GUST ,F. FEHLANDT /U TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY DURHAM : NORTH CAROLINA C* S. Ui ^um/ia/ Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https://archive.org/details/centuryofdrinkre01fehl A Century of Drink Keform A Century of Drink Reform IN THE United States BY AUGUST F. FEHLANDT 6 '■o rJ rvt CINCINNATI: JENNINGS AND GEAHAM ; NEW YORK: EATON AND MAINS I'-rn Copyright, 1904, by AUGUST F. FEHIiANDT ‘ 0 Willie brewed a peck o’ maut, And Rob and Allan cam to pree ; Three blither hearts that lee lang nicht Ye wadna found in Christendie. We are na’ fou, we ’re no that fou, But just a drappie in our, e’e ; The cock may craw, the day may daw, But ay we ’ll taste the barley bree.” — Burns. ‘The moon still fills her silver hoim. But, ah ! her beams nae mair they see ; Nor crawing cock, nor dawning morn, Disturbs the worm’s dark revelry. For they were na’ fou, na’ nae that fou. But clay-cauld death has clased ilk e’e ; And waefu’ ! now the gowden moon Beams on the graves of a’ the three.” — Anon. FOEEWORD. The finest and most difiicult of human achieve- ments, whether for man individually as a personal unit, or collectively as a political unit, is the art of self-government. Ignorance — Indifference — Self-interest, this is the Cerberus that ever lies at the gateway of humanity’s under-world, that the imprisoned Man may not escape. Among a people where a monarch holds abso- lute sway, the problem of government is simple. His word is law, and the people obey him. But where the people themselves are allowed to speak and choose, complications at once enter into the problem. Opinions and desires will come into con- flict, and the self-interests of men will trespass upon the welfare of the whole. Besides, social laws and forces are many and complex, and the ways, of evil devious. Democracy can yield her best fruits only where intelligence and sound morals generally prevail. 7 8 Foeewoed. Where there is but one voice in the soul of man — the voice of God — the problem of self-gov- ernment or self-control, too, is simple. Wan obeys that voice, and his rich heritage is peace and soul growth. But with many conflicting unchained de- sires, like so many voices calling to him, and with personal freedom of choice, man does not always listen to wisdom or goodness, and he fails of his best success, and may fail utterly. In no one thing is this illustrated more forcibly than in man’s struggle with his appetite for strong drink. For generations and centuries he has been brought under its seductive influence. Every age and every condition of society, from half -savagery to highest civilization, bears witness to the enslav- ing and destructive power of this drug. So mani- fest has become man’s w'eakness, so multiplied the sorrow and shame and outrage growing out of it, that after the occasional voice of admonition by some prophet of God, the conscience and humane sentiment of Christendom has in this latter time applied itself in mighty earnestness to the situ- ation. Of this struggle, than which there is no more Poke WORD. 9 stirring page in all the annals of human liberty, it is the purpose of this book to give a brief out- line. Of the main epochs in this struggle, its men and 'its measures, no man should be ignorant. Compelled of necessity to some limitation of our theme, the narrative will confine itself to this land where the reform first took definite shape, a land where the experiment of self-government was to be tested first on a large scale, and whose people are determined, we believe, that as touching those things which vitally affect the interests of civil- ization, this experiment shall not prove a failure. And yet, after a full hundred years, the end is not. If these pages shall contribute aught to hasten it, it will not be because of any effort to arouse the indifferent or to preach to the wicked, but rather, if it please God, by pointing out direc- tions to those who are already inquiring the way out. The Author. 1904, Independence Day. TABLE OF CONTENTS. A. AGITATION. I. Chapter I. The Awakening. — Moderation. 1785-1826. Page The Drinking Customs of Society. — Receive First Effective Blow from Dr. Benjamin Rush. — His Work. — The First “Temperance” Societies. — Voices from the Pulpit. — Dr. Rush at the Presbyte- rian General Assembly, 1811. — The Churches Take Up the Question. — Lyman Beecher’s Six Sermons, 19 II. Chapter II. Progression. — Abstinence. 1826-1851. First Period, 1826-1836 — Abstinence from Spirits. The American Temperance Society, Boston, 1826. — Dr. Justin Edwards. — Effective Laborers and Lit- erature at Opening of this Period, 1826-1831. — Temperance Reform Introduced Abroad. — Golden 11 12 Table of Contents. Page \ Age of Temperance Literature, 1831-1836. — Prog- ress and Growth. — First National Temperance Convention, Philadelphia, 1833, - - - 52 Second Period, 1836-1851 — Teetotalism, Second National Temperance Convention, Saratoga, 1836. — The Washingtonian Movement, 1840. — Hawkins. — Not Prevention Merely, but Keclama- tion now the Program of the Eeform. — Abraham Lincoln. — Fraternal Temperance Orders: Recha- bites, 1841 ; Sons of Temperance, 1842; Cadets of Temperance ; Templars of Honor and Tem- perance, 1845 ; Good Templars, 1851 ; First World’s Temperance Convention, London, 1846. — Gough. — Father Mathew in America, ... - 76 / III. Chaptee hi. Culmination. — Prohibition. 1851-1856. The Man Undoing the Work of the Reform Discov- ered. — Neal Dow’s Interview with the RumseUer. — The Father of Prohibition. — Successive Steps Toward Complete Prohibition. — Firet United States Supreme Court Decision on Temperance Question, 1847. — Prohibition Enacted: 1851, Maine ; 1852, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachu- \ setts, Vermont ; 1853, Michigan ; 1854, Connecti- \ cut; 1855, New York, New Hampshire, Nebraska J’erritory, Delaware, Indiana. — Progress in Other St,ates. — Reform Suddenly Arrested. — Slavery. — Secession, Table of Contents. 13 B. COMPLICATION. INTERNAL REVENUE ACT, JULY 1, 1882. TAXATION. I. Chapter IV. Its Meaning for the Government. Page 1. Permission. — 2. Protection. — 3. Partnership. — 4. Promotion. — National Revenue from Liquor Trade. — Capital Invested, Output, and Per Capita Consumption in the United States, - - - 139 II. Chapter V. Its Meaning for the Liquor Trade. I. Organization for Greater Efficiency ; Larger Cap- ital; Wealth. — II. Organization to Wield Political Power. — The United States Brewers’ Association, November 12, 1862. — The National Protective Asso- ciation, 1886. — Resources and Methods of the Liquor Power, 172 III. Chapter VI. Its Meaning for the Free Citizen. A Bribe to Conscience. — Money and Morals Incom- mensurable. — Where all the Money Comes From. — The Sound Theory of Exchange. — Approximate Money Loss to Society Annually through the Drink Trade, 193 14 Table of Contents. C. EDUCATION. I. Chapter VII. Moral Movements Since / THE War. Page (1) National Temperance Society and Publication- house, 1865. — (2) Eoyal Templars of Temperance, 1869. — (3) Catholic Total Abstinence Union of America, 1872. — (4) Church (Episcopal) Tem- perance Society, 1881. — (5) The Reform Clubs and Gospel Temperance ; Osgood, Eeynolds,Murphy. — (6) The Woman’s Crusade, 1873-4. — (7) The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, 1874; Miss Frances Willard, . - - . - 221 II. Chapter VIII. Legal and Political Measures Since the War. Changed Conditions. — The Prohibition Party. — (1) Citizens’ Law and Order League, 1877. — (2) The High-License Policy, Nebraska, 1881. — (3) The Dispensary System, South Carolina, 1893; The Gothenburg System. — (4) State Constitutional Prohibition: Kansas, 1881; Iowa, 1882; Maine, 1884; Rhode Island, 1886; North and South Dakota, 1889; Defeated in Other States; Aggre- gate Vote. — (5) National Constitutional Prohibi- tion labored for; Blair and Colquitt. — (6) The National League for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic, 1885. — (7) The Anti-Saloon Republican Movement, 1886-88. — (8) The National Anti- Saloon League, 1895, 248 Table of Contents. 15 III. Chapter IX. Ground Won and Ground op Conflict. Page I. Total Abstinence . — Ethics of Moderation . — Science and Alcohol. — II. Legislative Suppression of Pub- lic TraflBc. — Philosophy and Results of So-called Substitutes for the Saloon. — Ground of Conflict. — Is Public Sentiment Sufficiently Advanced to Sustain Prohibitory Laws ? — Probable Seat of Trouble, - 279 D. ADJUDICATION. I. Chapter X. The Alleged Failures op Prohibition. Twofold Cause for Lack of Complete Success of Prohibition. — First, Area. Handicap of Local Option, and of State Prohibition. — United States Supreme Court Decisions Bearing on Interstate Commerce, 1888, 1890. — Ethics of Local Option Principle. — Second, Method. Laws Passed by Non- partisan Method Enforced by Party Method. — Difficulties and Failures, ----- 315 II. Chapter XI. The Lessons op Experience. — A Temperance Constituency. Conclusions from So-called Failures of Prohibition. — Personal and Political Morals. — Consistent Non- partisanship the Key to Success. — A Temperance Constituency, - - 367 16 Table of Contents. III. Chapter XII. The Prohibition Party Movement. Nature and Function of a Political Party. — Perver- sion in Practice: Party Prejudice. — Prohibition Party Vote. — The Most Stubborn Obstacle in the Entire Eeform. — Ground of Hope. — The Imme- diate Program, Page 385 A. AGITATION. 17 2 (I) CHAPTEE I. The Awakehhstg : Moderation. 1785 - 1826 . “ O madness ! to think use of strongest wines And strongest drinks our chief support of health, When God, with these forbidden, made choice to rear His mighty champion, strong above compare. Whose drink was only from the limpid brook. ” A HUNDRED years ago nearly everybody took something. Liquor was to be found on every side- board. Besides the grogshop, every grocery sold it, and no tavern was without it. Ereer was its use than water by the human species. It was the regular table beverage in the family, and was invariably pressed upon caller and guest. The doctor in his calls upon the sick, the minister in his round of parish duties, everywhere partook of the recruiting drink. To refuse on such occa- 1 sion to drink with the lady of the house, had such \ thing been thought of, would have been a discour- tesy, even an insult. It was the universal mark of * 19 20 A Centuky of Dkestk Refokm. hospitality. At a christening, a wedding, a fu- neral ; at balls, parties, bushings, a barn or house- raising; at town-meetings, musters, cattle-shows, fairs; at the dedication of a meeting-house, the ordination or installation of a minister, or any other transaction or assembly whatever, whether private or public, social or business, custom de- manded that there must be something to drink. But not merely as an agency for promoting sociability — or solemnity, as the case might be — did liquor serve in that day; it was believed that man could not really do hard work -without it. Mechanics and laboring men were provided -with a daily ration of spirits, to which the toAvn bell summoned them at four and at eleven, as regu- larly as meals were pro-vided at other hours. The farmer, during harvest and haying time, kept his help in the field constantly supplied with a bottle of whisky or Rew England rum. The man who could n’t drink was not supposed to he of much account when it came to hard work. This beverage was believed to be equally efficacious, now against the burning summer heat, now against -winter’s bitterest cold. Strength and staying power were The Awakening: Modekation. 21 always promoted by its use. The inference that strong drink makes strong men, was perhaps not wholly unnatural, blot until the fatal effects of such belief and practice forced their damaging evi- dence peremptorily upon the attention of thought- ful minds, was the soundness of this view ever seriously questioned. The liquors in use embraced all kinds. There I were gin, ale, beer, wine, cider, cider-brandy, whisky, rum, and that favorite Sabbath drink, on coming home from church, flip, a drink of home- brewed beer with an infusion of spirits, sweetened and seasoned with sugar and nutmeg, and warmed , with a red-hot poker. But by far the most common f drink was rum. West India rum, whose manu- facture followed upon the introduction of sugar- cane into those islands at the middle of the seven- teenth century, formed one of the chief articles of commerce in those days. A half-century later ISTew England rum was added to the trade. How much liquor was consumed we can not deflnitely compute. We have, however, some rec- ord of its results. Intemperance was widespread, with its train of want and woe. It was a common 22 A Centuey of Deikk Refoem. maxim that no man was to be found who had not been drunk at least once in his life. The evil had become aggravated, and reached its climax during the epoch following the Revolutionary War. The American soldiers had been furnished with spirits by order of Congress, that they might better sus- I tain the exposures and fatigue incident to war. s With their home-coming, the unsettled condition of the country, the factions and jealousies, the spread of French skepticism, and the general low tone of morals and religion, intemperance came like a rising tide upon the land, until it came to he l^generally asserted that Americans drank more liquor, per capita, than any other people on earth. It was during this period that we observe the first signs — the stir that presages an awakening. The occasional voice of warning hitherto had pro- duced no perceptible results. The strong man had only turned over to sleep on, while the enemy was busy sowing tares. person who more than any other was in- strumental in effecting this awakening was that distinguished American physician and oitizen. Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia. To his labors The Awakening: Moderation. 23 the nineteenth-century world-wide temperance movement can be traced by lines of direct influ- ence. Seldom is it that a reform can boast of such a birthright ! A graduate of Princeton and of Edinburgh, he became a professor in the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, and attained a position of undisputed pre-eminence in the medical profession of America. The “Sydenliam of America,” as men called him, he was the central figure in the medical world at Philadelphia, as Cullen was at Edinburgh and Boerhaave at Leyden. But his labors were not limited to his profes- sion. He was the friend and promoter of every interest of humanity and religion. Among the builders of the American Republic he must be assigned a large place. Early in 1776, when a number of the Colonies had expressed themselves on the question of independence, he brought his own State, which had not yet moved, also in line for independence. A member of the Continental Congress of 1776, he was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. During the war he was physician-general in the middle department of the army, and after its close he became a mem- 24 A Ceisttury of Drink Reform. ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. During the last fourteen years of his life he was treasurer of the United States mint. While others 5 were interested in the growth of commerce and j in the expansion of our material resources, Rush I was interested in the expansion of the human mind ' growing out of independence and self-government. ! He advocated free schools and the education of I women. He was one of the chief founders of Dick- inson College at Carlisle, Pa., and of the Phila- delphia Dispensary, the first institution of its kind in the United States, extending its blessings to thousands of the sick poor. He was one of the founders of the first anti-slavery society, in 1775, “The Society for the Relief of Free Regroes Un- lawfully Held in Bondage.” He was one of the founders, also, of the Philadelphia Bible Society. He advocated the use of the Bible in the schools, and strenuously opposed capital punishment except for capital offenses. A type of the polished gentleman, a brilliant conversationalist and generous host. Rush never neglected his duties to the sick, nor disdained to minister to the humblest. During his more than The xV wakening : Moderation. 