New-York tribune., 1922-04-02
The Case of Hayti
Maltese Monuments
o the Editor Of The Tribune.


iarch I2 and in the Sunday Tribune
II March 26, Charles T. White, of
'rooklyn. has made some statements
md observations on my recent replies
Samuel Wilson, which | would like
o correct.
Mr.. White begins his first letter by
referring to me as wet, and to Mr.. Will
son as dry. Why not label Mr.. Wilson
vet and me dry? / certainly stand a.
strongly for temperance as he does
che promotion of temperance, to use
he words of Abraham Lincoln, ais
matter Of method" Lincolns method
vas opposed to prohibition and in
isvor of education and persuasion. Ly
method is exactly that of Lincoln. His
Jory proves that the Lincoln method is
far more successful than the method
Of the prohibitionists.
Up to the time when the Eighteenth
Amendment went into effect, educa-
tion and moral suasion had accom-
plished wonders for the cause of tenn
perance. During the several decades
prior to the passage of the Eighteenth
Amendment and the Eolstead act,
drunkenness. per capita of the popula-
ton, had greatly decreased, for two
main reasons-education and the les
sening of the consumption of ardent
spirits compared with the consumption
Of light wines and beer. Drunkenness
had lost the glamor of heroics which
cd IL.
themselves under the table. Drunken
ness had become unpopular.
Since the passage Of the Eighteenth
Amendment and the Volstead act, how
evcr, the consumption of ardent spirits,
in proportion to the consumption of
light wines and beer, has enormously
increased. with proportionate increase
IN drunkenness. Drinking. merely to
show contempt for prohibition, has
again haloed drink with herocs. There
'ore, the coercivc method OF prohibit
t!on is proved to be less efficient in
the cause Of temperance than the edu-
cationa and persuasive method advo-
Gated By Lincoln.
that Lincoln never kept grocery store
anywhere in the world, and that it
IS absolutely untrue that he ever sold
alcoholic liquor. While nobody claims
fnat Lincoln was drinking man, it
is an absolute certainty. proved by in
disputable records, that Lincoln did
keep a general store and that he did
sell groceries and alcoholic liquors in
that store
Let ne osk Mr.. White please to bear
IN mind the fact that thing cannot
both be and not be, at the same time.
and, whereas it is absolutely proved that
Lincoln did sell whisky, it cannot also
be proved that he did not sell whisky.
The fact that Lincoln sod whisky.
hc"ever. is not nearly as good evil
dencc that he was opposed TO prohibi-
'ien as what he. long aft.rward,
actually said in condemnation of pro-
hibition.
Any one who will take the trouble to
90 to public library and look on page
81 OF Norman Hapgood's Lincoln, the
Man OF the People; also pages 1871 and
1873 Of Colonel Lannon's Life of Lin
coin; also page 90, Volume I, Of Ida
TarbclPs Life of Lincoln" will find
the recorded history of the fact that
each Of the three grocery stores which
Berry and Lincoln acquired had the
usual supply Of alcoholic liquors.
Mr. Frank X. Schwab, Mayor Of Buff
fa.o, has written me that he has a
photograph fac-simile of license issued
10 Abraham Lincoln and William r.
Berry, certified by c. z. Oypel, Clerk
81 Sangamon County Court, Spring
field, H., April %, 1908, which license
was issued Wednesday, March s, 1893;
also similar certified copy of the
bond given by Abraham Lincoln and
his partner, binding themselves to sell
hquor in accordance with the provi-
sions of the law governing such sales.
Mr. White could doubtless get GER
ihed copy Of these documents by ap-
plying TO the clerk of Sangamon Coun-
ty Court, Springfield, H.
Let me also call attention to a pas
sage in The Life and Works of Abra-
ham Lincoln Centenary Editon), in
nine volumes, published by the Current
Literature Company, of New York, in
1907. Volume | contains the Life of
Lincoln, from February 10, 1909 to
March 4, 1861, entitled Lincoln the
Citizen" written by Henry c. Whitney.
one OF Lincoln's legal associates and
personal and political friends. After
recounting the manner in which young
Lincoln and Berry became partners in
the ownership Of general store, the
following statement occurs, on page 81,
Volume l.
He (Lincoln) frankly told his Gus
toners that the very whisky which he
drew for them would prove their ruin,
and that the tobacco which he dealt
out was nasty and unfit for use"
Among Lincoln's early speeches is
one on temperance, delivered before
the Springfield Washingtonian Tenn
pcrance Society on February % 1912