Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-06-29
The Problem Before Congress


The Boston American fears its booze
! editorial will be copied, apparently; for
| it copyrights an appeal to the rabble
by one more Of its specious arguments
for the beer traffic. 1t plays upon the
rights Of the poor beer drinker and
the rich" wine guzzler, and makes its
usual pretense that beer IS temper
ance drink harmless beverage"
The tools of the beer trust are in a
sweat of suspense with their whole
dcvilish business on the block and I'M
der the scrutiny of the Senate COM
n!ittee. Rich revenue from INSPIRED"
articles, EDITORIALS and straight dis
play advertising give promise of flying
out of the window with the final de-
cision of the Congress.
Prussianism. Booze, Food Piracy,
and War Profits are backed against
the wall; while the gun squao of
American Indignation is at target prac-
tice.
The ever-ready mouthpieces of the
booze slop crowd frantically assure the
public that the amount of food con-
served by stopping the manufacture of
this comparatively harmless drink.
is so small as to be unworthy Of no
tice. The Boston American pathetic
ally offers, ito any Congressman" this
question:
Have you ever seen 80 or 100 SOBER,
TEMPERATE American workmen taking
their beer, soup and bread at noon?"
What touching picture for the con-
temptation Of ANY Congressman!
Just imagine. MIR. Congressman, the
ptiful consequences of war conditions
if, in the necessity of reduced rations,
beer were taken away instead of bread
or soup. Visions of another Willie
Hearst, WHAT a catastrophe!
Two hundred thousand pastors of
this couhtrys churches have been ap-
pealed to by Mr.. Herbert Hoover, ma
tional food director, to make Of Sun
day, July l, FoodSaving Sunday
duce as much and waste as little food
as possible. Even before this Food
| Saving Sunday the people are respond
ing to the dictates Of sane, practical,
patriotism.
Now, right here, let us look at the
accomplishments Of the beneficiaries VI
comparatively harmless drink In
the year ending June 80, 1916, 3,418, 1885,
Isl pounds of food cereals were con-
verted into this Temperance" slop.
And the same beneficiaries assure us
by way of justifying their devilish bus
| mess, that the demand is Constantly
increasing" Meaning, of course, that
more than three and a half billion
pounds of food materials were, in the
year just ended turned into a worse
than useless product, because thous-
ands Of perverted, booze befuddled
brain cells have been converted to the
booze trust dogma that they must
have their beer"
The Hearst publications pretend to
their readers that the whiskey makers
and the prohibitionists were in league
to force whiskey upon the public at in
/ creased prices while its Temperance"
slop is out-lawed and the BUSINESS
/ ruined. The Springfield Republican
deals sensibly with the problem before
Congress:
But this Congress has no man
date it is urged, Ito enact war pro-
! hibition." The answer to such an
arg is that this Congress had
no mandate to declare the United
States to be in a state Of war with
Germany. 1t was elected when Wood
row wilson was re-elected-the presi-
dent who had kept us out Of war
and If it had a mandate" for any,
thing it was for peace rather than war.
But this same Congress acted with
IN its rights when it declared a state
OF war to exist by reason Of the acts
or the German government; it also
represented public opinion in so do
ing And this same Congress would
now he we'll within it's rights as y
laWmaking body, if it should forbid.
during the war, the use of feeds. foods
or FOOD materials in the manufac-
ture of Intoxicating liquors for bev-
erage purposes. Just as the war itself
was forced upon us because of condi-
| lions over which this country had no
control, so war prohibition. or any
requirements Of the nation in the war
form thereof may be established nv
congress to meet the inexorab BILE food
emergency.
The whole theory Of the prohibition
amendments to the food control bill
/ rests on the assumed food scarcity
curing the coming year The sub
committee OF the Senate day before
Yesterday left beer to the discretion OF
the president. while placing distilled
, LIQUORS on the black list of the law.
The full Senate committee yesterday
oVerruled the subcommittee by close
vote and again bracketed beer with
whisky. That was wisely done, of
course, If the object Of these amend
merts Is to conserve the food supply,
Tor the manufacture Of beer in the
nscal year 1916 used up no less than
| oz'4Ss,'9S bushels of barley, 1s,573521