25 thirty years as attending physician in the Phila- delphia Hospital he is said never to have missed his daily visit. He rendered large gratuitous serv- ice to the poor, and exhorted his students to be especially attentive to them, quoting Boerhaave that “he esteemed them his best patients, for God was their paymaster.” His prescriptions were not confined to doses of medicine, but to the regulation of diet, air, dress, exercise, and mental condition of his patients, as an aid to the curing or prevent- ing of disease. It is from this man, holding medals and honors from the crowned heads of Europe, whose activities covered so wide a field, whose interests were so humanitarian, — it is from this man that the drink- ing customs of society received their first effectual rebuke. His pen, so busy on other themes also, arrested attention. The fullness of time had, it seems, come. His “Inquiry into the Effects of Ardent Spirits i on the Human Body and li^ind” appeared injAS^* I This date is the starting point in temperance chro- I nology. The inquiry was directed to ardent spirits I only — the distilled liquors, the most manifest evil 26 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. of the day. Fermented liquors containing as they do only a comparatively small percentage of al- cohol, it was thought that they could but seldom he drunk in sufficient quantities to produce intoxi- cation. The pamphlet enumerates the immediate effects in a fit of drunkenness, the symptoms of “this odious disease unusual garrulity or silence ; captiousness and a disposition to quarrel; uncom- mon good humor; profane swearing and cursing; a disclosure of secrets; a rude disposition to tell persons their faults in company ; certain immodest actions; a clipping of words; fighting, hallooing, singing, roaring, imitating the noise of brute ani- mals; jiunping, tearing off clothes, dancing naked, breaking glasses and china, and dashing other arti- cles of household furniture upon the floor. The paroxysm of drunkenness is at length completely formed. “The face now becomes flushed, the eyes project and are somewhat watery, winking is less frequent than natural ; the undeiiip is protruded, the head inclines a little to one shoulder, the jaw falls, belching and hiccough take place, the limbs totter — the whole body staggers. The unfortunate subject of this history falls on his seat; he looks The Awakehihg ; Modekatioh. 27 around him with a vacant countenance, and mut- ters inarticulate sounds to himself ; he attempts to rise and walk.” He falls on his side, rolls on his back, now closes his eyes and falls into a heavy sleep. In this condition he lies from ten, twelve, and twenty-four hours, to two, three, four, and five days, an object of pity and disgust. His recovery from this fit of intoxication is marked by several peculiar appearances. “He opens his eyes and closes them again, he gapes and stretches his limbs, he then coughs and pukes, his voice is hoarse, he rises with difficulty, and staggers to his chair, his eyes resemble balls of fire, his hands tremble, he loathes the sight of food, he calls for a glass of spirits to compose his stomach, now and then he emits a deep-fetched sigh or groan from a tran- sient twinge of conscience ; but he more frequently scolds and curses everything around him. In this state of languor and stupidity he remains for two or three days before he is able to resume his former habits of business and conversation.” The chronic effects of the habitual use of ardent spirits are next mentioned — decay of appetite ; sickness at stomach ; vomiting of bile ; obstructions 28 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. of the liver; jaundice and dropsy; hoarseness and a husky cough, terminating often in fatal disease of the lungs ; diabetes ; redness and eruptions on the body, beginning generally on the nose; fetid breath, frequent belchings ; epilepsy ; gout, colic, / palsy, apoplexy; lastly, madness. Spirits predis- I pose to every form of acute disease. The solitary ' instances of longevity, now and then, among hard drinkers “no more disprove the deadly effects of ardent spirits than the solitary instances of recov- ery from apparent death by dro^vning prove that there is no danger to life from a human body lying^ an hour or two under water.” The body, after death from ardent spirits^ shows upon dissection — contraction of fibers of stomach and bowels ; abscesses, gangrene, and scirrhi in the viscera ; contraction of bronchial ves- sels, blood vessels, and tendons in many parts more or less ossified. ’i The effects of ardent spirits upon the mind are ! pointed out — the impairing of the memory, weak- f ening of the understanding, and perversion of the moral faculties — falsehood, fraud, theft, rmclean- ness, murder. The soitow and shame inflicted The Awakehinh: Moderation. 29 upon the family and kindred, the reproach upon religion, the dilapidation and impoverishment of house and possessions, are here pictured. The arguments employed to support the com- mon use of ardent spirits are then taken up: 1. That they are necessary in very cold weather. The author shows that the temporary warmth they produce is always followed by a gTeater disposition of the body to be affected by cold, and suggests that warm clothing and a good meal are a more durable method of preserving bodily heat. 2. That ardent spirits are necessary in very warm weather. Dr. Rush shows that experience proves the opposite; that spirits increase, instead of lessening the effects of heat upon the body, and thereby dispose to dis- eases of all kinds. He quotes the observations of Dr. Bell, “that rum, whether used habitually, mod- erately, or in excessive quantities in the West Indies, always diminishes the strength of the body, and renders men more susceptible of disease, and unfit for any service in which vigor or activity is required.” Rush contends, “as well might we throw oil into a house, the roof of which was on fire, in order to prevent the flames from extending 30 A Centuky of Deink Refoem. to the inside, as pour ardent spirits into the stom- ach to lessen the effects of the hot sun upon the skin.” 3. That ardent spirits sustain the body in hard labor. Dr. Rush points to the horse, “with every muscle of his body swelled from morning till night in the plow” — does he make signs for a draught of toddy, or a glass of spirits, to enable him to cleave the ground or climb a hill ? Xo, he requires nothing but cool water and substantial food. “There is no nourishment in ardent spirits. The strength they produce in labor is of a transient nature, and is always followed by a sense of w^eak- ness and fatigue.” The only safe and reasonable course for those addicted to spirits is to abstain entirely and at once. By the use of grog and toddy men have been led to love spirits in their more destructive mix- tures. “Were it possible,” Rush cries, “for me to speak with a voice so loud as to be heard from the river St. Croix to the remotest shores of the Mis- sissippi, I would say: Friends and fellow-citizens! avoid the habitual use of those two seducing liq- uors, whether they be made with brandy, rum, gin, Jamaica spirits, Avhisky, or what is called cherry bounce.” The Awakening: Moderation. 31 Let those in authority be petitioned to limit the number of taverns, to impose heavy duties upon ardent spirits, to inflict a mark of disgrace or tem- porary abridgment of civil rights upon every man convicted of drunkenness, and to place the property of habitual drunkards into the hands of trustees for the benefit of their families. Let the different Christian denominations unite to make the con- sumption and sale of ardent spirits a subject of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the Methodists and the Society of Friends having already for some time past viewed them as contraband articles to the pure laws of the Gospel. “Ministers of the Gospel, of every denomination in the United States, aid me with all the weight you possess in society, from the dignity and usefulness of your sacred office, to save our fellow-men from being destroyed by the great destroyer of their lives and souls.” Such a trumpet blast had never before been heard. So strong are the walls of custom that it did not, of course, lay them low at once, hut it caused them to shake and become less secure, from which at length they did fall. Of all of Rush’s writings this was the most widely read. The year 32 A Century of Drink Reform. after its first appearance it was reprinted in the Gentleman s Magazine in England. Rush made continued and special efforts to extend its circula- tion, by presenting copies to the clergy, to religious and other bodies, and by personally urging the subject upon the attention of men. It created no immediate organized following. That day had not yet come. But it lodged deeply in men’s minds, it being the first time that a man of such com- manding ability and fame had ever attempted to set this subject forth in anything like a scientific form. It laid foundations for those that were to come after. For his clear temperance convictions Dr. Rush was doubtless indebted, to some extent, to his own Quaker ancestry, and to his association with men of abstemious habits, notably the early Methodist preachers, such men as A^bmry and Coke, who were frequently entertained beneath his hospitable roof. The Wesleys had taken strong grounds against the use and sale of spirituous liquors, a position to which the practice of the early preachers in that d omination generally conformed. But one name must not be omitted — Anthony The Awakening: Modekation. 33 Benezet . An exile with the Huguenots from France, he became a resident, successively, of Hol- land, of England (where as a boy he united with the Society of Friends), and of Philadelphia. One of the kindliest of men, his philanthropic impulse drew him forth from the private pursuit of teach- ing and brought him before the world to advocate the cause of the oppressed. The black man found in him a warm friend and zealous champion. He first influenced Dr. Rush to take up the question of f slavery, and was one of the organizers — with Rush, i; Franklin, and others — of the first anti-slavery soci- i ety. Benezet wrote an Historical Account of Guinea, which fell into the hands of a young Eng- lish student, Thomas Clarkson, and determined his future career as an abolitionist. Benezet took up the cause of the Indian, and helped to form, in 1756, “The Friendly Associ- ation for Regaining and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Pacific Means.” He wrote against war. On these themes he carried on a voluminous correspondence, including the royalty and nobility of Europe and the leading men in Church and State on both sides of the Atlantic. May 3, 1784-, 34 A Centuky of Dbink; Kefoem. was a day of universal grief — Bene’zet was dead. The day of his burial brought together the largest gathering that had ever assembled on a similar occasion in Philadelphia, and men envied the honors of Bcnezet above the fame of General Wash- ington. Both by his example and by the labors of his pen Benezet was one of the notable forerunners of the temperance reformation. A full decade before the appearance of Dr. Rush’s essay Benezet had |N^vritten a pamphlet against spirituous liquors, I “The Mighty Destroyer Displayed,” warning I against the common use of any drink “which is : liable to steal away a man’s senses and render him foolish, irascible, uncontrollable, and dangerous.” Great changes come slowly. The period of in- cubation is long in proportion as the idea that is working itself out is powerful and permanent. An i agreement among the farmers in Litchfield County, Connecticut, in 1789, that they would do their work in harvest without furnishing the customary spirits, shows, among other instances, that the leaven was at work. In the autumn of 1799, a yoiing man recently The Awakening: Moderation. 35 graduated from Yale was settled as minister in the Presbyterian Church at East Hampton, Long Island. His observations, during a pastorate of eleven years at this place, prepared him to become, later, the commanding figure in the early temper- ance warfare. The Montauk Indians lived near East Hampton, wild tribes who for a hundred years “had resisted such efforts as were made for their evangelization, and yielded, alas ! only to those which tended to degrade and destroy them.’’ “There was a grogseller in our neighborhood,” he wrote afterward, “who drank himself and cor- rupted others. He always kept his jug under the bed to drink in the night, till he was choked oft’ by death. He would go down with his barrel of whisky in a wagon to the Indians and get them tipsy and bring them in debt ; he would get all their corn and bring it back in his wagon — in fact, he stripped them. Then, in winter, they must come up twenty miles, buy their own corn, and pack it home on their shoulders, or starve. O ! it was hor- rible, horrible ! It burned and burned in my mind, and I swore a deep oath in my mind that it should not be so.” At about this time, too, Dr. Rush’s 36 A Centuey of Deenk Refoem. essay fell into liis hands. We shall hear of this young man again. His name is Lyman Beecher — destined to make the name famous. In union there is strength — strength in the con- fidence and courage it gives the individual better to defy the customs and prejudices of a people ; strength in conserving views thus held in common, and greater effectiveness in the propagation of those views. Soon after entering the new century t jwe find the first attempts to promote temperance organized effort. The first efforts in this direc- tion were by no means uniform or thoroughgoing. All was yet crudest experiment. Han had not the light of experience to guide him. That something must be done, they agreed. They saw as through a glass darkly, and felt their way. The first soci- ^ eties were largely moderation societies simply. i ]\Ien were aiming not so much at drinking as at drunkenness, and members of the early temperance ^ societies were pledged generally against the excess- • ive use of spirits, and in social visits, perhaps, to , declinp them as far as possible. Drunkenness was I prmished either with a fine, or by being compelled 5 to treat all around. In one instance, after signing The Awakening: Moderation. 37 I the constitution, the members all took a drink at the tavern bar, where the society was organized, to show the world an example of true moderation. One of the first distinctive temperance societies was the one formed at Moreau, in Saratoga County, !New York, in 1808. This was a country place de- voted to lumbering, with its strong temptations to drinking. Deeply stirred, an intrepid young phy- sician, Billy J. Clark, in co-operation with the Congregational minister, Lehbeus Armstrong, took the initiative in this move for the community’s redemption. Borty-seven signed the constitution of the temperance society, ;pledged to abstain from the use of ardent spirits and wine, except in case of sickness, also excepting wine at public dinners and at communion. For breaking this rule a fine of twenty-five cents was imposed, and for actual intoxication a fine of fifty cents. Dr. Benjamin Rush was made an honorary member of the soci- ety — an evidence of indebtedness to his labors. Voices are now beginning to be heard from the pulpit. Notable among these is a sermon by Rev. Ebenezer !gpr^r. Congregational minister at W ash- ington, Connecticut, who was later called to a pro- 38 A Centuey of Dk^k Eefoem. fessorship at Andover Theological Seminary. This sermon was preached in the winter of 1805-6, the occasion that drew it forth being a man found dead in the snow, with a bottle of spirits in his pocket. The sermon gave statistics on the extent of the con- sumption of strong drink, and its attendant evils. It warned against excessive drinking; cautioned parents against the free use of spirits in the home, and in general called upon men to have a care. Ihe sermon awakened inquiry, and a little later was called for in pamphlet form, and circulated as a tract. In 1810, Rev. Ileman Humphrey, of Fair- field, Connecticut, afterwards the president of Am- herst College, preached a series of six sermons on the subject of intemperance, which are believed to be the first series ever given on this theme. The same year, Jeremiah Evarts (father of a famous son, William jM. Evarts) began to call attention to the evils of intemperance in the columns of the Panoplist and Missionary Magazine, of which he was the editor. Rev. Roswell Swan, of Xorvvalk, and Rev. Calvin Chapin, of Rockx' Hill, Connect- icut, whose voice was also heard soon after this, were among the very first to advocate entire absti- The Awakening; Modeeation. 