The Washington herald., 1922-01-05
Argues for Moderation.

10 the Editor, The Washington Herald:
When the prohibitionist learns
Ito think straight" he will realize
that half his words arc wasted on
conceded points. 1t is not in dis
pute that the requisite majority of
legislatures ratified the eighteenth
amendment. What is denied l.. that
this Juggling with parties and leg
islators, without a referendum on
this issue alone, expresses the view
OF the majority. The point, how
ever. is immaterial.
The prohibitionist is a great
prophet with sublime faith. I'm
dazzled he can see the glowing
glories of his system IL we just
give it a little time" and allow
II to kill off those with the drink
ing habit by driving rLem to mar
cotics. bay rum. vanilla extract.
denatured alcohol, villsinous medi-
cal compounds. bootleg whisky
with its uneXtracted fusel oil. etc:
but he is blind TO the fact that
serenty-one years of trial IN the
State of Main" has left 4 in a
worse condition than 1t eve. was
before. would be reconciIed to
this killing off IL it would only
reach the propagsndists and Iegis-
lators who voted for il with whisky
on their breath: but they are too
slick, They used to tell us that
the failure of prohibition was due
to the fact that the law was not
national; now that they have their
law and failure is intensified. they
attribute ii to an unconverted
u Ia.
tic more time" For thousands of
generations the drinking habit has
heen stereotyped in flesh. and they
expect to eradicate it in few
short decades. Danish the saloon
and we will all be temperate. II
was not the saloon that made the
American Indian a natural topper.
for they had none. When the white
man came they grew frenzied with
a desire for his "fre-water,"- and
gave the ponies from under them
and the blankets from their backs
to obtain 1t. Had we not prohibit
ed its sale to them they would
have been eXterminated. Let the
prohibitionist prove that we are in
the same peril and I will turn pro-
hibitionist tomorrow. When it
comes to children, savages. insane
people and chronic inebriates, I am
one today. Where danger through
lack of police protection exists. /
am for local option. The indict-
ment 7 make against prohibition is
that 1t drives drinkers from great
cities, where regulation can be had,
into surrounding country districts.
where none is possible. You can
not eradicate the evil. but you can
spread il.
Two hundred years ago whole
communities could have been found
drunk and clergymen were often
taken from their pulpits in a state
of maudlin intoXication. Education,
the business demand for sobriety.
even in a saloon. and that natural
and death to the dissolute, has
race in the very face Of multiplied
temptation. That. and that alone,
is the test of virtue.
1t is not true that there is no
safety zone in the use of alcohol"
There is: and il is being daily es-
tablished. When my critic halts at
the prohibition of wine and beer,
he comedies il. It is not true that
the national use of these "endan-
gers the physical constitution of
coming generations" The danger
is all the other way. Abolish these
and you drive men into ruinous
substitutes. Saloonkeepers as a
class are shown by statistics to
have greater longevity than
clergymen. Hundreds of centena-
rians have been users of these and
harder drinks through all the years
OF their manhood. There is rea-
sen: they tone the nerves remove