The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-09


 our own country, until comparatively recent times, all were taught the prop CT use and the grave Gangers attend | ing the abuse of alcoholic liquors The. present method of restricting per- 1 sonal judgment has never strength ened l. } national character, and has added nothing to our national virtue, physical and moral welfare or eff1- ciency> In Germany, where moderate drinking is universal, drunkenness is practically unknown. tsF,
 ''If the use of alcoholic beverages is so detrimental, how does MT. Bryan explain the two most backward -na- tions in the world? Turkey and China are abstemious, while the most pro- gressive nations, thosc of Western europe and America are s-n users of alcohol. a& \ ga &s
 T have cited MT. Bryan in order to show how necessary it is for. us to arouse the citizen from his 1ethargy. We p-ust bring him out of the trance in which he seems to have been hyp- notized by the writers and cA%%Qrs of the Anti-Saloon league and Bryan type into an utter paralysis of his common sense."
 E Levi Cooke, general counsel for the National Wholesale Liquor Dealers association, In addressine 2 the conven- tion spoke on Organic Law and Pub lie Policy" especially as it is related
 
 ''Sef-governing people have one pri- mary, vital need-popu1ar knowledge of the system of government under wlhic-4 they govern themselves. Cues tions of policy should be approached by the people in the full light of this Knowledge, coupled with the sterling purpose to preserve and foster their scheme of government as the most valuable possession common to all cit izenS,
 s'ghhe nationwide p7-o11ibitionfsts who still are with us are now com posed of two classes, first the profes- sionalt agitators who two years ago tarrogantly hoped and fondly believed that they had so confused the public mind that Congress would report a constitutional amendment for national prohibition, and secondly a minority Of persons who either remain in abys- mal ignorance regarding the govern ment under which they live, or on ac- counf of fanatical feeling on lthe pro. hfbition question are willing to advo- hazard of the whole system. The makeup of this minority is now un- derstood by the majority for exactly what it is, and it's activities discount ed on that basis.
 ''State-wide prohibition involves in principle, if not in degree, the organic governmental defects of nationwide prohibition In this field the liquor traffic likewise has labored for pop ular enlightenment, and the result of this educational campaign is becoIn- ing hcertainlyt manifest Local self 4 tage of the states of the Union, and the necessity of it's preservation is a growing Sentiment.
 The prt 7libition movement has de- stroyed local self-government in an important field in a number of states of the Union: but the dan gers to the body polite have become manifest in those states. This trade has bent it's efforts to preaching the sound doctrine of home rule, and great scholars of government, such/as the President of the United States, and Associate Jus tice Hughes of the Supreme Court, On this and other occasions for thought on the question, haveS sounded the warning cry. Justice Hughes before the New York State Bar association, said:s
 But in the face of the difficulties alread~ upon us, and destined to in crease in number and gravity, we re- main convinced of the necessity Of | local governments. An government would there were centered in washington. a | single. source of authority from which proceeded all the government forces | of the country created and subject to l cnango at It's WlH-upOn whose per- l all legislative and adminfs- 1 trative action depended throughout 1 the length and breadth of the land. I ] think we should swiftly demand and set up a different system. If we did 1 not have Astates we should speedily | have to create them.'
 But one clement remains in this 1 fundamental aspect of the liquor ques- tions That is the right in a free re- public such as the United States of l the individual to possess and use If- l quors. In several states which have apparently done all in their power to 1 curtan this right, short of peMalizing the taking of a drink, the courts have safeguarded the rights of the citizen.
 e'The fact that these decisions have been endorsed by the public opinion, and the further fact that the prohibit tionists have refrainedv from urging. l laws to prohibit the citizen from ac- tuaIly using liquors. suggest that the actual liberty of the individual has been beyond the reach of this entire i propaganda
 Many people can't go to church on rainy days because the weather is too