The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1918-09-19
PROBLEMS OF PROHIBITION
To the Against Illegal Whskey VIII
Gigantic Task

Washington, D. C. Times: We
judge man by the company he keeps
by his friends.
Whiskey makes his own friends; he
actually creates them.
Whiskey changes health into sick
ness 1t changes comfort into miser-
able poverty.
Whiskey creates crime-at least
lthree-fourths of the crimes Of VOL
ence. The detective in every murder
case looks automatically for the
empty whiskey bottles, or for the place
where the criminal last bought his
whiskey.
Whiskey unfortunately, is easily and
cheaply made, and easily hidden. The
gallon of whiskey on which the govern
men is about to place a tax of eight
dollars, charging high price for the
/ right to drug the people-that gallon
of whiskey can be made secretely and
profitably for less than fifty cents.
Very serious will be the problem
confronting the government when it
comes to enforcing the absolute pro-
hibition which is to begin in the
United States on the first of next July.
In France and other temperate Eur
opean countries. where the govern
ment fights whiskey, brandy, and all
poisonous alcoholic spirits, the milder
lstimulants that many nations use tenn
perately, light wine and beer, are al
lowed. And this makes easier the fight
upon whiskey. For where the mild
stimulants are to be bought openly, as
lin France, England, and Italy, the
trade of the Illegal whiskey maker is
not profitable and it dies.
Here in the United States, however.
the lawmakers have decided to make
the new experiment of absolute pro-
hibition throughout the entire United
States, beginning next July.
1t is one of the most important and
most interesting experiments made
by any nation since the day of Mo-
manned Millions of men will be
called upon to change habits with the
IIon-Asiatic races.
1t is important that the difficulty of
the problem should be realized. the
nature and danger of thee alcoholic
poisons understood. and the nation's
undertaking in the line of prohibition
thoroughly prepared.
No greater calamity could be i'm
agined than, through prohibition aim
ing at absolute temperance, to make
WhiShey SSCIctly mduuidCtuieO tue
national drink.
In Thomas Jefferson's day the nat
ional drink of the United States was
whiskey. Drunkenness then was prob
ably ten times more common than to-
day, and jefferson did not exaggerate
when he said that in the United
States whtskey killed third Of all
citizens and ruined their families.
| In his day it would have been
thought impossible to impose abso.
/ lutte prohibition on the nation in which
| 100 per cent Of the men used stimu
lants and one-third, as Jefferson said
were drunken
Jefferson advocated in his letter to
the Legislature of Virginia and in 9th
/ er cities the encouragement of light
wine and beer as the only way OF
fighting whiskey
| But the United States, going a step
beyond anything that Jefferson
would have imagined, decides now on
absolute prohibition, pure water OF
/ sweetened favored waters, non-alcoh
ole. as the nations only drink.
| To carry out this program will re-
quire cooperation on the part of the
public and great vigilance on the
/ part of the government
| If the farmer makes a barrel oil
sweet cider and leaves it - the eel
| lar few months, it automatically be
Genes a strong drink-a few glasses
will make a man drunk.