39 nence from spirits as the only remedy for intem- perance. The year 1811 is an important date in the his- tory of the temperance movement. The question of intemperance was now to be taken up by the Churches, and to form henceforth the theme of discussion in ecclesiastical meetings. The immedi- ate agency in bringing this about was, again. Dr. Benjamin Rush. At the regular session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, ' convened in Philadelphia in May of that year. Dr. Rush presented that body with one thousand copies of his essay on ardent spirits, which had already passed through several editions. He made an ear- I nest appeal for some action by the Assembly, and induced that body to appoint a committee to devise measures for combating the prevailing intemper- ance, the committee to report at the next annual meeting. The committee thus appointed visited, or corresponded with, the General Associations of Congregational Churches in the different Hew Eng- land States that summer and fall, and secured the appointment of like committees by each, to make a similar report at their respective ecclesiastical 40 A Century of Drink Reform. gatherings the following year. Thus did this fa- mous Philadelphia physician and citizen, on the eve of his going hence (he died within two years), render effectual the labors of his life, and launch a cause freighted with untold blessings to mankind. \ The Committee on Temperance appointed by fh^ Assembly the preceding year made a compre- I hensive report to the Presbyterian General Assem- I bly of 1812. The report did not explicitly recom- j mend entire abstinence, but came close to it. [Min- isters were urged to warn their members and hear- ers “not only against actual intemperance, but against all those habits and indulgences which may have a tendency to produce it,” and by sermons, addresses, and tracts to create public sentiment, “or a suitable impression against the use of ardent spirits.” In 1818 the General Assembly declared against the custom of treating, “except in extraor- dinary cases,” and planted itself on the principle that men ought to abstain from the common use of ardent spirits. A perceptible influence became manifest in the Methodist Church also at this time. The practice of this Church with respect to temperance had The Awakening: Moderation. 41 ^steadily declined for more than two decades, until j| now it had reached its lowest level, f Drinking had f become quite general among its members, and was not infrequent among its clergy ; while many mem- bers, and not a few preachers, were among those who dealt in ardent spirits. ! The ypnr 1 SJ -Q-marks the turning poirit fro T p thik -Gonditiori . The Gen- , eral Conference of that year — the first representa- tive or delegated General Conference — took up the ibject in an address to the Church. ‘Tt is with regret that we have seen the use of ardent spirits, dram-drinking, etc., so common among the Meth- odists. We have endeavored to suppress the prac- tice by our example, but it is necessary that we add precept to example. And we really think it not consistent with the character of a Christian to be immersed in the practice of distilling or retailing an article so destructive to the morals of society, and we do most earnestly recommend the Annual Conferences and our people to join with us in mak- ing a firm and constant stand against the evil which has ruined thousands both in time and in eternity.” At subsequent quadrennial Conferences the subject was constantly agitated, conspicuously by the ener- 42 A Centuey of Deiistk Refoem. getic Rev. James Axley, and the Discipline became gi’adnally more stringent. A tremor was felt in other bodies also. But the developments of chiefest importance were those ’■^mong the Congregational Churches in Connecticut /^d in Massachusetts. The General Association of Connecticut met in June of 1812 at Sharon. A committee of three on Temperance, appointed the year before upon overtures by the committee of the Presbyterian General Assembly already mentioned, brought in its report. Deploring the widespread evils of intemperance, the committee confessed that after the most prayerful consideration they did not see that anything could he done. l\Tiereupon Rev. Ljunan Beecher, recently settled at Litchfield, rose instantly to his feet, moved that the committee be discharged, and another committee of three be ap- jpointed, to report at that same meeting the ways land means of arresting the tide of intemperance. Beecher, as chairman, brought in a report the next I day — the most important paper, he says after- ards, that he ever wrote. It recommended — - 1. Sermons on the subject by aU ministers of the Association. The Awakening; Moderation, 43 I 2, That District Associations put away spirit- uous liquors from ecclesiastical meetings. 3. That Church members abstain from unlaw- ful vending, or from purchase and use when unlaw- fully vended ; and to cease using spirits as a means of hospitality. 4. That parents cease from the ordinary use of ardent spirits in the family, and warn their chil- dren against the dangers of intemperance. 5. That farmers and mechanics and manufac- turers substitute palatable and nutritious drinks, and give additional compensation, if necessary, to their employees. 6. To circulate documents on the subject, espe- cially a sermon by Eev. Ehenezer Porter, and Dr. Rush’s essay, 7. To form voluntary associations to aid civil magistrates in the execution of the law. The report called upon the Association “most earnestly to entreat their brethren in the ministry, the members of our Churches, and the persons who lament and desire to check the progress of this evil, that they neither express nor indulge the melan- choly apprehension that nothing can be done on 44 A Centuky of Deink Refoem. this subject, a prediction eminently calculated to paralyze exertion, and to become the disastrous cause of its own fulfillment.” Such spirit had in it an augury of a better day. ‘^Our cause is indeed an evil one, but not hopeless.” The report, after a discussion of unwonted zeal and earnestness, was adopted, and a thousand copies were ordered to be printed. At the next year’s Association the reports were .most encouraging. Spirits had been banished from ecclesiastical meetings ; ministers had preached, and Churches generally approved ; the use of spir- its in the family had diminished ; the attention of the community was awakened, and the current of public opinion was beginning to turn; a “Society for the Reformation of Morals” had been organ- ized, and ecclesiastical bodies in other States had commenced efforts against the common enemy. Chief among the last named bodies was the General Association of Massachusetts. Here too a temperance committee had been appointed at the meeting in 1811, with Rev. Samuel Worcester, of Salem, as chairman. After several meetings and conferences with others, an organization was ef- The Awakening: Modekation. 45 fected, in February, 1813, called “The Massachu- setts Society for the Suppression of Intemper- ance.” Its object was “to discountenance and sup- I press the too free use of ardent spirits and its kin- dred vices, profaneness and gaming ; and to encour- age and promote temperance and general moral- ^ity.” Hon. Samuel Dexter, a distinguished Bos- ton lawyer, who had been both Secretary of the Treasury and Secretary of War in Adams’s Cab- /inet, was elected president of the society. This organization, if not the most advanced in its prin- ciples, was yet the largest and most important soci- I ety that had thus far been brought into being. At each annual meeting a sermon dealing with intem- perance was preached by some well-known clergy- man. In the third annual report, for the year 1815, thirty-three societies were reported organized in the different parts of the Commonwealth, auxil- iary to this parent society. .During the next ten years the leaven was work- ing on, slowly on the whole, but surely. Ho dis- I tinct or notable achievement is recorded for these years in the temperance reform. The War of 1812 . had brought its distracting influence, while the % 46 A Century of Drink Reform. Congregational Churclies in liew England, from I whose ranks the chief impulse to early temperance I came, were absorbed, since 1815, in a spirited I controversy over Unitarianism. Sermons on tem- ^ perance, however, became more frequent, and local temperance societies slowly multipled, with rules varying in scope and strictness. Here and there I a Church was beginning to refuse membership to [ any who used or dealt in spirits. The press, too, j was now and then clearing its throat as if to speak. ' Among the publications of this time Avas a pam- j phlet or book by Eei^ Mason L. Weems, late rector of General Washington’s parish, and author of a “Life of Washington.” By 1818 it had passed through six editions in as many years. Its title was “The Drunkard’s Looking Glass,” “wherein the American youth may behold a most terrific yet true picture of that monster vice, which every year swallows up more precious life, property, and char- acter in the United States than do the Erench, the British, the yellow fever, and all our enemies (pub- lic and private) put together.” Another pamphlet was in the form of an ad- dress to the people of the United States, “The In- The Awakening: Moderation. 47 I tellectual Torch/’ by Dr. Jesse Torrey, Jr., which j developed an original plan for the dissemination f of knowledge and virtue by means of free public I libraries. ‘^While in health taste not a single drop of ardent spirits,” it urged in a chapter on strong I drink. The author circulated petitions to the Presi- i dent and to Congress, to provide legislation for I this purpose ; and for the pnrpose of discouraging j ' intemperance to levy a tax of fifty cents a gallon upon native spirits, and of one dollar upon wines and spirits imported. Mr. Weems, in his pam- phlet just quoted, in addition to more religious training, also advocates taxation. So specious is this taxation argument that it has not failed to cap- tivate and carry away even the very elect. Could a heavy tax but be laid on the twenty-five million gallons of spirits distilled annually in the United States, so it was argued by Weems, what a revenue “to scatter in blessings through the land, improv- ing the canals and roads, encouraging the arts and sciences, multiplying churches and free schools, and thus rendering our country the delight and glory of the earth !” The fallacy and mischief of this policy as a temperance measure was to be 48 A Century of Deink Eefoem. / amply demonstrated when, in the later stages of the reform, it was put into actual operation. A pioneer work in every reform is the gather- ing of facts. It is facts alone which can break down the barriers of custom and prejudice. Ail theories and notions and philosophies must give way before facts. In the use of this method of presenting facts and actual results, and of drawing logical, masterful’ deductions therefrom, no man exceeded, or perhaps equaled, the Eev. Justin Ed- wards, of Andover, Massachusetts. It was he who was to give the cl^ief impetus in starting the tem- perance reform u^n a new epoch presently. In 1825 appeared a pi^mphlet by Dr. Edwards, en- titled, “The Well-c)^nducted Farm.” This was widely circulated as a\ract — Ho. 176, in the Amer- ican Tract Society’s si^es. It gave the results of the banishment of strong drink from the extensive farming establishment of S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., at Bolton, in Worcester County. The advantages I accruing to the Avorkmen from the practice of absti- nence AA'ere shown to have been ; better appetite for food, with greater vigor of body and mind; they were freer from sickness, doing more work and The Awakening: Modekation. 49 with greater ease; accuniHlating more property, I happier. The advantages to the employer Avere; I . ^ the men did more work, and did it better ; the prem- ises were kept in better repair, and things were in their place; the farm was better worked, and the crops gathered in better season ; the dumb animals, under kinder treatment, were more gentle ; the men were more respectful in deportment, more con- tented, more interested in religion and in the wel- fare of all about them. It was then pointed out what beneficial results would follow if the prin- ciple of abstinence were adopted throughout the country. / At this point, where the twilight of the old passes over into the dawn of a new day, stand the amous Six Sermons by Rev. layman Beecher. They Avere preached during the last year of Beecher’s pastorate at Litchfield, in 1825, and Avere repeated soon after his settlement in the Hanover Street Church in Boston, where he went in March, 1826. The immediate occasion that drew them forth was a convert’s relapse on strong drink at a country place, called Bradleysville, about four miles out from Litchfield. Beecher used to preach 4 50 A Cektury of Drink Reform. there on Sunday afternoons, and on the occasion of ^ this visit there he found the young man in bed, and his wife weeping. He took in the situation at once, and riding home said to himself, “It is now I or never.” He immediately worked out six ser- / mons “on the Hature, Occasions, Signs, Evils, and I Remedy of Intemperance,” which were printed in a year or two, then translated into several tongues, and circulated over the face of the earth. They did /more than any other single similar agency in cre- * ating a distinct temperance sentiment, and for years afterwards were looked upon as the standard authority on this subject. Beecher’s language is unequivocal. “The time is not distant, we trust, when the use of ardent spirits will be proscribed by a vote of all the Churches in our land, and the commerce in that article shall, equally with the slave-trade, be re- garded as inconsistent with a creditable profession of Christianity.” He had a profound grasp of the subject, and recognized far in advance some of the later real difficulties of the problem. Spread / information, he urges, concerning the effects of spirits, and form voluntary associations for ahsti- The Awakening: Modekation. 51 nence. Yet these will not prove sufEcient. Some- thing more than knowledge or argument will be needed; thirst and the love of filthy lucre are in- corrigible. The disease is deep-seated. There is r somewhere a mighty energy of evil at work in the production of intemperance. Intemperance in onr land is not accidental; it is rolling in upon us by the violation of some great laws of human nature. The remedy must lie in the application of correct i principles, and must be universal, national. What ps this remedy ? ‘‘It is the banishment of ardent I spirits from the list of lawful articles of commerce by a correct and efficient public sentiment, such as has turned slavery out of half our land, and will yet expel it from the world.” And the evening and the morning were the fi.rst day. (H.) CHAPTEE II. Peogkession : Abstinence. 1826-1851. First Period: 1826-1836. Abstinence from Spirits. On February 13, 1826, “The American Society for the Promotion of TenipCTahce’" was fome d in Boston, This marks a new epoch in the reform. The hapless, unfruitful labors of the years previous had taught their lesson. Out of the varied experi- menting one conclusion was beginning to stand out with growing clearness ; namely, that the only practical, effective remedy for intemperance is en- tire abstinence. The philosophy of moderation was daily demonstrating its failure. Temperance men had hitherto sought, for the most part, to regulate the use of strong drink, not to abolish it. They had bewailed the effect, yet perpetuated the cause. While one reformed drunkard was being saved, their own habits, if followed by others, would make twenty more. 52 Progression : Abstinence. 