The American issue. [volume] (Westerville, Ohio) 1912-19??, 1920-06-04

fight against the liquor traffic: SUI
preme over all battles i'll the history
of anti-liquor warfare. Now to the
proof of the fact that this is not a
rash statement, born of the fevered
imagination and passion OF temper
ance crusader.
First fact: For the first time there
confronts us the whole liquor army,
thoroughly aroused. Heretofore, I'M
der local option, and even under
Statewide Prohibition, when we
created dry area there was result
ant prosperity to the saloonmen of
the liquor traffic's great strong-holds,
the big cities, such as Chicago, New
York, Philadelphia. This prosperity
was due to the fact OF the patronage
| OF vets living in the newly-madc dry
! territory, who made periodical pill
grimages to the big city to satisfy
their alcoholic thirst While the
brewer and distiller sustained financial
loss by the closing of any saloon,
| anywhere, the saloon keeper in the big
city saw his business increase as the
rural territory became dry For this
reason the frantic appeals OF the
brewer and distiller to the city sa-
| loonnlan, to zealously fight Prohibi-
| ton. failed to stir any serious re-
! spouse. The city saloonman was
lukewarm. His prosperity from Pro-
hibition's outside victories made him
so.
\ second reason for the past lack
of zeal on the part of the city saloon
keeper in fighting Prohibition, was
the fact that his big city was so
thoroughly wet that he could not con-
ceiyc of Prohibition in his day gath
ering sufficient momentum to wipe
out his business.
Now all is changed, as it were in
the twnkling OF any eye. The city
saloon has itself been outlawed, with
the result that the hordcs of city sa-
! loonmen arc aroused and fighting
with the frenzy, hate and madness of
demons, in desperate life or death
struggle.
What does any army that is being
| defeated do? 1t retreats toward its
strongest defenses, where it makes
its last bitter stand. The Russians did
so at Fort Arthur. The French,
pressed back by the Germans, went
| toward Paris with its wonderful forti-
fcations. To surrender? No, to fight
the supreme battle. The Turks re-
treated into Constantinople, where
their position was inpregnable, and
from which they could not be dis
lodged. The first battles in a war
are skirmishes. The fight gets harder
as the enemy is crowded back. Then
| finally comes the supreme struggle.
The enemy collapses, and then sur
| renders or is exterminated. This
illustrates the fight against the liquor
| traffic. Under local option, we won
skirmishes with the enemy, putting
country places dry. Then followed
harder contests in which we put small
cities and counties dry. Then, in
more serious battles, states which
were almost dry were made wholly
| dry. Now we are in the climax strug-
| gle to wrest control from the outlaw
cd traffic in his strongholds, the big
cities.
Everyone knows the wet strength
is in the big cities. Only few years
ago, of 9,777 saloons in Illinois, g.
055 were in Chicago, practically two
thirds of the total for the state.
Moreover, the city saloon averages
nearly double the number OF proprie-
tors and employees compared to the
average of the outside saloon.
No well-nformed man is deluded
by the notion that the liquor traffic
has received its Waterloo. Abundant
is the evidence that it has not. Even
its outlawry under the Eighteenth
Amendment is dependent upon Con-
gress continuing Federal legislation
which interprets the term "intoxicat-
ing liquors" as used in the Eighteenth
Amendment, so as to really exclude
the manufacture and sale of intoxi-
cants. The liquor traffic is now unit
ed to fight in Congress and in state
legislatures for laws which would
be legislative falsehoods, i. e., permit
ting Intoxicating beer and wine as
non-intoxicants. Their purpose is to