The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-05-10
BOOZE
An Obituary.

set for July /, will mark the decision
in America for one of the worlds
oldest and most bitterly contested
issues.
Use of alcoholic beverages probably
antedates all recorded history. And,
although the first temperance society
was not organized until 1889, advo-
cacy of abstinence is little less an
cient than use of intoxicants.
Mahomed was among the original
advocates Of prohibition.
Use of distilled liquors did not be-
come prevalent in Europe till toward
the close of the seventeenth century.
Inception of the temperance move
ment came 100 years later, but its
development during nearly two cen
turtles was very slow.
Liquors used in ancient times were
unfermented beverages.
Discovery of the process of dis
tillation is attributed to the Chinese,
who impaired the knowledge to the
Arabs. Spaniards got the secret
for it was kept secret for time
from the Moors and in turn gave it
to other European countries. Use of
distilled liquors in the old world be-
came general and drunkenness com
mon.
Hard drinking in England came to
be regarded as grave national dan
ger. In 1875 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 the country against
use and abuse Of liquor began in a
mild way as protest in pulpits
against drunkenness. A New Eng
land society went so far as to bind
It's members not to get drunk except
On the Fourth of July and general
training days.
Advocates of moderation gave way
70 those who felt that only total alb.
,tinence was the remedy. Then the
battle 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 1876
prohibited sales of wines and ardent
spirits, except in jamestown.
In 1850, Quakers abolished the
habit of drinking at funerals.
The first Congress of 1777 recon-
mended that laws be passed stopping
the distilling of grain.
Churches took a definite stanC
against the use of intoxicants.
In 1889 the first temperance So
ciety was organized by 200 Connect,
cut farmers.
The first recorded demand for pro.
hibition was made by John Chalmers
If Nassau, N. H., in 1895. 1t at
tracted little attention.
In 1927 it was announced that 200
temperance societies had been organ
lied in sixteen states and that 10000
men pledged abstinence.
In 1883 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 en-
acted wOcal option" law.
The first large temperance society
was founded in Washington in 1910.
Many others soon sprang into being.
Next a "sign- the-pledge" wave
swept the country. This movement
was given its impetus by churches in
America and Great Britain.
By this time the liquor question
had become a great national issue in
politics. Maine took a revolutionary
step when it adopted statewide pro-
hibition in 1886 Other states swung
nto line.
But 70 years elapsed from the time
the first state voted liquor outside its
borders before nationaI prohibition
was ratified by SO states.
When Congress passed the national
prohibition amendment, November,
1918, there were 33 "dry" states.
Several others were partially dry,
with local option laws in effect.
MANY GARDENS IN QUEBEC.