Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-10-04
Sunday. breaches Sermon on "Booze"
or Get on the Water Wagon" NoU

row, ana corruption2 lnvaribly &c "a
drink.
Five Points, In New York. was a spot as
near like hell as any spot on earth. There
are five streets that run to this point and
right in the middle was an old brewery.
and the streets on either side were lined
with grog-shops. The newspapers turned
a search-light on the district. and before
they could stop 1t. the first thing they
had to do was to buy the old brewery
and turn It into mission. and today IL is
a decent, respectable place
saloon the sum Of All NiIIRinies.
The saloon is the sum OF all vlllainies.
1t is worse than war orlpestilence. II is
the crime of crimes. 1t is the parent OF
crimes and the mother Of sins. 1t Is
the appalling source of misery and crime
I'm the land, and the principal cause OF
crime. II Is the source Of three-fourths
of the crime, and, of course, II is the
source Of three -fourths OF the taxes TO
support that crime. And to license such
an incarnate flend of he'll is the dirtlest
low-down. damnable business on top OF
this old earth. There is nothing to be
compared to 1t.
Do away with the cursed business and
you will not have 10 put up to support
them. who gets the money! The saloon
keepers and the brewers and the distil-
lers while the whisky fills the land with
misery and poverty and Indebtedness
and disease and death and damnation,
and It is being authorized by the will OF
the sovereign people.
You say that people will drink II any
way" Not by my vote. You say men
will murder their wives anyway" Not by
my vote. They will steal anyway" Not
by my vote You are the sovereign peo-
pie. and what are you going to do about
it2
wOmen's Tears VIII Not stop Liquor
Let me assemble before your minds the
bodies of the drunken dead. who crawl
away into the jaws Of death, into the
mouth of hell" and then, out Of the val
ley of the shadow of the drink; let me
call the appertaining motherhood, and
wifehood. and childhood. and let their
tears rain down upon their purple faces.
Do you think that would stop the curse
of the liquor traffic? No! mol
In these days when the question OF sa-
loon or no saloon is at the fore in almost
every community, one hears good deal
about what is called personal liberty"
These are fine. large, mouth-filling words
and they certainly do sound first rate;
but when you get right down and analySe
them in the light of common old horse
sense, you will discover that In their APP
plication to the present controversy they
mean Just about this: Personal liberty"
Is for the man. who, II he has the inclins-
ton and the price. can stand up TO bar
and fill his hide so full OF red liquor that
he Is transformed for tho time into an ir-
responsible. dangerous, evil smelling
brute But personal liberty is not for
his patient. long-suffering wife, who has
to endure with what fortitude she may
his blows and curses; nor is It for his
children who. II they escape his insane
rage and are yet robbed of every known
Joy and privilege of childhood, and too
often grow up neglected, uncared for
and vicious as the result of their sur
roundings and the example before them;
personal liberty is not for the sober,
industrious citizen who. from the pro-
ceeds of honest toll and orderly living,
has to pay, willingly or not, the tax
Hills which pile up as the direct result Of
S7lnkenness, disorder and poverty, the
items of which are written in the records
of every police court and poorhouse in
the land; nor Is personal liberty for the
good woman who goes abroad in the town
only at the risk of being shot down by
some drink-craEed creature. This rant
about personal liberty" as an argument
has no leg to stand upon.
Now, the corn crop of 1918 was 1862
$4,000 bushels. and It was valued at
8. $50. 100000 Secretary Wilson said that
the breweries use less than 2 per cent.
will say that they use 2 per cent. That
would make 100000 bushels. and at 90
cents a bushel that would be about s25,-
900. 600 How many people are there in
the United States? Eighty million. Very
well, then. that is "a cents per capita,
Then we sold out to the whisky business
for q cents apiece-the price of a dozen
eggs or a pound OF butter. We are the
cheapest gang this side of hell If we
will do that kind OF business.
I workin Kmen spent S2,2OO,OOO,OOO
for Booze.
Now listenl Last year the income OF
the United States government, and the
cities and towns and counties from the
whisky business, was S35O,00O,000 That Is
putting 1t literally. You say that's a lot
of money. Well. last year the working
men spent s2,2OO,OOO.OOO for drink. and II
cost 81 300, 600. 900 to care for the judicial
machinery. In other words, the whisky
business cost us last year 81, 400 OOO,00)
will substract from that the dirty $780,
900 900 which we got, and II leaves $500
600 900 in favor of knocking the whisky
business out on purely a money basis. And
listenl
But" says the whisky fellow, 1--WE
would lose trade; the farmer would not
come TO town TO trade"
Farmers Would KNOCK whisky Into
| He'll.
/ You lie. ! am a farmer. I was born
and raised on a farm and ! have the
malodors of the barnyard on me today
Yes, sir. And when you say that, you In
suit the best class of men on Gods dirt
Say, when you put up the howl that II
you don't have the saloons the farmers
won't trade-say. Mr. Whisky Man, why
do you dump money into politics and
back the Legislatures into the corner and
fight 20 the last ditch to prevent the en-
actment Of county local optlon9 YOU
knew II the farmers were given chance
they would knock the whisky business
into hell the first throw out OF the box
You are afraid. You have cold feet OF
the proposition. You are afraid to give
L..