The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-06-29

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| BE- hsId August :, he viii bss . candi-
date for United states senator 70 sue
cesd Ktiss Pomefsne Two years sfe
Mr. Lents made an unsuccessfu1 CAM
paien for election. He was defeated
largely because Of the opposition which
the liquor interests made against him.
Senator Pom creme voted against the
Webb Kenyon shipment law. and
against submission OF . prohibition
| ton. Mr.. Lentx favors both msasurAs.
He will not make his campaign
strictly on q wet and dry issue. but
| will bring other issues to bear ~ we'll.
Il. J. keenan,, OF Cincinnati. secre.
tary of the workingmen's Protective
and Publicity Association, this after
noon declared that the liQur interests
are trying to debauch labor and ex-
ploit It, and pleaded for recognition OF
and assistance for his organization.
whose object 81 to line up the laboring
men for prohibition.
AS courtesy to Ben n. Spence rep
resenting Canadian temperance fnter-
ests. the stage at tho hall where the
Anti-saloon League convention IL be.
ing held. bore. besides the American
flag. the English emblem. Hundreds
of delegates wore not only the Anti
Saloon League badge. but the badge Of
the Canadian prohibition movement
also.
Indianapolis, Ind. June 2s.-There
opened Sunday in Tomlinson Hall, the
seventeenth annual convention Of the
Anti-Saloon League of America.
The large convention hall was filled
with people and delegates listening to
the stirring phillipic of the Senator
from Washington.
The convention Is not the largest
gathering that has met at these con-
ventions as no very especial attempts
have been made to assemble large
crowds. But the gathering is more
re preventative and of a somewhat Diff
ferent character than those that have
gone before. 1t Is more OF a business
convention and partakes less OF agi-
rational character than the others.
The vision Is larger, clearer; the minds
of the people are more united and the
purpose and program more definite
and comprehensive.
Delegates who attended the former
conventions and who were then chief
ly concerned about their, local at
fairs look out upon broader hori-
ION and see the stars where before
they saw the Milky way.
The objective this year is Washing
ton. the city on the Potomac. The
leaders from the so-called hopeless
ly wet States see In the national
movement the real redemption for
their own States and the leaders from
THE 10 dry States zee in the move
ment permanent relief from forays OF
license States vets upon their do
main And SO the purpose is more
unanimous, the objective more clear,
the issue more sharply defined than
ever before.
For Larger Contributions
Interests disposed to support the
League work in certain States. with
minutes Of time and pennies OF money
come to the larger proposition with
heavy contributions of time, influence
and money And so this, the seven
teenth national convention OF the
League bids fair to be historic, to
mark an epoch, a turning point in the
great reform on which so much OF
effort and devotion has been lavished
in the century and the decades that
has passed.
Monday, while Senator Jones was
delivering his keynote speech in Tom
linson Hall, more than 100 different
churches OF Indianapolis were occu-
pied by League speakers each pro-
claiming the new program and the
new vision of the League movement
against the saloon. Rather 1t Is the
peoples movement, for the League ID
of and by the people, and. the church,
which gave birth to the League and
whose master 1t Is. Is listening to the
message. These hundred and some
addresses from as rne-ny pulpits Is the
curtain of FIRE" which precedes the
work of the convention itself.
This convention work Is to be more
of a message of construction and a
cementing of forces and Influences,
rather than the charges and forays
OF the agitator The real business of
the agitator. The real business OF
the reform is at hand.
- Fer three days during last week,
conferences of superintendents were
| held in the palm room. of the Clay
pool Hotel. These conferences were
different in character from anything
that has gone before in the history OF
the Anti-Saloon League movement.
They were chiefly an accounting OF
stock and an earnest discussion of
| plans and proposals for the future.
There was a conscious drawing to-
gether OF men and interests in unity
of effort for the common good The
trend OF 1t all was in the direction OF
pulling the organizations together
more compactiy, mAgnffying the ma
tional purpose and scope OF the Lea
que operations. the Strengthening and
developing OF the national organiza-
ton and the national activities.
Success Brings Optimism.
The successes of the national cam
paigns in the States were chiefly re-
| sponsible, for this feeling One after
another of the superintendents told
! how these national campaigns. the ef-
feet of which they nrst doubted. re-
bounded immensely to the benefit and
the strengthening Of the local and
State organisations. They declared.
one after another. that these national
campaigns in the States invariably re-
suited in greatly strengthening Of the
State Leagues financially. politically
and In every other way. They said
that the more money the national or
ganization took from the State. the
more there seemed to be left for the
onerations of the State IAaxue They