53 Consequently, in spite of all pledges and labors of moderation, intemperance went on apace. ISTot that men wanted to be drunken, or did not recog- nize the voice of reason, but because there is some- . thing in the very nature of strong drink that leads I to excess. A little drinking tempts to more drink- I ing, which men can not or do not resist ; which re- I suits in intoxication ; which tends to repeat itself ; * which ends in confirmed drunkenness. Men were thus beginning to see that to combat drunkenness efforts must be directed against the habit of drink- ing itself, the root ^'from which this upas-tree springs.” But to bring about such a change in public sentiment and custom demanded larger plans and means of work than had yet been em- ployed. After prayer and consultation on this sub- ject, by a few earnest men, a conference was called of representatives of the various Christian denomi- nations, to meet in Boston on January 10, 1826. At this meeting it was resolved that systematic and vigorous efforts on a larger scale be put forth, com- mensurate with the evil, and continued until it is t eradicated ; that to this end an American Temper- I ance Society be organized, and a permanent sal- 54 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. aried agent employed to give his entire time to the Avork. At an adjourned meeting, on February 13th, a constitution Avas adopted, and the folloAv- ing persons Avere chosen hy the members of the meeting to constitute the Society: Rev. Leonard IVoods, Rev. William Jenks, Rev. Justin Edivards, ReA\ Warr'en Fay, Rev. Benjamin B. Wisner, Rev. Francis Wayland, Rca^ Timothy Werritt, Hon. Marcus Morton, Hon. Samuel Hubbard, Hon. Wil- liam Reed, Hon. George Odiorne, John Tappan, Esq., William Ropes, Esq., S. V. S. Wilder, Esq., J ames P. Chaplin, M. D., and Enoch Hale, M. D. At its first meeting, the Society elected Hon. Mar- cus Morton as its president, and Leonard Woods, Justin EdAvards, John Tappan, George Odiorne, and S. V. S. Wilder as the Executive Committee. At the second meeting eighty-four men from the Middle and Northern States Avere chosen as addi- ional members of the Society. Though the basis of this Society Avas really entire abstinence from ardent spirits, it Avas not explicitly so stated at first in the constitution, nor Avas it exacted as a pledge, for motives of pru- dence, doubtless. The original object, as stated Progression : Abstinence. 55 in the constitution, was ‘‘to produce such a change of public sentiment, and such a renovation of the habits of individuals and the customs of the com- munity, that in the end temperance, with all its attendant blessings, may universally prevail.” To accomplish this object, one of the modes of oper- ation propo^d was “to do whatever is practicable and expedient toward the forming of voluntary associations, for the purpose of promoting the ends of the Society.” The first such association, or temperance society, however, planted itself squarely on entire abstinence. This was the soci- ety at Andover, the home of Justin Edwards, organized on September 1st of that same year. E ^re a^ stmence^^hecame thenceforward the ac- cepted principle of societies that were later formed under the auspices of this parent Society. The iMassicEteeff^Society for the Suppression of In- *temperance, which since its organization in 1813 had stood upon a platform of moderation, and whose work had for a number of years languished, in ISTovember, 1827, recommended the practice of entire abstinence, making it a few years later a part of its constitution. A Centuky of Dkink Refoem. The first permanent general agent of the Amer- ican Temperance Society was Rev. Nathaniel Hewit, of Fairfield, Connecticut. Hewit was a man of great power over an audience, and was already known to have preached with effect on the subject of temperance. During his three years’ service he visited the R^ew England and many of the Middle and Southern States, addressing Churches, conferences, ecclesiastical and other bodies. He wrought effectually in those pioneer days, and has been called the Luther of the early temjDerance reform. Under the general agent. State and district agents were appointed. The work grew, and societies sprang up everywhere. The labors of the American Temperance Soci- ety were powerfully re-enforced by addresses and publications of various kinds. Early in 1S2S, iRev. Calvin Chapin had begun, with caustic pen, la series of thirty-three articles in the Connecticut johserver, on “The Only Infallible Antidote” — I entire abstinence, the truth of which was strik- ’ ingly illustrated. On March 4th, the same year, less than a month after the American Temperance Society was organized, there appeared in Boston Peogeessiok : Abstinence. 57 the first paper ever established to advocate entire abstinence, The National Philanthropist. It was founded by Rev. William Collier, a Baptist min- ister, a graduate of Brown University. Its motto was. Temperate drinking is the down-hill road to drunkenness. After the second month it be- came a regular weekly paper. A few years later'^ it was edited for a time by William Lloyd Garri- son, who wrote: “When this paper was first pro- posed it met with a repulsion which would have utterly discouraged a less zealous and persevering man than our predecessor. The moralist looked on doubtfully; the whole community esteemed the enterprise desperate. By extraordinary efforts and under appalling disadvantages the first num- ber was given to the public, and since that time it has gradually expanded in size and increased in circulation till doubt and prejudice and ridicule have been swept away.” That a paper directly devoted to temperance might become a power in the reform had evidently not occurred to the people. I Early in 1827 the country was stirred by an I address given at Lyme, New Hampshire, on Janu- 58 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. I ary 8th, by Jonathan Kittredge, one of the ablest I lawyers and jurists of his generation. It was a fearful iudictment of moderate drinking, and cre- j ated a great sensation. He speaks thus: “But we I are apt to think that the wretches whom we see / and have described were always so ; that they "were ^ out of miserable and degraded families ; and that they are walking in the road in which they were I born. But this is not so. Among the number may I be found a large proportion who were as lovely in their infancy, as promising in their youth, and as useful in early life, as your OAvn children, and have become drunkards — I repeat it, and let it never he forgotten — have become drunkards by the temperate, moderate, and habitual use of ar- dent spirits, just as you use them now. Were it not for this use of ardent spirits, we should not now hear of drunken senators and drunken magis- I trates, of drunken lawyers and drunken doctors ; • Churches would not now be mourning over . drunken ministers and drunken members ; jiarents would not now he weeping over drunken children, wives over drunken husbands, husbands over drunken wives, and angels over a drunken world. “He who advises men not to drink to excess Pkogeession : Abstinence. 69 may lop off the branches ; he who advises them to drink only on certain occasions may fell the trunk; but he who tells them not to drink at all strikes and digs deep for the roots of the hideous vice of intemperance; and this is the only course to pursue. . . . Let those who can not be re- claimed go to ruin, and the quicker the better if you regard only the public good ; but save the rest of our population ; save yourselves ; save your chil- I dren! Raise not up an army of drunkards to f supply their places ! Purify your houses ! They contain the plague of death — the poison that in a few years will render some of your little ones what the miserable wretches that you see staggering the streets are now. ... As long as you keep ar- dent spirits in your houses, as long as you drink it yourselves, as long as it is polite and genteel to sip the intoxicating bowl, so long society will remain just what it is now and so long drunkards will spring from your loins, and so long drunkards will wear your names to future generations. And there is no way given under heaven whereby man can be saved from the vice of intemperance but that of total abstinence/' 60 A Centuet of Deink Eefoem. This address was issued by the American Tract Society as l^o. 221 in their series, and was spread abroad by the hundred thousands. A little later, the same year, came the famous address by Reuben D. Mussey, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at Dartmouth, before the New Hamp- shire Medical Society, of which he was president. This address, too, insisting that spirits are not essential to health, or indispensable even in medi- cine, was widely read, and made a deep impres- ^on. About this time also, Beecher’s Six Ser- mons appeared in print, and entered upon their W^orld-wide mission. Among the other effective publications during the first five years following the formation of the American Temperance Soci- ety were : “Discourses on Intemperance,” by Rev. John Palfrey, of Boston; “Effects of Spirituous Liquors on Society,” by S. Emlen, M. D., of Philadelphia ; “Twelve Essays on Intemperance,” by Rev. Albert Barnes, of Morristo^vn, New Jer- sey, later of Philadelphia; a masterly “Parallel between Intemperance and the Slave Trade,” by lleman Humphrey, D. D., President of Amherst ; “Putnam and the Wolf,” an address by Rev. John Pkogression : Abstinence. 61 Marsh, of Haddam, Connecticut, given at Pom- fret, where the famous hunt by this Eevolutionary hero took place; Professor Edward Hitchcock’s “Argument against the Manufacture of Spirits,” and “Prize Essay on Alcoholic and Harcotic Sub- stances;” Professor Moses Stuart’s prize essay on the subject, “Is the Use of Distilled Liquors and the Traffic in Them at Present Compatible with a Profession of the Christian Religion ?” Addresses by Dr. Thomas Sewall in Washington, General Lewis Cass in Detroit, and Rev. Mr. ]\Ic- Ilvaine in Brooklyn; lastly, the Annual Reports of the American Temperance Society. At the opening of the ’30’s the Churches had argely planted themselves on the princ iple oL cn- ice,_ 3 ^fmence. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, on an awakening conscience, had appointed the fourth Thursday of January, 1829, as a day of fasting and prayer, which was generally observed, even outside that denomina- tion. The House of Representatives of the Hew York Legislature adjourned for that day, to attend worship in a body, in the city of Albany. Exten- sive revivals of religion followed. This was in 62 A Centuky of Drink Eefoem. fact true wherever temperance activity had made I itself felt. Merchants gave up the sale of ardent I spirits in their stores, distillers and retailers aban- ■ doned the business entirely, under the stress of moral conviction. Young men who could he in- duced to abandon the cup were more easily brought under the influence of religion. So manifestly was this the case everywhere that the temperance reformation came to be called the John the Baptist of the Gospel. ^ A large service was rendered to temperance, particularly in his own denomination, by Wilbur Fisk, one of the best educated and strongest preachers in the Methodist Church in his day. He threw himself into the temperance movement at the very commencement of this epoch, and gave his active support to the American Temperance Society when his denomination yet stood aloof. In his persistent effort to free the Methodist Church from the venders of ardent spirits, he en- countered no little hostility, and persecution even, j but he won out. In 1832 he sent out his “Address to the members of the Methodist Church on the subject of Temperance,” to induce those Avho still Progression : Abstinence. 63 refused to come over to abandon the business. “The Christian’s dramshop ! Sound it to your- self,” he protests, in mingled indignation and ap- peal. Two years before this he had been elected president of Wesleyan University, just established at Middletown, Connecticut — the first president of this first Methodist university. f Many college presidents entered actively into I the early reform. There were, Francis Wayland, /of Brown University; Eliphalet Uott, of Union I College; Heman Humphrey, of Amherst; Mark I Hopkins, of Williams; Jesse Appleton, of Bow- / doin; Hathan Lord, of Dartmouth; and Jeremiah < Day, of Yale. Of these Heman Humphrey was the first to advocate entire abstinence, years before the American Temperance Society was formed. Eliphalet Hott became a zealous temperance ad- vocate contemporaneous with the organization of that Society. Both as an educator and a pulpit orator Hott was unsurpassed. In July, 1804, upon invitation by the Common Council of Al- bany, where he served as pastor, he preached a memorial discourse upon the death of Alexander Hamilton, a personal friend and a frequent at- 64 A CEifTUKY OF Drink Eeform. / I tendant at his Church. The discourse became fa- mous, being, in the language of a contemporary- journalist, “one of the most eloquent and highly finished productions of the kind which this coun- try has produced.” This same year Dr. is’ott was called to the presidency of Union College at Schenectady, then in its infancy; in which capac- ity he served an unprecedented term of sixty-two years — a man of wide and varied learning, the oracle of student and of statesman, conspicuous early advocate of the temperance and anti-slavery reforms. In the terrific and telling vividness with which he pictured the evils of intemperance he was excelled by no man. , With such men leadiilg, or lending their aid to the reform; with Churches standing on absti- nence, or coming over, and medical societies de- claring for it ; with thousands abandoning the traffic in ardent spirits before the sweep of a mighty conviction, and many more thousands, by their practice of abstinence, putting to shame the ai’gument that strong drink makes men strong, and is essential to health — the temperance move- ment was bound to grow, and presently to become Pkogression ; Abstinence. sr; A: 65 across the water, had caught the inspiration. In Ireland, Rev. John Edgar, a Presbyterian min- ister and Professor of Divinity at Belfast Col- lege, became the leader of the movement. Having been in communication with the friends of tem- perance in America, he published an article in the Belfast News-Letter, August 14, 1829, point- ing out the need for temperance work in Ireland. This is the first appeal made on this subject to the Christian conscience of Europe. Soon after this appeal, the first temperance society in Ireland was started at Hewross by Rev. George W. Carr. The movement then began to spread. Almost si- multaneously, in Scotland, Mr. John Dunlop, a Greenock squire, who had studied the American temperance societies, and had become deeply im- pressed with the evils that fiowed from the Scotch- man’s love of whisky, formed a society at Green- ock, in October, 1829. Dunlop lectured in Edin- burgh and other cities, and everywhere temper- ance societies sprang up. From here the move- ment spread to England. Mr. Henry Eorbes, a merchant from Bradford, in Yorkshire, on a busi- 5 66 A Centuky of Dein^k Refoem. ness trip to Glasgow attended the public meetings of the temperance societies there. He became convinced of the necessity and worth of temper- ance reform and after his return he, organized, on February 2, 1830, the Bradford Temperance So- ciety, the first in England. Societies were formed during the same year in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and other of the larger cities of England, the reform entering London the following year, in the formation of the London Temperance Soci- ety in June, IfiSl. In Sweden, also, it was heard that temperance societies had been established in America, and were working such good results. The Royal Swed- ish Patriotic Society at Stockholm became inter- ested, and instructed their secretary, in May, 1830, to open communication with a view to ascer- taining the plan of organization and work of these societies. Early in 1831 the first temperance soci- ety was formed, in Stockholm. In the United States the years frosn 1831 to 1836 were most fruitful in the re^nn. The movement was getting under way and gathering momentum. First among the many agencies that Pkogression : Abstinence. 