Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-03-30

LLC vi IL wv
a program of this kind against the
drinker you must absolutely de-
strcy liberty and establish upon its
ruins system of despotism. The
government must maintain con-
slant repression. Only despot
ism can do this. You would need
as many enforcement officers as
possible. 1t would be necessary
to place one man with Grub over
another and keep him there all
the time If you watched him Dy
day only he would get drunk at
night. If you watched him in the
night time he would get drunk by
daylight. 1t would be necessary
to guard him night and day, this
week, next month and next year
all the time without intarmission
Then l think you would need
third man to watch the other two,
because if any man ever laid down
a club, they would all get drink.
Prohibitionists have one argu-
ment which we all endorse-the
argument against drunkenness.
You cannot make that argument
too strong for US. Neither can you
make the argument against lying
too strong, but l object when you
want to apply the argument against
lying to speech, and prohibit peo-
pie from talking, in order to save
the liers- Lying is more destruc-
tive to manhood than drunkenness,
and Tiers outnumber drunkards at
least 16 to 1.
| endorse your argument against
gluttony, but / would object if you
propose to apply the argument
against gluttony to food. The glut-
tons outnumber the drunkards, ac-
cording to the federal report, about
50 to l. For every person that
drinks himself to death, 80 people
dig their graves with their teeth.
You can no more in reason apply
the argument against drunkenness
too great than we can apply the
argument against glutto1y to food
or the argument against lying to
Speecl.. Thus we see the only
sound argument the prohibition
lists have they misapply. This IS
due to the fact that they foolishly
imagine the drunkard to be a prod
uct OF the saloon. A drunkard Is
no more the product of q saloon
than a glutton is the product of a
grocery store. Each is a victim of
his own weakness and folly. When
a person undertakes to defend a
wrong principle, they are' COM
PEELED to advance falacious argu-
ments. or violate all rules of logic
by making wrong application of
sound argument.
Prohibitionists insist there is no
tsuch thing as personal liberty. TO
prove their contention they tell
how the milk dealer is forbidden
to put water in the milk he sells
to the public. This is regulation,
not prohibition. He is not forbid
den to sell milk. I favor a law
denying the dealer the right to
put water in his milk, but l would
have supreme contempt for a leg
islatOr who would draw bill 90
prohibit cows from giving milk,
for fear somebody w6ula put wa
ter in it. That would be prohibit
ton.
We frequently hear their speak
ers describe mans loss of per-
sonal liberty when his child takes
down with smallpox during his alb
sence from home. He is denied
NAAC zen ~ ClAtC1 IiS On
This is not prohibition, but tenn
porary restraint When the child
gets well he can go home, can't
he? The basis of quarantine is the
fact that person can catch a case
of smallpox whether they want it
or not, but no man can catch a
jag from the other fellow.
Since the war started, the drys
hayn .
lacies. They frequently head their
advertisements with the line, Food
will win the war" Once in a while
they pick up a fragment of the
truth and use it to mislead people.
How can food win the war with
out soldiers? How could food and
soldiers win the war without guns?
How could, food, soldiers and guns
win the war without ammunition?
How could all these combined win
the war without ships and a united
government behind the president?
The demand Of the drys that
every brewery should close because
of a waste of grain in manufactur-
ing beer, is not only fallacious but
utterly absurd.
For every busheI of grain used
in brewing beer the United States
government receives SO in revenue.
This money is not wasted 1t is
used to equip the army in France,
purchase guns, munitions and build
ships. Therefore it represents no
waste. The farmer receives the
highest price for this grain, and he
invests his money IN machinery or
Liberty bonds. The brewer sells
the grain after 1t is used in the
manufacture Of beer to the dairy
man, and It is then converted into
milk and butter, which is used TO
support the population. Mr. Skin
ner, secretary OF the National
Dairymen's association, says that
brewers grain is two and one-half
times more valuable than dry feed
before It is used in making beer.
The beer is sold to the saloons,
wage workers get their salaries.
the city receives a license from the
business and the consumer gets
what he wants. This is absolute
proof that grain used in the manu-
facture OF beer is not wasted but
serves a good purpose.
The drys are responsible for the
idiotic fallacy that 80 per cent of
poverty is due to drink. II this
were true. the drys weuId all be
rich and the rest would all be poor.
Carroll ID. Wright. one of the great
est statisticians. made a report for