The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1917-06-10

whole Not a city, village or hamlet
in the land but has felt the blight
of its touch. Beer, manufactured in
Milwaukee, carries poverty to homes
in every state in the union. Whiskey.
distilled in Kentucky, causes murder
and robbery in every section of the
country. In Chicago, every day there
comes a plaintive cry for bread from
five thousand hungry little mouths.
In New Orleans the potter's field is
continually gorged with the untimely
dead. In San Francisco, hquor-infur-
lated criminals, swaIming in the alleys
and subways, ever harass the citi-
zenry. In tenement houses in New
York City, countless hordes grasp for
breath, while upon the streets SILVER
ing, freezing, dying women and chill
dren beg for crumbs that fall from the
tables of their masters, the liquor
dealers. Lame feet, palsied hands,
deaf ears, blind eyes, crazed brains
and deformed bodies from every popu-
lated district in America point to the
liquor traffic as the cause Of their
infirmity.
The liquor traffic is an admitted
evil, and this evil becomes national
when it violates the spirit of the ma
TONS constitution. Do we form a
more perfect union" when some states
manufacture liquor and other .-':h;+
it's sale? Do we Establish Justice"
when bread is taken from children s
mouths to quench the Unsuitable thirst
for rum? Do liquor craZed husbands
Ensure domestic tranquility" Do in
toxicated soldiers provide for the
common defense?" Is the general
swells the morality figures two hun
bred thousand a year? No! nor will
the BLESSINGS of liberty" long be in
sured to us and our posterity when the
great chain gang of degenerates is
continually enlarged with the shackles
of deformity, insanity and idiocy.
Every one knows the serious cOndi-
ton of our country at present. A ma
ton in peril of war should most Ger
tainly be q sober nation. because
science has proved that the use of al
cohol even in small amounts !mpairs
vision, memory, judgment. keenness,
alertness-in other words, general
acumen and efficiency. Moreover.
users are more prone to disease and
accident, and their resistance to ia
tigue is lessened. Therefore, if at any
time, surely not at war time should
there be allowed to exist a condition
which plays so great part in lessen
ing the efficiency and increasing the
expense OF the nation. Again, I say it,
America needs every man at his best
today. The liquor traffic will give
to the armies of our rC,lOnal progress
trembling limbs, blinded eyes, deafen-
ed ears, poverty of purse and soul,
hearts that are too frail to pump the
blood of mighty deeds. War is here
If we must fight in order to save
our country and honor, let US keep
ourselves in the best mental and ply
steal condition possible.
Stop this waste! Hard-driven COM
merce needs these vast industries,
their buildings and their eQuipmcnt,
Stop this waste! The country needs
the labor so poorly employed.
Stop this waste of raw material and
money.
Stop this waste Of lives.
Enact prohibition for the war. Use
the distilleries to make munitions al
cohOl as a source of power fuel. Use
the breweries to pack meats, to nacI1
fruits. to make vinegar, ice ami serve
other useful ends.
Booze or bread-which?
simple question which confronts us.
AS the value of food products is rap
idly rising, the housewife must econo-
mize and cooperate with the farmer.
The farmer will do his part to pro-
duce more food, but the housewife
must do her part toward eliminating
waste. And ore Of the first wastes
to be eliminated is the use Of the
nations cereal good for making the
nation drunk. Rye, barley and other
grains that are now selling at high
prices are needed as food. We are
short Of food. We shall be still short
er unless we take the proper vigorous
action. Shall we therefore, keep on
turning into drink an amount OF grain