67 x/ gave it impulse was the Eev. Justin Edwards, who, as corresponding secretary of Ahe American Temperance Society during these/years, became the chief promoter of organize^ temperance in America. As a discerning thinker, efficient organ- izer, and wise leader, Dr. Edwards was the ablest man at this early stage of the reform. Afore than any other he had been instrumental i^^e forma- tion of the American Temperance SoejfCTy, in col- lecting funds for the employment of a general agent, and in promoting in other ways, in the be- ginning, the cause of that organization. Upon the resignation of Eev. Nathaniel Hewit, at the close of 1830, as general agent of the Society, Dr. Edwards assumed the chief labors of that office, visiting many States, including the Province of New Brunswick in Canada, and everywhere or- ganizing temperance societies. The publications during these years were nu- merous. It was the golden age of temperance lit- erature. The public lyceums, for discussions, de- bates, and lectures, which originated in Alassa- chifsetts in 1826-28, and spread presently through the land, were giving publicity and aid to the re- 68 A Centuiiy of Defn’k Refoem. form. Temperance newspapers were growing in numbers and influence. In tbe form of tract or pamphlet, the press was sending forth by the mil- lion copies such writings as these: Poems and Tales by Mrs. Sigourney; Addresses by Rev. Aus- tin Dickinson ; “Who Slew All These ?” by Mrs. Halsey, circulated by the hundred thousands ; the Ox Sermon — from Exodus xxi, 28, 29 — by Rev. Eli Merrill, of which two million copies circu- lated in 1833 ; Address by President Heman Humphrey, on “The Dialogue between the Rum- seller and His Conscience;” “The Burning of the Ephesian Books,” by Rev. John Pierpont, the fearless, resolute Boston Unitarian minister and poet, so valiant in the reform; Sermons by Rev. E. H. Kirk, of Albany, later of Boston, one of the most powerful preachers of his day ; “The Immor- ality of the Traffic in Ardent Spirits,” by Rev. Albert Barnes, of Philadelphia ; Essays by Hon. Mark Doolittle, of Kew Hampshire, and by Dr. Harvey Bindley, of Washington; and lastly, and perhaps most effective of all, the Temperance Tales by Sargent. Lucius M. Sargent was a col- lege graduate, trained for the law, but having Progression : Abstinence. 69 money resources and literary tastes lie devoted himself to the temperance refonu. His Tales, be- ginning in 1833 with “My Mother’s Gold Ring,” came forth in numbered succession, a score of them in the space of a few years. Dr. Charles Jewett, who entered the reform at the close of the ’30’s, wrote afterwards that if all opposition to the liquor system could by one blow be annihi- lated, and with it all temperance men and women then living, together with every 'publication or instrumentality that had ever assailed the system, saving only from the wreck Lyman Beecher’s Six Sermons, Sargent’s Tales, and “The Rum Fiend,” a poem by William H. Burleigh, a few years later, — these alone ought, among any civilized people who can read, to originate another temper- ance reform, and carry it to a consummation. Of all the publications the greatest excitement was aroused by “Deacon Amos Giles’s Distillei’y: A Dream,” by Rev. George B. Cheever, of Salem, Massachusetts, a college classmate of Hawthorne and of Longfellow. This publicity was due partly to the document itself, but more largely probably to the fact that its author, because of it, became 70 A CeNTUKY OE DEI^fK Refoem. a kind of martyr to the cause. In this town, where Cheever had settled, there were four dis- tilleries whose lurid flames burned day and night, week-day and Sabbath, pouring forth desolation upon the community. Within a few minutes wallc from the minister’s study was a workhouse, of whose three thousand inmates the vast proportion were there, directly or indirectly, owing to intem- perance. Over these evils and Sabbath desecra- tions this young minister could not sleep. "WTien he lay down it was only to dream, which. in this instance proved to be not all a dream. His mind having in its waking hours stored up the visual impression, “Inquire at So-and-So’s,” seen in fa- miliar advertisements, mingled this in strange in- congruity in his dream. Imps had entered by night, so he dreamed, into the distillery of one Amos Giles, a deacon, who also kept Bibles for sale in one comer of his establishment, and in their fiendish revelry had painted signs on the casks, reading on this wise : “Who hath woe ? Inquire at Deacon Giles’s Distillery. Delirium Tremens ? Inquire at Deacon Giles’s Distillery. Insanity and Murder ? Inquire at Deacon Giles’s Distil- Peogeession : Abstinence. 71 lery,” etc. These letters were invisible to the distiller, but flamed out in letters of red as the retailer was about to deal out the contents. This Dream was first published in the Salem Land- mark, in February, 1835. Cheever was arrested for libel by one of the distillers of the town, whom the coat seemed to fit best, and although Cheever was defended by Rufus Choate, he was punished with a fine and with imprisonment at thirty days. This gave the widest publicity to the article, and was the means, by the sentiment it created, of closing the distillery. The gods were seemingly on the side of the reform, for they first made the distiller mad. So much for the literature of these years, from 1831-1836, the second five years since the forma- tion of the American Temperance Society. We will now note briefly the events of progress during these same years. In the fifth Annual Report of the American Temperance Society, in 1832, the following figures are given, according to the best information then obtainable: More than 1,500,000 people in the United States abstain from ardent spirits, and from furnishing it; more than 4,000 72 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. temperance societies are in existence, with more than 500,000 members; more than 1,500 distil- i leries have stopped, and more than 4,000 grocers have ceased selling; 4,500 drunkards have ceased I using spirits, and many thousands have united j with Churches as the result of giving up drinking. Every State has a State temperance society, ex- cept three. Temperance societies have been intro- duced into various parts of Africa, and into the Sandwich Islands. ^ In the fall of the same year, November 5, 1832, an order was issued by General Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, banishing the spirit ration from the army, and prohibiting the introduction of spirituous liquors into any camp, fort, or garri- son of the United States."^ The Secretary of the f Navy bore testimony to ttie evils of strong drink in the service, and offered a money substitute for the grog ration to all who would accept it. The ^cholera plague, which came like a scourge upon the Nation in 1832, was made to praise the tem- perance reform, for it visibly picked its victims, as was pointed out, from the ranks of the drinker. Those who fled to the bottle were the flrst to suc- cumb. 73 Peogeession : Abstinence. On February 26, 1833, on previous recommen- dation by the American Temperance Society, si- multaneous temperance mass-meetings were held throughout the land and in Europe, to make a powerful impression upon the public in the fur- therance of the cause of temperance. On that day, at a meeting of the members of Congress, the American Congressional Temperance Society was formed, on the basis of total abstinence from spir- its, and from the traffic therein. Hon. Lewis Cass, the Secretary of War, was made president of the society. Many distinguished members of both houses of Congress and other Oovernment officials became members of the society. Earlier in the same month Rev. Justin Edwards, the correspond- I kig secretary of the American Temperance Soci- iety, had addressed the members of Congress, upon their invitation, on the subject of temperance ; which was followed, during the same week, by a rousing mass-meeting in the hall of the House of Representatives. The fervid speeches made on this occasion we^Vprinted and scattered abroad, and gave impetus to the reform. Following the example of Congress, in a number of States legis- lative temperance societies were formed. N < 5 ^ 74 A Centuey of DEmK Refoem. ^ During this same year — 1833 — the first Na- tional Temperance Cr ention, pursuant to a call I by the American T^perance Society, met in Philadelphia the last week in May. The object I of this gathering was to consid er the means of ex- I tendin g. , hv the general diffusion of infonnation ^ and the exertion of moral influence, the principle / of abstinence from ardent spirits throughout the ^ country, ^^wenty-one Stat^ were represented, with over four hundred delegates, including also a delegate from the London Temperance Society, or the British and Foreign Temperance Society, as it was renamed soon after its organization. Hon. Reuben Walworth, Chancellor of the State of New York, presided over this convention. Dis- tinguished men sat in the convention, and the in- fluence that went out was powerful for good. The convention commended especially the banishing of spirits from the army, the formation of a temper- ance society in Congress, the increase in the num- ber of temperance groceries, public-houses, and steamboats; and the influence of woman in the reform. (“In the temperance and anti-slavery agitations woman first emerged from the privacy Pkogeession : Abstinence. 75 of liome life to sign public petitions and mount the platform.” — Schouler.) The convention rec- ommended: a temperance society in every town ( and city ward in the United States ; a temperance publication in every family in the land; that ed- ; itors publish information on the subject of tem- perance, and thus prove themselves benefactors of mankind; that statistics be gathered in every lo- cality of the progress of temperance, and of the relation between pauperism, and crime, and strong drink; that on the last Tuesday in Uebruary, 3834, simultaneous temperance meetings be held throughout the world. It was also voted to form a more organic and representative national tem- perance organization, to be composed of the offi- cers of the American Temperance Society and of the several State societies, to take the place of the American Temperance Society. This was not car- ried into effect, however, until three years later. Through the liberality of Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, 100,000 copies were distributed of the proceedings of this convention. 76 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. Second Period: 18S6-1851. Teetotalism. ^ The second ISTational Temperance Convention met in Saratoga, August 4, 1836, with three hun- dred and sixty-four delegates in attendance. The scope of the temperance reform was now to be enlarged and the hounds set out, where, on the purely moral side, they have ever since remained. Since the last ISTational Convention a branch agency of the American Temperance Society had been established at Philadelphia, with Rev. John Marsh, former agent of the Connecticut State So- ciety, as its incumbent. By vote of Congress, and approval of President Jackson, the sale of spirits to the Indians had been prohibited in 1834. The first temperance almanac had been issued in Al- bany. The report of Samuel Chipman had been given to the public, containing the results of his investigations, on an exhaustive scale, in the jails and poorhouses in the State of Hew Tork upon the relation between intemperance, pauperisrn, and crime. The marine insurance companies in ISTew York City had voted to deduct five per cent from premiums on ships sailing without spirits (of which there were already many hundreds), Pkogeession : Abstinence. 77 which was followed, a few years later, by a similar offer from the Cincinnati companies, of a reduc- tion of ten per cent on temperance steamboats. It was now ten years since the American Tem- perance Society hac^egun its work, and ushered in the era of entire abstinence as the effectual remedy for intemperance. That principle had now had a fair trial, and the verdict was that it I had worked well — as far as it had been tried. The principle was sou:M, but its application had not covered every con'bWgency. Entire abstinence meant the renouncing of ardeut spirits — the dis- tilled or spirituous liquors, like wliisky and rum; nothing more. Ardent spirits alone had been aimed at by the temperance movement — first their regulation, or moderate use; then their renunci- ation, until now. Latterly, however it was found that many who had stood on their feet, members of temperance societies, had again fallen, not on rum, but on wine, cider, and beer. Erom the days of Dr. Hush it had been generally considered that fermented liquors, in ordinary quantities, did not contain sufficient spirit to produce intoxication^ Dr. Rush did not in fact recommend these drinks 78 A Century of Drink Reform. as a substitute for spirits, but recommended, in- stead, simply water. Persons wbo were ^‘unable to relish this simple beverage of nature,” he al- lowed, might, “in preference to ardent spirits,” drink cider, wines, malt liquors, molasses and water, or vinegar and water, the juice of the sugar maple, and coffee. It was not unknown, indeed, for men to ab- stain from wine, and from malt liquors even, com- paratively early in the reform. But this was not emphasized or widely recognized, and was not em- bodied in the organized movement. The subject n ow compelle d_a, ttention ^and upon closer exami- nation it was found that, not in distillation, but in the process of fermentation itself, the intoxicat- ing principle in liquor was produced. A story is told of a Hew England innkeeper, who, having previously been addicted to ardent spirits, was induced to join a temperance society. He was constantly in the habit of recounting the blessings of the temperance reform upon himself, yet he was notoriously oftener drunk than before, being scarcely ever sober enough to see his own incon- y sistency. One morning when, as usual, he was PEOGKESSIOlir : Abstistence. 79 mucli tlie worse for hard cider, a Quaker stopped with a wagon at his door. Trying in vain to ad- just some part of the Quaker’s harness, he at length apologized that his eyes were very sore. He did n’t know what was the matter with them, jie said, ^‘Do you suppose,” he asked, ‘'that these gog- gles are any help to my eyes ?” revealing, as he re- moved them, an extraordinary pair of fiery balls surrounded by ulcerated, hairless lids, “Hay, friend,” replied the Quaker, “Do tell me,” rejoined the innkeeper, “don’t you know something or other that will help my eyes 2 ” “Yea, verily,” replied the Quaker, as he jogged his horse forward, “thee mayest wash thy eyes with the cider, and put the goggles over thy mouth,” But there was another practical difficulty. Hot merely did men who abstained from spirits lapse on cider, wine, and beer; but it was often hard to get men to take even the ardent spirit pledge while these other liquors were not given up, “If I could afford to use wine as you do,” 80 A Centuey of Deijs^k Eefoem. some poor rum drinker was apt to reply, “I would be willing to give up my grog,” (A poor man could buy far more stimulation in rum in those days, before tbe taxing, than he could in wine.) ^‘You want to take away our drink, but you keep yours.” So it was coming to pass that all in- toxicating drinks would have to stand or fall to- gether. The principle of abstinence, having once been established, it was less hard to extend it to all liquors that produced intoxication. The new plan had already been introduced in the societies at Hector and the neighboring towns in Hew York, between 1826 and 1830, chiefly through the influ- ence of Rev. Joel Jewell. As secretary of the Hector society, in 1827, Mr. Jewell is believed to be the first to have brought into use the word tee- totalism. There were two classes of members in the society: those who abstained from ardent spir- its only, before whose names on the roll the letters 0. P . — old pledge — were placed; and those who took the more comprehensive pledge, including, ^n addition, wine, before whose name the letter T was placed, meaning total. By explaining this Pkogeessioit : Abstinence. 