The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1915-12-25

and not an asset, and the sooner he
finds this out and cuts loose from
them the better it will be for him and
for the state.
"Mr. Barrett has been censured by
the unthinking for advocating the sub
hitting of the question of statewide
prohibition to the voters of this state.
Mr.. Barrett, in a speech l heard him
deliver at the Athaeneum, does not
claim all the credit for this, since last
summer an ex-governor of this state
hired hall at Baton Rouge and roared
lionlike with his acknowledged oratori-
cal power in denouncing boss rule and
booze rule in this state
"The plea that an issue that is not
only nationwide but worldwide should
be relegated to the rubbish pile in
Louisiana is simply a plea for re-
prieve for the liquor interests.
All the great warning nations of
Europe have declared that liquor de-
stroys manhood and that drunken
nation must go down before a sober
nation, just as drinking Russia once
went down before sober Japan.
Russia learned her lesson and her
first step in the present war was to
abolish Vodka, the whisky of the Rus
slams, and | wish every one of you
could read the official report of the
result of this suppression by the war
secretary of Russia France has sup
pressed the making of absinthe, Eng
land has declared that rum is worse
foe of England than the Teuton mill
tary power, and all the power of the
government there is exercised to dis
courage the use of liquor The Kaiser,
the great war lord, has repeatedly de-
clared against beer, Secretary Daniels
has abolished liquor in the navy, the
canteen has been abolished in the
army, over two-thirds of the Southern
states are dry, over two-thirds of the
State of Louisiana is dry, and some Of
the other wet parishes are only damp,
yet, in spite of all this, we are told
that it Is very embarrassing and in"
opportune for Mr.. Barrett to inject this
issue into this campaign.
This is an issue affecting the man.
hood and prosperity of the state, the
manhood and power of the nation and
the manhood and civilization Of the
world
81 read an interview in the papers
the other day, in which the mayor of
the city of New Orleans said that city
could not get along without the one
million dollars that the city gets each
year from the licensing of her booze
parlors, which aggregate I believe
about 1900, and believe the argument
as to financial stress is made by wet
nurses in other parts of Louisiana.
There was never dollar gotten
from the license to sell liquor that did
not, in criminal courts, officials, police
officers, jails, jailers, hospitals, asy-
lums, charities, inquests and collins,
cost in the long run twice what the
government collected from that source.
Only lately the Charity Hospital, be-
cause it had so many patients, had to
rely upon private charity for over
fifty thousand dollars. The extra in.
sane asylum, (the last refuge of the
drunkard), which the city has found
necessary to attach to its House of
Detention" costs New Orleans in sala.
ries alone thirteen thousand, six hun
dred dollars yearly.
81 find In the official budget Of the
city of New Orleans, published In Its
official organ, the Daily States, copy
Of which have here with me, that in