The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1915-10-15
COMMUNICATION


address in behalf Of good government.
at Minneapolis on August 22d, said
something as follows: eve ought to
concede to our babies the right to be
born sober, with a sound mind and a
sound body. They have the right to
be born in an environment that will
not deliver them to reform institutions
N early manhood and wo1llallI,ood.
with a guarantee against cholera and
smallpox. Isn't it more important
to protect our babies against alco-
holism? 2"
During the past go years that have
lived here in Medina have watched
quite a few babies, "from the cradle
to the grave" / have seen them
while growing in their mothers arms
and later have watched their toddling
feet. | have had a glimpse of them
occasionally as they attended our Me-
dina schools. have seen the bows
and girls both grow from childhood to
manhood and womanhood. One after
another l would hear of their mar
riages. A little later the father and
mother would show me their "baby."
Now, it would be a pleasant thing, a
glorious thing, if all these little ones
grew up and followed in the straight
and narrow path. / remember a very
pretty-faced, black-eyed German girl.
She used to come to my store fire.
quently and got well acquainted with
her. One. day she said to me conf
dentially, "Mr. Root, I am going to get
married" And little later she in
troduced young German man like
herself and said, "Mr. Root, this is
my husband" Time passed and one
day when I was tired of working at
the bench, she came in with a bundle
IN her arms and said smilingly, "Mr.
Root, I've got baby" Of course, |
talked to the baby and saw him fire.
quently until he could run about and
then l lost sight of my good friend
Caroline. l have never seen her since.
| will tell you what did see, however.
Years ago one of the boys came run
ming to me out of breath and said "Mr.
Root come quick. There is young
man out here who declares he's going
to lie across the track when the loco
motive comes and it's already whist
ling" l found young man who I
thought | had never seen. He was
beastly drunk and declared his pur-
pose of lying across the track. He
gave as reason that he had prom
ised his mother never to drink another
drop, and that he had repeatedly
broken his promise. "Now," said he,
Il am going to make it sure. It's
the only way"
MY good friends, the above is a
sample of a drunken mans logic
Finally, | asked his mothers name.
How do you think l felt when found
the boys mother was my bright friend
Caroline of former years? I tried to
go with him to his home down north
of Medina, but every time l left him
as soon as l was out of sight, he
would get back and lie across the
track, and to save his life was
obliged to sit up almost until mid
night until all the trains had passed
before l could go home.
4 The above is only just one little
sample Of the work done in our sa-
looms. Shall we not for the sake of
the babies, if for no other reason, put
them out of existence when we come
to vote November I'd?
Please consider, friends, that it was
the five open saloons in Medina that
transformed that bright, beautiful, in
, nocent baby into crazy sot almost
before the boy had reached manhood,
and no doubt brought that good, kind.
innocent, well-meaning mother thru
sorrow to an untimely grave. Have
the saloons of our land improved as
the years rave gone by? Some of you
talk about the benefits of the tax
es, forgetting the tax forces the sa-
loonkeeper to get enough profit so he
can pay his taxes, therefore, he is
obliged to resort to any hook or crook
to get the means to pay his taxes. On
this account, perhaps, the saloon of
1915 is even worse than that of 20 or
80 years ago.
Your old friend,
A. I. ROOT.