The Mena weekly star., 1918-07-18
Column
acAyoUFLAGE EN-
Mrs. c. P. Michael President Bertha Kelley. Press Superintendent


 meaning Of this French word. made aopular bv wartime practices. On the field of battle they make a sol- sasrs tent look like a bush. or a big yun like 8 stone fence-so that the enemy aviatOrsr will be deceived.
 The 4wets- are using -eamoufage
 methods 70 cove up the real facts about the saloon.
 They are telling their story in Alice in-Wonderiand fashion-~yes' means -nor and n9r means -yes-
 For example. Some of their speak CTS say that prohibition doesn't pro hibit-whiie others are telling us that 1t prohibits too much
 With one breath they declare that If yOu close the saloons workingmen VII LOSE their i0bS--and with the next they excitedly inform us. that, If you close the saloons workingmen will THROW UP their jobs.
 At one time they tell us that 1t re- quires 300, 900 farmers to raise the grain products that are used in the manufacture of booze. and when ev- erybody is shouting that we need these farmers to raise crops for food supplies. the "wets" grin sheepishly and say that they were just jollying us about that ~3oo.00o farmer busi- nessn-thzt there aren't nearly as many farmers growing food supplies that go into the making of booze.
 A little while ago wet orators in- sisted that farmers are paid $200, 900, 900 for the food-products used in making booze-but when Hoover got busy on the food conservation job. the S20O. 900 900 suddenly dwindled to something like thirty cents"
 The liquor mems patriotism" is just another bit of "camoufage'- intended to cove up the real cussed- ness of the saloon.
 You know-That the saloon is the breeding place of vice and crime; that 1t hsrbors and encourages the white slave traffic; shelters crooks and gamblers; is the birthplace of rot ten politics; causes disease and death; is the enemy of peace and order; , causes the most degrading poverty; wrecks more homes than any institu- ton; fills jails, almshouses, and in- sane asylums; and sends men to the scaffold and the electric chair.
 To quote from Robert G. IngersoIl:
 '.It brings shame, not honor; terror. not safety; dispare, not hope; misery, not happiness: and with the malevo- lenee of iend it calmly surveys it's frightful desolation, and unsatisfei with havoc, it poisons felicity, kills peace, ruins morals, blights confi- dence, stays reputation and wipe out National honor; then curses the world this and more. It murders the soul. It is the sum of all villianies, the fath- CT of all crime, the mother of all abominations, the devils best friend and mans worst enemy"
 And from Martin Luther:
 Whoever first brewed beer has pre- pared pest for Germany. I have prayed to God that he would destroy the whole brewing industry. I have ofter pronounced curse on the brew CT. All Germany could live on the bar ley that is spoiled and turned into curse by the brewer"
 And Theodore Roosevelt:
 "The friend of the saioonkeepers denounee their opponents for not treating the saloon business like any other. Thest best answer to this is that the business is not like any other business and that the actions of the saloon keepers themselves conclusive ly prove this to be the case. The busi- 1 ness tends to produce criminality in | the population at large and law break i ing among the saloon keepers them selves When the liquor men are al- i lowed to do as they wish, they are sure to debauch, not only the body social, but the body polite also"
 In times of peace 1t takes approx imately one billion dollars year to run the government.
 But we spend two billions a year on drink-just twice the amount of our bill for the support of the govern ment
 Before we entered the present war we were spending a quarter billion dollars year for national defense. Our drink bill was just eight times as much.
 Before the war we were spending a 1 little over se6, ,000.0O a year on the administrative work of our govern i ment Our annual bill for drink was practically thirty times as much.
 Before the war we were spending S2O0.OO0, 900 year for the conserva- ton of our natural resources. the maintenance of rivers and harbors. public health and education and things or similar nature. At the same time we are spending every year ten times | as much on alcoholic liquor.
 The war has enormously increased | the cost of government. The whole f Nation is devoting itself to meeting the new demands upon it. We are all | praetieing economics.
 But what are we doing about that two billion dollar drink bill7
 Why not cut 1t out entirely and spend the money for other things that will increase our hapiness ans n.,~