New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-10
FOR AN ANTI.CASOLENE PARTY
A Menace to the Nation Far Worse Than
Alcohol Has Been Discovered
To the Editor of The Tribune.


Sir: The recent election has practically
demonstrated that the Prohibition party will
shut up shop within four years That issue
will die from lack Of nutrition when all The
states have gone dry, but, while men and
women have been pounding the rumseller,
an evil equally formidable has spread like
canker over our fair land.
This is the curse Of gasolene.
The people of this nation are spending
s3s6s42,3 764S annually for a hydro-carbon
debauch. a sum equal 10 that spent on our
army and navy, and only exceeded by the
amount wasted on the movies.
Now that the price of gasolene has almost
reached that OF beer and threatens daily 70
rival that OF champagne, the serious thinker
is appalled, as he estimates the menace OF
this horror The Demon Rum as a wrecker
of homes, a Brighter of lives, blaster OF
character and reputation was at his best
mere tyro beside the Demon Gasoline. tie
enticed men to death, il is true, but It was
lingering and, in the main, a pleasant de-
mise. In certain instances he enticed GER
tain votaries to wife beating, speculation,
sangerfests and suicide. but, as rule, ne
marked these victims so that all could rec
ognize them by their compilations, speech
and actions. The victims of the Gasolene
Demon cannot be recognized until they talk.
There are l6246,49S automobiles in Amer
lea, and $685.. are being turned out by
2,572 factories daily!
At this rate within three years, every
family in America will be deyoting its time.
energies and money to the service Of the
! l.. -. L.. 81 hoo q
against the evil, if. indeed, it is not too late.
( Gasolene has ruined countless homes, II
has made the front porch desolation and
an abomination, the hearth a mockery, the
cradle a piece of junk and the parlor a
musty desert. while it has at the same time
placed mortgage on the home and turned
the garden into a garage. Three hundred
and fifteen thousand seven hundred and
fftv-three mortgages annually recorded arc
said to be due 10 automobiesl Eight-tenths
of all the bankruptcies are caused by gaso-
lene,
Il has ruined the Sabbath Men who. at
the worst, went fishing occasionally now
joy-rde on the Holy Day from daylight
until midnight and from Oregon to Florida
and are unashamed,
It kills more people than war. rum, dis
ease. doctors. snakes and mad dogs COM
bined.
: Ii supports more roadhouses than horse
trotting turkey trottng and gambling ever
did, and it ruins our roads as fast as we
repair them.
! II pollutes the atmosphere. ruins our
clothes and our dispositions, and is rapidly
creating race Of men and women incapable
of walking It creates extravaganza IN at
tire, in living and in dying.
I Il is an aid to crime. iuasmuch as the de-
: sire for or need Of an automobile leads 10 debt.
embezzlement, lying and manslaughter, while
the possession Of a car leads to arrogance
sport coats, divorce, heartache and Brlghts
disease. winding up eventually in insolvency
and sudden DEATH DO you perceive now the
crying need for an ant-gasoene party?
WALT M'DOUGALL.
Rockledge, Fla. March 3. 1917.