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


The beverage liquor traffic is not
evil and you cannot hold the dealer
responsible for the misuse of what
he sells a customer. Prohibition is
not only wrong in principle but it
costs too much.
Did you ever consider what pro-
hibition would cost the city of Rock
Island? The real estate owner?
The wage Garner? And the federal
government? 1t would cost Rock
Island about 100000 a year 1t
would cost real estate owners not
less than $4,000 a year. 1t would
cost the federal government $780,
600 year. This is the sum paid
in federal revenue by the Rock Is
land Brewing company. This does
not represent the entire cost of
prohibition.
You can vote town dry but you
can't vote a man dry. People would
order their drinks from mail order
houses and outside dealers. You
would get all the liquor you want,
but it would vay no wages. rent
and revenue in Rock Island. The
money spent would be lost to this
city foreve-. People who get in
the habit of ordering wet goods
from mail order houses, soon learn
how to order drygoods, groceries,
clothing and machinery from Mont
gomery & Ward and Sears, Roe
buck. Every dollar sent out of town
for liquor or any of these COM
modities is forever lost to the mer-
chants of Rock Island. Most of the
money spent for drink under IL
cense is respent by employees, real
estate owners and people working
for the municipality.
l do not care to base my case
against prohibition solely on the
dollar argument. If prohibition
were not wrong in principle, it
would be folly to oppose its adop-
ton on economic ground
Notwithstanding that prohibition
is wrong in principle and very
costly, we might agree to its adop-
ton provided all the people, or a
majority of the people really need
1t. Listen to a prohibition speaker,
or read a dry advertisement and
you get the idea that practically
everybody needs prohibition-tha
the country must nave it or go TO
hell.
l now propose to put this ques-
ton as to who needs prohibition, to
the acid test. This is a typical
audience of American citizens.
What is true of this crowd is true
of all the people in Illinois and the
United States. In order to determ-
inc how many people need prohibi-
ton let every person in the house
who feels that he needs it for him
self, stand up.
What did l tell you? You peo-.
pie who kept your seats paid your
selves high compliment No mod
crate drinker could need prohibit
ton, no total abstainer could need
it, and it is impossible for me to
conceive that any true Christian
could need prohibition for himself
He leans on the omnipotent arm of
God and could not need a legal
straight jacket to keep him out of
the gutter.
There are many drys in this
house who kept their seats They
don't want prohibition for them
selves; they want it for the other
fellow. They have right to de-
eide for themselves, but who gave
them the right to decide for their
neighbors?
When God gave you heads He
expected you to use your own heal
to control your own life. hut if YOU
let a prohibitiGnist use his head to
control his life, and yours too,
you're wasting money on hats.
We have now demonstrated con-
clusively that prohibition is wrong.
that the liquor traffic is not evil,
that its abolition would cost too
much, and that the people do not
n11ft hi h Ia
not only contrary to reason, vic
ious in practice, unnecessary and
costly, but it is an insult to man
hood. 1t takes you by the hand,
looks in your face, and calls you
a weakling in need of a muzzIe to
keep you from becoming j hog.
Prohibition is powerless to save
the very few who might need it.
The drys exhibit the WHITE and
black map of the United States as
an argument. All wet territory is
black and all dry territory is rep
resented as white, because it con-
tains no saloons. Prior to the dis
cOverY of America the entire
United States was white. accord
ing to the dry standard, but filled
with savages- Turkey has always
been a white map country, but its
people are cruel and uncivilized.
According to the bible. hell is dry
territory and has always been a
white map country as far Gs liquor
Is concerned. but that does not
make it an ideal place Of residence.
Remember, according to the story
OF the rich man and Lazarus. hell
was so dry that devils could not
even get a drop of water. In all
the white map sections of the
United States it is possible to op-
crate a teakettle distiliery or let
cider and wine ferment. By leav-
ing the cork out of a bottle OF
grape Juice, its contents will be
shortly converted into an intoXi-
cant. No brewer or distilier or sa-
loonkeeper has anything tC do with
the transformation. The invisible
and divine law of fermentation will
do the trick Prohibition can new
er be made a remedy for intern
perance until government repeats
the law OF fermentation. II gov
eminent cannot repeal Gods laws
of fermentation, prohibition Is
doomed to failure. In the mean
time II you hope to make law a
remedy for intemperance, 1t must
be enforced not against the brewer.
distiller or saloonkeeper. but