81 designation on the roll, that T stood for total, such persons were directly called T-T otalers. The pioneer in t ojal ahstinenee across the water was the society at Preston, in Lancashire, England. Joseph Livesey, a Preston provision dealer, of large good sense and self-education, who as a poor orphan boy had worked in the cotton mills of that town, seeing that the pledge against ardent spirits alone was insufficient, drew up a pledge of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors on August 23, 1832, signed it, called in a neighbor, John King, who was passing, to sign with him; then secured five other names. These were the “seven men of Preston,” who became the founders of the total abstinence movement in Eng- land. But Livesey was the father of the cause, and became its chief promoter. This was called the “tee-total pledge,” a designation not imported from America, we are told, but from the speech of a laboring man, “Dickey” Turner, who at a meet- ing of the Preston Society, in September, 1833, in referring to the current half-way pledge (from spirits only), said he wanted nothing of that, but that he ’d be out-and-out, “right down t-total for- 6 82 A Centuky of Deink Reform. ever,” repeating tlie first letter for emphasis. Those present at once said that that was the word ; the pledge should be called teetotal. But however the name may have passed into currency, teetotalism was becoming a fact. The Mississippi State Temperance Convention, on Christmas, 1833, recommended that all new soci- eties abstain from vdne as well as from spirits. The Kentucky Legislative Temperance Society, organized early in 1831, with the governor as its president, voted to abstain from both spirits and wine. In 1835 the Kew York State Temperance Society — the most efficient perhaps of all the State societies — ^began to advocate through its official paper. The Temperance Recorder, total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. This position was also taken, in the fall of the same year, by the Massachusetts State Society at its convention in Boston. After some correspondence with the lead- ing men in the reform. Dr. Justin Edwards, the corresponding secretary of the American Temper- ance Society, who had already pointed out the ne- cessity for this advance step, sent out a call for a second national temperance convention, as has Progression : Abstinence. 83 been mentioned, to meet in Saratoga, l^ew York, in August, 1836. V At this convention tlie principle of abstinence was extended to all intoxicating liquors. The new pledge was generally adopted by State and local societies, though there were not wanting those who refused to go to that extent. The new temper- ance organiza^tion, contemplated at the National Convention tllree years before, in Philadelphia, was now put into operation under the name of the Ampripan lempexanee — dfrtion. General John Hartwell Cocke, of Virginia, an early stanch friend of the cause, whom the management of a large estate and the command of troops had con- vinced of the value of temperance, became its first president. How that the American Temperance Society was merged into the new organization. Rev. Justin Edwards resigned as corresponding secretary. The five annual reports, beginning with 1831, which he had prepared, dealt not merely with the eveuts of the temperance move- ment, but were packed with cogent discussions of the underlying principles of the reform. Each annual report was widely circulated and eagerly 84 A Centtjky of Deink; Refoem. read, beyond the seas even, and everywhere com- pelled attention. Among the abundant and ef- fective literature of this period these reports must be given a foremost place. They were now repub- lished in a single volume, under the title, “Perma- nent Documents of the American Temperance Society;” and the active work of Justin Edwards was done. Rev. John Marsh, a tried and efficient ^ worker in the cause, was made correspond in g sec- \ reta ry of the American Temperance Union, a po- sition he held for twenty-nine years, during the entire life of that body; until, under changed con- ditions, it was reorganized upon a new basis, and with a new name. During this fruitful third decade the Amer- ican temperance movement had not only intro- duc ed the reform a broa^aK we have' seen, through its literature, but it materially furthered the cause ^through its personal representatives there. Rev. Nathaniel Hewit, upon resigning the general agency of the American Temperance Society at the close of 1830, was the first to go abroad in the interests of the movement. He visited Great Britain and France. The most important service. PEOGEESsioisr : Abstinence. 85 perhaps, was rendered by Rev. Robert Baird, a TOor Pennsylvania boy, who by/dint of ambition \/and bard work graduated from Jefferson College and from Princeton Seminaryi and was now the ^ent in an American moven^t for the evangel- zation of Southern Europe, particularly France, •connpc^ion with this mission, during the latter half of tne thirties, he made several tours through J^orthern^ urope in th u^jp^ests o f tei ^erance. He we^rT5e^)re crowned heads, presenting them with copies' of his “History of the Temperance Societies in the United States,” and reporting per- sonally of the good workings of these societies. King Frederick William III of Prussia, who a few years before had commissioned his minister at Washington to make him an accurate report of the temperance societies in America, gave Baird a warm welcome ; ordered his history to be trans- lated into German, and a copy sent to all the clergy, with the injunction to the minister of I police to encourage in every locality the formation of temperance societies against spirits. Another ■ representative abroad was Edward C. Delavan, who went in 1838, taking with him a large supply 86 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. of temperance literature. Delavan was an early retired merchant of Albany, of wealth and culture, who since the close of the twenties had given his gratuitous service to the temperance cause, and had become the master spirit of the movement in Rew York State. Through his liberality and en- terprise millions of temperance publications were circulated. He defrayed the expense of Rev. Xa- thaniel Hewit’s European tour in 1831, already mentioned; took a prominent part in the agitation against fermented liquors, and at the organization of the American Temperance Union in 1836 he was made chairman of the Executive Committee, donating ten thousand dollars to the Union for its work. With the going out of the thirties the interest in the reform had apparently suffered a decline. This was due partly to the more comprehensive ' and drastic form of the pledge, resulting in an un- fruitful controversy, within the Church, over the question of Bible wines, due partly to the resort to legislative expedients, hut due most largely, iprobably, to the fact that no sweep of moral en- thusiasm can continue unabated for many years Pbogeession : Abstinence. 87 at a time. This brief abatement was followed, however, by a renewed wave of interest and en- thusisasm that was to rise to a height such as had never yet been reached. It was the W ashinsrtoni a n movement. For the first time now was the temperance reformation to assume the title role of actual re- demption. Its aim and work hitherto had been prevention, and it s^ sphere ‘ the m oderate drinker. Let him entirely renounce the use of strong drink, it was argued, and the prolific spring of drunken- jness will be dried up; and when the present gener- ation of drunkards, for whom there can be but little hope, has gone to the inevitable grave, the nation will be sober. In consequence the temper- ance movement was confined almost entirely within the limits of Church and of respectability. . The new manifestation was to break forth outside these bounds, and addressing itself to the outcast victims of drink, was destined to accomplish, under the impulse of an almost irresistible moral enthusiasm and by the power of moral appeal, what had hitherto been considered impossible even to religion — the reclamation of the drunkard. CC> 88 A Centuey of Dkink Refoem. It began in Baltimore, in 1840. On a certain evening the firstf week in’^pril^ ' a small company of men — congenial spirits — ^had gathered, as was their custom, at Chase’s Tavern on Liberty Street, to spend the evening over their cups. Rev. Mat- thew Hale Smith, the temperance lecturer, was to speak in the city that night. It was agreed that several of the company should go to hear the lec- ture, and report. When they came hack one re- marked that he believed temperance was all right. The tavern-keeper, who was standing by, said those temperance people were all hypocrites. “It ’s all well enough for you to say that,” the other replied; “it ’s to your interest to cry them down.” The matter was talked over. Some one suggested that Mitchell (a tailor) draw up a pledge. After an- other meeting or two a pledge was drawn up, cov- ering all intoxicating liquors, and was signed by six men. They called themselves. The Washington- ian Temperance Society, in honor of the father of his coimtry. Their first meetings were held nightly, in a carpenter shop; then weekly. At once they commenced to gather in recruits. It was a rule for every member to bring a man with him. By Pkogeession : Abstinence. 89 fall their society had several hundred members, reformed drinkers. The most valuable accession, who joined the society in June, was John Henry W. Hawkins, destined to become the leader of the movement, “the major-general of the total absti- nence army,” as his comrades called him. Hawkins was born of Christian parents, and at fourteen had professed religion. But being apprenticed to a hatter he drank with the other boys ; formed a taste for liquor, and became a con- firmed drunkard. When, after he had married, he was carried home drunk, and his family would care for him so tenderly, it pierced his heart with compunction. After several trials he resolved once more, on June 12th, that with the help of God he would never again taste nor expose him- self to the temptation of strong drink. Three days later he signed the pledge, and kept it. Early in 1841, Hawkins, with four others, went to Hew York City to -tell the story of their reformation. Daily meetings were held in the largest Churches, and finally in the park. From here they went to Boston, where Eaneuil Hall would not hold the crowds. In groups these men went from city to 90 A Century of Drink Reform. city, and State to State, as far west as St. Louis, securing signatures to the pledge by the thousands, and starting Washington Societies. A newspaper was established as the special organ of the move- ment, and Martha Wa^ington Societies, among women, sprang into |^^tence. Rot the drunkard only, but all classes gave their names to the pledge, to countenance the work. By 1843, however, in- terest began to wane, and soon Washingtonianism had spent its force. Hawkins, though, continued his labors unremittingly in the cause of temper- ance until his death, in 1858, visiting every State in the Union save only California. In the light of subsequent history it is of in- terest to note what was the attitude toward this refonn, of that most typical and best loved Amer- ican, Abraham Lincoln. By invitation from the Washington Society in Springfield, Illinois, Lin- coln delivered a Washington Birthday address in the Presbyterian Church of that city, on Pebruary 22, 1842, in the course of which he said : “Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total and final banishment from it of all intoxicat- ing drinks, seems to me not now an open question. Pkogkessiojst : Abstinence. 91 , Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative I with their tongues ; and, I believe, all the rest I acknowledge it in their hearts. ... If the f relative grandeur of revolutions shall be estimated I by the great amount of human misery they allevi- 5 ate and the small amount they inflict, then, indeed, ; will this be the grandest the world shall ever have seen. . . . And when the victory shall be ^ complete, when there shall be neither a slave nor ? a drunkard on earth, how proud the title of that land which may truly claim to be the birthplace and the cradle of both those revolutions that shall have ended in that victory!” Lincoln entered zealously into the temperance reform, having made speeches and written on the subject when yet a young man. By his unswerving fidelity to the principle of total abstinence through the years of his later public life, he became a pillar of strength to the temperance cause — a service less widely un- derstood to-day or appreciated, because of his larger labors in l^egro emancipation. In 1862 he signed the bill banishing grog from the navy, as thirty years before it had been banished from the army. The influence of Lincoln’s mother, who 92 A Centuey of Deustk; Eefoem. died when he was but nine, was never effaced. Three things she had impressed upon him: never to tell a falsehood; nor use profanity; nor taste liquor. In the wake of the Washingtonian crusade fol- lowed a new manifestation — the s,g£ret^^^:^ternal te mperanc e orders. They sprang up in response to new neaflsT The drunkards, who by the thou- sands had (been swept out upon dry land by this wave of u^aralleled moral fury, needed care. They must beVathered up, and by sympathy and encouragement nurtured to health and strength. Outcasts frorn society, they needed the sense of brotherhood and to be restored to respectability. With no mon^, they needed financial aid in case of sickness or\death. And none of the existing beneficiary fraternal orders rested on total absti- nence. The first such secret temperance organization in America was the Independent Order of Eechab- ites (for whose name see Jeremiah xxxv), the first ‘Tent” of which was established in Boston in 1841. It received its name and form from a similar order in England, established at Salford in 1835. Up Progression : Abstinence. 93 to the time of the Civil War this order had a good groAvth. Lately its prosperity has revived some- what. A more important order in preserving the fruits of the Washingtonian movement was th^X^ de r of the So^ns of Te mperance, organized in ISTew York City on September 29, 1842, in Teetotaler’s Hall, 71 Division Street. This order, like the pre- ceding one, was beneficiary. It grew rapidly, reaching the zenith of its prosperity at the close of the first decade of its existence, with nearly a quarter of a million members. This order was introduced into Great Britain in 184Y, and has since spread widely to other countries. Since 1866 women have been admitted to full member- ship. The Cadets of Temperance, offspring of the Sons of Temperance, and composed of youth, at- tained an independent existence between the years 1845-47, at the time when Bands of Hope sprang up in England. Cold Water Armies had already been in existence in this country for some years. In 1839, Rev. John Marsh, the corresponding sec- retary of the American Temperance Union, had 94 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. started a paper, The Youth’s Temperance Banner, in which ‘‘the doings of the juveniles were first brought to light.” In 1845, the Templars of Honor and Temper- ance, offspring likewise of the Sons of Temper- ance, came into being. Organized by the members of the latter order, and intended at first only as a higher degree in that order — for more educational work and a study of methods of active propagand- ism — it separated from its parent in 1846, and soon spread over the country and into Canada. As the temple succeeded the tabernacle in the wilder- ness, not to be taken down or folded up, so the name of this order was to be a s}anbol of its permanence. In 1878, an endowment plan, with sick and death benefits, was adopted. What proved to become the largest of all the fraternal ( Mnperance orders originated in Central Hew Yorbl^n 1851 — the Or der of^Good Templar s. During this j^ar a lodge at Utica and at Oriskany Falls, belonging to an ephemeral temperance or- ganization with fantastic rites, called the Knights of Jericho, resolved to form a new organization, with a new ritual. They called themselves “Good Pkogkession : Abstinence. 