The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1916-08-21
LIQUOR TRAFFIC. IS
ARRA|GNEO BY SERMS
Evangelist Asks His Large Congrega-
ton to Agitate Nation Wide
Prohibition.
PEOPLE STANDING FLAr-FooTED
Declares That There Are Two Hun
dred Times More Victims OF Booze
Than of Infantiie Paralysis.

Wine is mocker, strong drink Ia
raging, and whosoever is deceived
thereby Is not wise" were the open
ing words Of Evangelist Arthur f.
Serns at the Bible Institute tent last
night. The tent was crowded and
many were turned away. The speak
err had just recently arrived from the
far Northwest, where Statewide pro-
hibition is doing its perfect work. He
said the largest breweries OF Seattle
have transferred their buildings into
-four mills and cold storage plants,
and are now doing a prolific business.
The evangelist said in part:
The conception that the licensed
saloon is a necessary evil. because OF
the revenue, is the greatest delusion
of modern times. The licensed saloon
bar, the great American school OF
crime. Is no more a necessity than
nest of rattlesnakes would be In the
playhouse of an orphans home.
The licensed saloon may be a
profitable pecuniary investment for a
constituencies man, but the finished
product of the gin-mill, the drunkard
is drain on society and q burden on
the State. 1t costs $40 to care for
the run of one dollars worth of booze.
Nine -tenths of the saloons are called
bars but saloon by any other name
smells no sweeter. A corkscrew never
pulled anybody out OF trouble. The
open saloon has a back door leading
to the insane asylum, to the poor
house. to the penitentiary and to hell:
and tens of thousands go out this
back way.
1T Is often maintained that should
the s222, 100000 annual revenue drop
off, our taxes would be increased. so
that we would feel the pinch. Who
appointed Mr.. Booze to collect the
blood money of the liquor traffic, and
bring 1t into Uncle's treasury? You
did--every one that voted a wet ticket
is a partner to the crime. Think OF
it. friend: the liquor traffic takes from
| the American people $4,000 10000 900
annually, and returns $222 100000 to
build the penitentiaries and the asy
| lums in which to house and punish
those drunkards, criminals and luna
tics who are the finished product Of
| the booze factory
Income Makes Drunkartis' Graves.
The actual revenue of the legal
ICED liquor traffic makes annually
100, 900 drunkards graves. 100000 or
phans. 1t makes 100000 lose their
reason. 100, 900 criminals. 10000 wild
ows, $4,000 girls victimized into white
slavery. 5000 shcides, 5000 wives
murdered, $500 babes smothered.
Let us see what the liquor traffic does
with one bushel of corn. From this
the distiller gets four gallons of whis-
key, which retails for $3.50. The
farmer gets twenty-five cents. the
United States government lets $40
revenue. the railroad company gets
81. the manufacturer gets 81. the
drayman gets fifteen cents, the re-
taller gets 81. the coneumer gets
yxrtFa Octv h,,r ~
abuse, the children get rags and dis
grace, the pork-barrel politician gets
| his ofice-and all from a bushel OF
corn.
That two and one-eighth billion
| gallons of booze drunk every year in
the United States would I'LL a tank
five feet high, Ave feet wide. running
from San Francisco to Chicago. with
the gurgling ffre-water OF hell and
damnation. Every man, woman and
child in the United States drinks, on
the average of twenty-eikht gallons OF
booze every year. Now. / don't drink
mine" declared the speaker, land
there are many others who do not
What l do not drink added to what
someone else gets would Al. a bath
| tub.
THE two billion dollars spent every
year in the United States for intoxi-
eating liquor would put $l.25 into the
| hand of every man. woman and child
| on the whole earth. be he white.
black. red. brown or yellow That
amount would run TIE government,
pension all old soldiers over sixty
years with s25 per month. and fur
nish the 100000 families in this
country ninety-one dollars worth Of
groceries That $4,000. 100000 Of
wasted money would give 1000. 900
young men who are now filing drunk
ards graves a chance to get useful
technical education. That same
amount would build a Panama canal.
and keep our army, navy, judicial and
! postoffice departments. 1t would build
at a cost of $4,000 to the mile twenty
Lincoln Boulevards across the con-
tinent from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
and would place 100000 automobiles
upon these great highways at an av-
erage cost of $1,000 a car. Think a
-Vnuu1lI Ensn,