The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1919-11-15
DOMAIN OF TEMPERANCE
THE FUNERAL OF RUM.

Discontinuance of the liquor bust
ness in the United States marks the
decision in America of one of the old
est and most bitterly contested issues.
The use of alcoholic beverages prob
ably antedates all recorded history.
And, although the first temperance So
ciety was not organized until 1889, ad-
vocacy of abstinence is little less an
Gent than the use of intoxicants.
Mohammed was among the original
advocates of prohibition.
The use of distilled liquors did not
become prevalent in Europe until
toward the close of the seventeenth
century. ...-
The inception of the temperance
movement came 100 years later, but
its development during nearly two CEN
turtles was very slow.
Liquors used in ancient times were
fermented beverages.
The discovery of the process of dis
tlllatlon is attributed to the Chinese,
VINO impaired the knowledge to the
ARABS; Spaniards got the secret-for
1t was kept a secret for a time-from
the Moors and in turn gave it to other
european countries. Use of distilled
! liquors in the old world became gen
eral and drunkenness common.
Hard drinking in England came to
| be regarded as a grave national dan
ger In 1885 a London grand Jury
held the traffic responsible for great
crime wave, and regulation of the
| liquor business by law was instituted.
Similar experiments were in the
meantime being made in America.
The battle in this country against
use and abuse of liquor began in a
mild way as a protest in pulpits
against drunkenness. A New England
society went so far as to bind it's mem
bers not to get drunk except on the
Fourth of July and general training
days.
Advocates of moderation gave way
to those who felt that only total absti-
hence was the remedy. Then the bat
tie began.
East Hampton, L. l., in 1851, for
babe the sale of more than two drains
of distilled liquor for immediate
drinking.
The constitution of Virginia, 1875,
prohibited sales of wines and ardent
spirits, except in jamestown.
In 1910, Quakers abolished the hab-
it of drinking at funerals.
| The first Congress of 1777 recon-.
mended that laws be passed stopping
the distilling of grain.
| Churches took a definite stand
against the use of intoxicants.
In 1889 the first temperance society
was organized by 200 Connecticut
| farmers.
The first recorded demand for pro-
hibition was made by John Chalmers
of Nassau, N. H., in 1895. 1t attract
ed little attention.
In 1927 it was announced that 200
temperance societies had been formed
in sixteen states and that 10000 men
pledged abstinence.
| In 1888 it was estimated that 5000
temperance societies had 100000
members.
State legislatures commenced to
pass laws in an effort to limit the
traffic. The Illinois legislature enact
ed a local option law
The first large temperance society
was founded in Washington, in 1910.
Many others soon sprang into being.
Next "sign-the-pledge" wave swept
the country. The movement was
given it's impetus by churches in
America and Great Britain.
BY this time the liquor question had
become a great national issue in poll
tics. Maine took a revolutionary step
when it adopted statewide prohibi
ton in 1876. Other states swung into
line.
But seventy-two years elapsed from,
the time the first state voted liquor
outside it's borders before national
prohibition was ratified by thirty-siS
states.
When Congress passed the nationa
!, prohibition amendment in November
1918, there were thirty-three dry
states Several others were partially
dry, with local option laws in effect.