95 Templars,” to sustain their recognition as an indi- vidual body. About a dozen lodges were thus or- ganized in Oneida County, when in July, 1852, at a convention of these lodges in Utica, the newly- organized lodge at Syracuse withdrew, through a grievance of its leader, Levrett E. Coon, and re- solved itself into an ‘‘Independent” Order of Good Templars, changing its motto to Eaith, Hope, and Charity. Some of the other lodges joined in this- — practically all of them later; and thus con- stituted, this organization was to become the fruit- ful parent of a multitude. The order grew rap- idly. In 1855, at a meeting of the Grand Lodges of ten States, in Cleveland, the Right Worthy Grand Lodge was organized as the supreme head of the order. In 1874, Hon. Samuel D. Hastings, for a number of years the head of the order, was sent to Australia and the islands of the Pacific in the interests of temperance. Since then it has ex- tended over all the earth. In 1876, at Louisville, Kentucky, the Grand Lodges of Great Britain and Ireland seceded, ostensibly over the question of ex- tending the order to the Hegroes. In 1887, through the persevering labors of John B. Finch, 96 A Century of Dkink RuFOEir. for three years the head of the order, this breach was healed. Through the agency of this temper- The Washingtonian movement, though of brief duration, served to give a new impulse to the growth of temperance sentiment. In 1842, the Congressional Temperance Society was re-organ- ized, with over eighty members, upon a basis of total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors. Hon. George H. Briggs, of Massachusetts, later for a number of years the governor of that State, a man zealous in behalf of temperance, and one of the finest types of manhood produced by this State of many grand men — became the president of this society. In January of the same year both houses of the Pennsylvania Legislature, at Har- risburg, adjourned to attend, with the governor and the heads of State departments, the session of the State Temperance Convention held in that city. The following year the Corporation of He'^ York City voted to provide no intoxicating liquo at the banquet and reception to he given to the Pkogression : Abstinence. 97 President of the United States in June; and no wine was provided at the massive Bunker Hill celebration in Boston, the same month. Ho wine was served at the festivities attending the inaugu- ration of Edward Everett as President of Harvard College, in 1846. Reuben H. Walworth, Chan- cellor of the State of Hew York, had become presi- dent of the American Temperance Union in 1845, succeeding General J. H. Cocke. Dr. Thomas Sewall, of Washington, at about this time also, had prepared his plates of the human stomach, showing that organ in all stages from health to death by delirium tremens. Through the liberal- ity and personal labors of Mr. E. C. Delavan, these were hung as charts in schools, prisons, and public institutions of various kinds. Temperance lecturers made use of them, moving men often- times to conviction where argument alone failed. On August 4, 1846, the first World’s Temper- ance Convention met in London, in the Covent Garden Theater, for a five days’ session.! This event marked the grandest demonstration in favor of the temperance cause that had yet been wit- nessed in England. Among the thirty-two Amer- 7 98 A Century of Drink Reform. / ican representatives present were Lyman Beecher, E. 'N. Kirk, John Marsh, William Lloyd Garri- son, Elihu Burritt, and Frederick Douglass. One of the most effective men on the platform during the Washingtonian decade was Dr. Charles Jewett. Relinquishing a lucrative medical prac- tice in 1838, and with a scientific mastery of the subject of strong drink, he addressed himself chiefly to the thinking portion of the community. His lectures were, however, popular in form, and were spiced with piquant illustrations. Jewett’s keen, flashing eye would kindle any audience, and with a vein of humor unsurpassed he made the hour pass rapidly, and made his second appearance more welcome everywhere than his first. Many a temperance speaker of that day filled his cruse at the sparkling spring of Jewett’s logic and wit. In 1849 he published his lectures, poems, and other Avritings on temperance. Of equally keen wit, incessant and most fearless advocate of tem- perance, was that hunchback Wyoming Valley Presbyterian preacher, with a heart as generous as his wit was unsparing — ^Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, or “Hncle Tommy” Hunt, as he was familiarly Pkogkessiok : Abstinence. 99 called. It was he who had been chiefly instru- mental in enlisting Dr. Charles Jewett actively in the reform. General Ashbel Riley, of Rochester, was another powerful lecturer in those days, trav- eling extensively over this country and in Europe. Captain Benjamin Joy, of Ludlowville, New York, was another indomitable pioneer in the tem- perance reform, who for fhrty-five years gave his time and his strength, without remuneration, to the cause. After Rev. Joel Jewell, of Hector, he was one of the first to organize a teetotal society at Ludlowville. It was at a prayer-meeting in his home, in 1843, that a young Princeton student decided to enter the ministry, a man still young at eighty, whose eloquent voice and facile pen have for more than half a ceptnry been employed with unflinching courage in the mighty battle against strong drink; namely, Theodore L. Cuyler. Two names yet remain — among all the apos- tles of temperance the most famous. As at the seventh anniversary of the American Temperance IJnion in New York City in 1843, the Hutchinson family of singers from New Hampshire were in- troduced to the larger world and to fame, so at the 100 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. rcighth anniversary, in 1844, in the same city, John B. Gough ivas introduced to the world. A native of England, but since the age of twelve an American; a bookbinder by trade, first in Xew York City, then in various cities in Yew England ; his father and mother — godly parents — some years dead, and recently also his wife and child, from hunger and neglect ; John B. Gough, now at twenty-five a hopeless drunkard and wreck, was invited by one Joel Stratton, a Quaker, on the streets of Worcester, Massachusetts, to attend a temperance meeting— in October, 1842. He signs the pledge; he tells the story of his reformation in the rural districts of Worcester County, after the manner of a AVashingtonian ; he succumbs again to his old habit, but only to confess his weak- ness in open meeting, and sign again. Marrying again in 1843, and determined now to devote his life to rescuing drunkards, he starts out through Yew England lecturing, until he reaches Boston, where he forms the friendship of Deacon Moses Grant. It is this patron of temperance who intro- duces Gough at the anniversary in Yew York City. Gough’s gifts are at once recognized, and John Peogeession : Abstinence. 101 Marsh, the corresponding secretary of the Amer- ican Temperance Union, engages him for a tour through I^ew York State. His fame is established ! A natural-born orator, of unsurpassed dramatic powers, he could move an audience to laughter or to tears. Prom that day to the day of his death, in 1886, he was the most brilliant and famous speaker on the temperance platform, and one of the most popular lecturers America has ever had. Three times he visited England in the interests of the reform. On July 2, 1849, Pather Theobald Mathew, the great Irish apostle of temperance, landed in New York City. His American tour may be said to close, with fitting climax, another era in the great temperance reformation. A humble friar, ministering in a mission chapel in Cork, Pather Mathew’s reception in America was such as the proudest monarchs of earth might envy. His only title to distinction lay in his labors on behalf of temperance. A million persons and more had taken the pledge of total abstinence at his hands in Ireland and Great Britain. Pather Mathew had taken up the cause of temperance through the 102 A Centtjet of Deink Eefoem. influence of one William Martin, a Quaker, on the governing board of the Cork Workhouse, with Mathew, where the sad results of drink were espe- cially manifest. Having sent for Martin to assist him in forming a temperance society, Father Mathew calls a public meeting on the evening of April 10, 1838, and is the first to affix his name to the pledge. In three months twenty-five thousand had signed, and Mathew belonged to the public from now on. Father Mathew’s welcome to Hew York City was one that is seldom accorded a foreigner. Wel- comed officially by addresses from the Board of Aldermen, the mayor, and the heads of the differ- ent temperance organizations in the land, the pro- cession from Castle Garden to the City Hall was a truly triumphal entry. He received a similar official, enthusiastic welcome in Brooklyn, Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities. He "was banqueted by President Taylor at the YTiite House ; honored by the United States Senate with admission to the bar of the Senate chamber, a distinction shown previously to but one foreigner — General Lafa- yette. Among the eulogies pronounced on this Progression : Abstinence. 103 occasion by several distingnisbed senators was one by Henry Clay, who said; “It is bnt a merited tribute of respect to a man who has achieved a great social revolution — a revolution in which no blood has been shed, a revolution which has in- volved no desolation, which has caused no bitter tears of widows and orphans to flow; a revolution which has been achieved without violence, and a greater one, perhaps, than has ever been accom- plished by any benefactor of mankind.” Father Mathew visited twenty-flve States, ad- ministered the pledge, under growing ill-health, to some six hundred thousand persons, many of them — perhaps most of them — his own co-religionists, whom other agencies had not, or could not, have reached. On November 8, 1851, he gave his fare- well address to the people of the United States, and returned to his native land, soon to rest from his labors. And as the century had just entered its third quarter, so the reform was now also passing over into a third phase. (in.) CHAPTER III. Culmination : Peohibition. 1851 - 1856 . That the principle of moderation is inadequate and impracticable as a remedy for intemperance; that the total abandonment as a beverage, not of ardent spirits only, but of the fermented liquors } as well (being in no sense necessary in health), — is the only wise ground and sure remedy : this had '■> become the accepted opinion and ever-deepening conviction at the time of which we write. On this ' basis an incipient reform had growm into a refor- mation, a social revolution espoused by men fore- most in mind and morals, and by all the best inter- ests in society. A propagandism directed with sig- nal ability, and sustained with singular enthusi- asm, had led men by the hundred thousands in all walks of life to resolve that they would put away the drunkard’s cup forever. But this had not all proven clear gain. The 104 CuaLMINATION ; Pkohibitiok. 105 ranks of the drunkard were being recruited, not alone from the moderate drinkers, but from those who had taken the pledge as well. They meant to keep the pledge, but fell before the power of a returning appetite. How many went down again no one knows. Perhaps not far from one-half. When the pledge covered only spirituous liquors the trouble was readily enough seen, and the pledge was extended. But yet it did not avail. With the safeguard and support of a pledge of total absti- nence from all intoxicants, men still lapsed into their former habits. Of the half million that were helped to their feet temporarily by the Washing- tonian crusade, it was estimated that two-thirds again fell; this notwithstanding the fact that the temperance orders, introduced at this time, aimed specifically to prevent such lapse. Men thought af first that teetotalism was a solution of all former difficulties, and would prove to be the agency of redemption. In 1843 a huge demonstration had been given Father Mathew in Cork, for Ireland was considered redeemed. The consumption of strong drink had been reduced by over one-half. But Father Mathew went on a tour to England, 106 A Centtjkt of Deink Eefoem. and the consumption of liquor increased again. The potato famine of 1845-47 increased it still more; and when Father Mathew returned from America, sick and exhausted, he found the fruits of his labors gradually slipping away, i Attention had been concentrated on the drinker ; and drunkard. To him men had appealed, first to drink only moderately; then not to drink at all. Looking about now in perplexity, eyes fell on that f , other man — on him who hands out the liquor that makes men drunk. Here was discovered the source i of trouble. Here was the man who incited afresh the smothered flames of thirst which men were struggling to quench. That men should drink was his business, his living. Through every avenue he distributed his goods — at the grocery, where people buy; at the tavern, where they eat and lodge; at the grogshop, ■ where men find sociability ; at the various times and occasions that bring people to- gether — everywhere men were brought face to face .with strong drink and temptation. And no man can resist temptation beyond a certain point; he must be kept from entering in. That making a livelihood out of a business Culmination : Pkohibition. 107 whieli thus tempts and destroys men is but poor employment, had been recognized and urged, in- deed, early in the reform. Large numbers had in consequence entirely abandoned that occupation; but their places were generally only again taken I by others less scrupulous. From this position, that f men ought to quit such business, conviction moved I by an inevitable transition to this other position; i j namely, this business, being the great remaining ' obstacle to the success of the temperance reforma- tion, should and must cease. But how? Very naturally, go to the dram- seller with moral appeal to desist selling, as men had gone to the drinker to desist drinking. If the one had yielded to such appeal, why should not the other? It was the attempt to put this belief into practice that ushered in a new era — the third — in the reform. Up in Portland, Maine, there was a man in business, of Quaker parents, and scarcely over thirty, who had already in various ways showed that he possessed both a firm conviction and a reso- lute courage in the matter of temperance. His name was Heal Dow. He had just secured an offi- 108 A Centuky of Deink; Refoem. cial position for a friend, a Harvard graduate and a man of fine ability, admirably qualified for the place, but whose tenure of it was conditioned on his keeping strictly sober. An attractive and very respectable liquor shop in the vicinity was his chief pitfall, his pride still keeping him from the lower ( resorts. Appealed to by his wife, and believing that the refusal of this man to furnish him liquor would help him in his resolve to abstain, and per- haps save him and his family from impending ruin, I Dow called on the liquor-seller and laid the peculiar circumstances of the case before him. The man listened respectfully, and Dow he- i lieved he was making a fine impression, until, when he had finished, the man replied to this ef- I feet: ‘‘Mr. Dow, you attend to your business, and ; I Avill look after my own. My business is to sell f liquor; I have paid my money for this prh'ilege. That money helps to pay your taxes, and it ’s small business for a man to come around here trying to prevent me from doing what business I can, and I have a right to under the law. If this man comes in here in a sober condition and asks for liquor, I have a right to sell it to him, and shall do so. And Culmination : Pkohibition. 