The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-14
SAYS LINCOLN NEVER OPPOSED
 PROHIBITION

Chicago, July 14-Denial that Abra-
 ham Lincoln had once declared him.
 seH as opposed to prohibition was Milner, associate minister of the Pres byterian church, a civil war veteran,
 and chaplain of the Loyal Legion.
 In a statement intended to refute
 the claim of certain wet organiza- tions" that the Immortal Lincoln had ever lent even a hint of approval to the liquor traffic." Rev. Mi1ner,
 made public an affidavit signed by
 three nationally known men setting
 forth that an alleged quotation from
 Lincoln which was used in a local option campaign in George in 1887 was an admitted fraud.
 The affidavit, signed by the Rev. sam Small, evangelist, Rev. Sam Jones, and Henry W. Grady, declares that sometime after the campaign Col. John B. Goodwin, who had been the director of the anti-prohibition forces told that he himself had com posed the alleged words of Lincoln so | as to attract the adhersion of the col pred voters"
 The alleged statement of LincoIn's views were set forth in a circular | widely broadcast in the campaign. and did much to defeat the local option measure by winning over the entire colored vote to the side of the | wets,' Rev. Miner, explained. The words credited to Lincoln but since admitted to be those of another were:
 Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of incompetence itself. for it goes beyond the bounds of reason i2 that it attempts to control mans appetite by legislation, and in making crime out of things that are NOT crimes.
 "A prohibitory law strikes a blow at the very principles on which our
 government was founded. I have al-
 ways been found laboring to protect the weaker classes from the stronger, and l can never give my consent to
 such a law as you propose to enact Until my tongue be silence in death will continue to fight for the rights of man.
 The quotation was heded "ABRA- HAM LINCOLN'S PROCLAIM
 TON" and was followed with this
 "Colored Voter: He appeals to YOU to protect the liberty he has bestowe l upon you. Will you go back on his advice? Look to your rights. Read Act! Vote for the sale.'' Rev. Milner declared that the al- legged statement of Lincoln is being l circulated today by organizations op-
 posed to the Eighteenth amendn ent
 Emancipator- of so foul a stigma
 The affidavit made public by Rev. Milrer says in part:
 w. Grady, this aff1ant, and many
 other speakers then openly denouncSd the purported words of Abraham Lin- coln to be a fragrant forgery. defied discovery of them in any recorded utterances by Lincoln, and offered a
 reward for proof of their genuineness but no one produced any such proof That some time after the excite ment of the campaign had disappear ed; this aff1ant. in conversat ton win
 Col. John B. Goodwin, who had been the director of the anti-prohibition forces in said campaign, was told by Col. Goodwin, that he himself de- vised the circular in question. com puosed the alleged words of Lincoln so to attract the adhesion of the colored voters and had done so be- cause to win them was the forlorn hope of the vets the country, at that time being under a prohibition law"