The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1917-11-30

every saloon and the total prohibi
ton of the manufacture of alcoholic
drinks during the war. The liquor
interests have protested in times
past that prohibition would throw
out of employment many thousands
of hands. Today the country needs
millions of hands, and every man
who is now operating in breweries
or distilleries or standing behind the
saloon bar could be turned into en-
ployment of benefit rather than be
kept in an employment which is a
curse.
The liquor interests have protest
ed that the farmers of the country
would be injured by the elimination
of their use of grains. Today the
world is facing serious shortage
of foodstuffs, and every bushel of
grain that can be saved for food
for man and beast is an essential
factor in the worlds salvation. Ev-
cry bushel wasted in producing al
coholic drinks is a moral and eco
nomic loss.
Even the breweries and the dis
tilleries and the saloons could be
turned into profitable operation for
other things. Increased cold stor-
age is needed and larger production
of ice is necessary. Munition max
ing must go on in many places not
now available. There will be a
great increase in the demand for
house room for the laborers drawn
into ship-building, munition making
and other industries. Today the
Government is calling in vain for
houses for the munition men that
must be put to work in the great
cities of the country in these war
activities. Every building now used
for a saloon could be utilized for a
dwelling or for some business pur-
pose.
We are wasting annually S2,000,-
100000 or more in drink, but that
is only a small portion of the actual
waste. This accursed drinking ha-
bit is largely responsible for the
number of men in jails and peniten-
tiaries and almshouses. 1t curtails
the working power of men needed
to build ships, to make munitions,
to operate the iron and steel works
and the coal mines of the country,
and to make possible an increased
food production. The $2,000,000,-
900 or more actually expended for
liquor is a very small item compar-
ed with the fearful cost of lessened
efficiency of labor on the farm, in
the factory, in the office, in the
counting-room, and wherever men
are engaged in work.
Danish from the nation every
grog shop, every brewery, every
distillery; prevent the sale Of the
whiskey that now is in store, at
least until the end of the war, and
there would come tremendous in
crease in the nations power to pre-
pare for the war and to carry the
war to a successful issue.
We talk about shortage of rail-
road transportation, and this is
vital, and should receive the ma
tons attention. We talk about the
lack of foodstuffs; this, too, is vi
tai, and every effort should be made
to increase the production of food. /!
We talk about the lack of ships, up
on which the life of this nation and
the life Of other nations hang. But
none of these things can be ade-
quately developed so long as the
liquor traffic holds sway and so large
a proportion of the people who
ought to be steadily at work are
wasting their time, their bodies and
their souls in the saloon.
Will President Wilson lead the
nation in this, the great, supreme
issue before the country for the
winning of the war by the develop
ment of our economic strength, ev-
en- if we should be so recreant to
our responsibility as to forget the
great moral issue involved?"