If they were they wouldn't be where they are today in the game.
 "I was a money making machine and my success as a fighter depended on the spirit and strength of John l.. Sullivan. I was never slow to ac- cept challenge. But finally John Barleycorn challenged me and I tired h I myself and quit.
 Money looked to me like water off a ducks back, but I want to say. gentlemen, if I ever got into the has been class, which I never was, I'd have been a nonentity. The booze has more ways of hitting you than you have of lodging it. I've known a lot of 'em. At the age of 40 they were useless. Instead of being young man and living up to the age of 80 they all died at 45."
 MT. Sullivan thereupon went into sociological questions and discussed for some time the growth of the pro- hibition movement throughout the States. Every day, he said, the coun- try is becoming more enlightened on the prohibition question. Tt used to be said" he continued, that newspa- per men done his best work when he was under the affects of booze But there is a rule now in newspaper off, ces that the less a man drinks the more he is thought of. The result is that journalism is reaching a high CT percentage basis than in the past
 Abstinence Aids Matrimony.
 Since I have given up booze I've devoted more attention to my wife than I did before I married her Oaughter). I'm more stuck on her now than I was before I married her Oaughter) She cooks better meals