109 I do n’t want you to come around whining about it, either.” Stung to the quick with disappointment and indignation, Neal Dow said that he would see j to it that sooner or later he and all like him were j driven from the community, unless they abandoned I their infamous business. The very license, as it \ hung in plain sight behind the bar, seemed itself \ to shout in exultation, “The State of Maine gives him this right !” The temperance reform hitherto had encoun- tered only human appetite. This, though persist- ent enough, had yet yielded largely to moral ap- peal. Now the reform was to encounter a more i cruel and unconquerable foe; namely, human ava- rice. But Dow’s promise to the liquor-seller proved I to be no idle threat. The words had burned them- selves deeply into his soul. It was his business to sell liquor, the man had said ; he had paid for that privilege. He had a “right” to sell, consequently, y es, so his license stated. His license ! A license then means, not restriction or regulation, but per- mission — for money. Shame ! for a people, for such a bribe, to allow that a man may do evil. But the power to grant this privilege involves the 110 A Centuey of Dkink Refokm. power, also, to witliliold it! And Real Dow sol- I einnly vows before God that he will carry his ap- I peal to the people of the State of Maine, who have I given this man such right, that they shall take f away from him that right, and outlaw from the f State this business which thus impoverishes and destroys her citizens. He canvasses the State from one end to the other, giving addresses, holding mass-meetings, scattering broadcast temperance literature. Real Dow becomes the stonn-center of the new agitation. The arguments, taken from facts near at hand, are irresistible. Maine, rich in natural resources, yet poor. The products of her two principal indus- tries, lumbering and the fisheries, exported chiefly to the West Indies, receiving in return rum and molasses ; consuming the rum, and converting the molasses into rum and consmning that also. This in addition to the native product, for Maine was still overrun Avith breAveries and distilleries. So that the vast wealth of the forests and fisheries went doAAm the throats of the people in the form of strong drink, and Avith all their labor they Avere left only the poorer. Signs of AAnetchedness and pov- CuLMiNATioisr : Prohibition. Ill erty abounded everywhere. Parms carelessly tilled; fences tumbled down; neglect about the house — gates unhinged, blinds coming off, window panes broken, with an old hat or garment put in the place to keep out the cold. But persistent seed-sowing at lengfh yielded its ( harvest. After an unsuccessful law in 1846 (which lacked the means for its own enforcement), came the absolutely prohibitory law of 1851, in effect July 4th (Independence-day!), the first- I fruits of prohibition from the ripened fields of temperance reform. ISlo citizen of Maine shall henceforth be permitted, for a money consider- ation, to put a block of stumbling in his brother’s way; or to rob those who are weak, because he is willing to share his booty with the State. The liquor business is outlawed. Heal Dow, as mayor of Portland, the framer and champion of this meas- ure, becomes the father of the “Maine LaV’ — the model for all similar laws that were to follow. Let us pause here to note more in detail the successive stages by which we have come thus far : First. The sale of strong drink, being recog- nized as fraught with abuse and evil, was sought 112 A Century of Drink Reform. to be properly restricted with various regulations, according to no definite plan or principle, but as expediency seemed to suggest from time to time. Accordingly, from earliest colonial days we bave such regulations as these : fixing the price of beer and ale at one penny, then at two pence ; punishing drunkenness — now the drunkard only, now the keeper of the public house also ; forbidding drink- ing to one’s health — permitting it again; laying a duty — ^taking it off again ; forbidding the sale on certain hours of the Sabbath, now for the entire day ; limiting the number of retailers to a tovm — removing such limit; making debts for liquor un- recoverable; making it unlawful to sell on credit beyond ten shillings — to sell on credit at all ; post- ing a list of habitual tipplers in every public-house ; taxing the distiller and brewer; licensing the ven- der of spirituous liquors — of vinous and malt liq- uors also ; making the license fee small, now larger ; allowing the sale of larger quantities without li- cense ; requiring a license for every sale, etc. ; and, lastly, requiring of the liquor-seller a bond for the proper observance of these regulations. Second. The traffic in strong drink is not so Culmination : Pkohibition. 113 much merely disposed to evil, and therefore to be regulated ; it is itself evil, and should therefore be abandoned. It is in violation of the law of God, which leads not into temptation, and works no ill to his neighbor. In the fifth report of the American Temper- ance Society, in 1832, Justin Edwards set forth this truth with great power and conclusiveness. This report went to all parts of the world. It passed through several editions, and was reprinted in England. Chancellor Reuben H. Walworth, of Rew York State, wrote: ‘Tt is of the utmost im- portance to the temporal and eternal interests of our citizens that a stop should be put to the sale of ardent spirits as speedily as possible. . . . Satisfy the unrefiecting vender of ardent spirits that he is morally responsible for all the crime and misery which his maddening potations naturally produce, and he will relinquish the demoralizing traffic.” The Churches of Yew England at this time voted not to admit to membership any who refused to give up this business. Third. If the traffic in strong drink is itself evil, and wrong, so that no man should engage in 8 114 A Cejsttuky of Deink Refoem. it, then the law that permits this traffic is wrong, and should be repealed. The sixth report of the American Temperance Society, in 1833, by Justin Edwards, devoted itseK to the clear demonstration of this truth. This re- port, too, was widely read, and its position com- mended by such men as. Presidents Erancis Way- land, Heman Humphrey, and Wilbur Eisk; by Hon. Mark Doolittle, Gerrit Smith, Edward C. Delavan, Theodore Erelinghuysen, and Chief Jus- tice David Daggett, of Connecticut. The step here was simply for the repeal of all license laws, which were recognized to be essen- tially pemiissive. As Hon. Theodore Erelinghuy- sen, the distinguished senator from Hew Jersey, said : “If men will engage in this destructive traf- fic ; if they will stoop to degrade their reason and reap the wages of iniquity, let them no longer have the Law Book as a pillow.” Hon, John Cotton Smith, ex-Governor of Connecticut, wrote: “I am decidedly of the opinion that all laws for licensing and regulating the sale of ardent spirits ought to be instantly repealed — 1. Because, if intended as a source of revenue, they are manifestly immoral; CULMISTATIOK : PkOHIBITION. 115 2. If considered as sumptuary laws, which hy their operation are designed to restrain the sale and con- sumption of that article, they are wholly ineffi- cient.” What benefit such repeal would work is set forth by Judge Jonas Platt of the blew York State Supreme Bench, distinguished alike as jurist and philanthropist, in an address before the Clinton County Temperance Society, on February 26, 1833 (the day of simultaneous temperance mass-meet- ings throughout the country) ; namely : “By fair construction, such license and tax legalize the traf- fic, and a plausible excuse is afforded to those who now pay a premium for such legislative sanction. The law is an impediment to the Temperance Ref- ormation. Let reason have free action and fair play, and we ask nothing more. Public opinion would be brought to bear with much greater force against the practice of retailing this poison if dramshops were left unlicensed and unsanctioned by any statute regulations whatever. Whenever public opinion and the moral sense of our commu- nity shall be so far corrected and matured as to re- gard them in this true light, and when the public safety shall be thought to require it, dramshops 116 A Cektuey of Dedstk; Eefoem. will be indictable at common law as public nui- sances/’ That is what in fact bad been done a year or two before in the city of Washington. Upon the opinion of Hon. William Wirt, Attorney-General of the United States, that they had this power if the public good required it, the Board of Health of that city had pronounced the sale of ardent spirits a public nuisance, and ordered it discontinued for the space of ninety days. Beginning at about this time, licenses were re- fused in a number of towns and counties in Massa- chusetts and elsewhere, and in many of these ar- dent spirits ceased to be sold. Petitions were pre- sented to State Legislatures during the thirties, asking that all license laws be repealed. Heal Dow writes of this period, many years afterwards in his Autobiography: ^‘The question whether licenses should be granted, however, was a practical one only from a moral and educational point of view. Liquor-selling was by no means confined to li- censed dealers. Everybody sold who cared to sell. Only the ‘good’ citizens who desired to deal in it took the trouble to obtain the legal permission to do so. Eestrictive clauses of the law were gener- CULMII^ATION : PEOHIBITIOlSr. 117 ally disregarded by the licensed sellers, while the prohibitive features had no restraining effect upon those who could not, or did not trouble themselves to, obtain licenses. The authorities, as a rule, made no attempt to enforce the law against either class of violators. ISTevertheless, we believed it would be of immense value in its moral effect and educational influence if the regularly elected rep- resentatives of the people should ofiicially declare against giving the sanction of law to the iniquitous trade; hence the action of the friends of temper- ance.” Fourth. Since the trafiic in strong drink is evil, and morally wrong, not only should the public sanction of it, in the form of license, be withheld ; but the continued sale should be prohibited by law. ( Judge Platt, in his address already referred I to, had said that they asked for no coercive legis- I iation, but only the repeal of permissive laws. ! Justin Edwards, in his report of the American Temperance Society, already mentioned, had taken the same position, yet had confessed that if, after such legal sanction had been taken away, and the power of public sentiment and moral appeal had 118 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. done its perfect work, men still persist in the traffic, then the State might step in and take such measures in self-defense as it deemed adequate. Gerrit Smith, of Peterboro, i^’ew York, — ^he portly in appearance, princely in manners and munifi- cence, the embodiment of benignity and grace ; in the very forefront of the twin reform movements — abolition and temperance, and later member of Congress, — Gerrit Smith, as early as 1833, at the annual meeting of the American Temperance So- ciety in Rew York City, in May, had introduced a resolution calling for the abolition of the traffic in ardent spirits by laAV. He argued that public opinion was far in advance of the laws; that the law be brought up to the level of public opinion, lest public opinion fall back to the level of the laws. “Could a society that should require its members to abstain from purchasing lottery tickets be expected to preserve silence on the subject of lottery offices ?” (Lotteries were just beginning to be abolished by law.) “Ho more can a society, formed to dissuade men from drinking spirits, look with indifference on the attractions and snares of the rum shop.” Culmination : Pkohibition. 119 That this step should be taken was inevitable. In the course of a few years a system of local option came into effect quite generally. Towns and counties did not only withhold license, but made it a punishable offense to sell without a li- cense. Thus in 1842 there was but one county in Massachusetts where the sale of spirituous liquors was licensed, and for several years there was not a single licensed house for the sale of spirits in Boston. The result of all this was a move by the liquor men — precisely what temperance men had advocated a few years before — to sweep away all license and restrictive laws as unconstitutional, claiming the right to sell without a license or ex- press permission. Suits which involved this prin- ciple were carried from ISTew Hampshire, Massa- chusetts, and Ehode Island, to the United States Supreme Court in 1845, on appeal by the liquor men. Although they had both Webster and Choate to argue their case,_ the verdict was against them. On March 6, 1847, before an anxious public, the Supreme Court handed down its decision — the first one arising out of the temperance movement. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, in his opinion. 120 A Centtjky of Deink Refoem. ! said: “Every State may regulate its own internal ; traffic according to its own judgment, and upon its own views of the interest and well-being of its citizens. I am not aware that these principles • have ever been questioned. If any State deems the retail and internal traffic in ardent spirits injuri- ous to its citizens, and calculated to produce illness, vice, and debauchery, I see nothing in the Consti- tution of the United States to prevent it from regu- lating and restraining the traffic, or from prohibit- ing it altogether if it thinks proper.” I' Justice Catron: “I admit, as inevitable, that if ithe State has the power of restraint by license to I any extent, she has the discretionary power to f judge of its limits, and to go to the length of prohibiting sales altogether if such be her pol- icy; and that if the court can not interfere in the case before us, neither can we interfere in the ex- treme case of entire exclusion.” Justice Grier: “It is not necessary to array the appalling statistics of misery, pauperism, and crime which have their origin in the use or abuse of ardent spirits. The police power, which is ex- clusively in the States, is alone competent to the correction of these great evils, and all measures of Culmination : Pkohibition. 121 restraint and prohibition necessary to effect the purpose are within the scope of that authority. All laws for the restraint or punishment of crime, for the preservation of the public peace, health and morals, are, from their very nature, of pri- mary importance, and lie at the foundation of social existence. They are for the protection of life and liberty, and necessarily compel all laws of secondary importance which relate only to prop- erty, convenience, or luxury, to recede when they come into contact or collision.” Justice Woodbury: ‘‘After articles have come within the territorial limits of States, whether on land or water” (Webster had argued that the right to import implies the right to sell) “the destruc- tion itself of that which constitutes disease and death, and the longer continuance of such articles within their limits, or the terms and conditions of their continuance, when conflicting with their legitimate police, or with their power over internal commerce, or with their right of taxation over all persons and property within their jurisdiction, seems to me one of the first principles of State sovereignty and indispensable to public safety.” 122 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. With this decision the way was clear for a fur- ther and final advance ; namely : Fifth. The complete prohibition, by the State, of the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes. Dr. Lyman Beecher, in his famous Six Ser- mons, had already suggested the necessity for gen- eral prohibitory legislation. Among the first clearly to state this principle and publicly to cham- pion it was General James Appleton, a veteran of the War of 1812, a man of high character, of great ability and influence, and of unflinching moral courage. A member of the Maine Legislature from Portland, he was made chairman of a special committee, appointed by that body in 1837, to take into consideration the entire subject of the license system of the State. Some alteration in the license laws was widely called for. The report of this committee, prepared by General Appleton, after calling attention to the numerous changes that had been made from time to time in license laws ever since such laws were first passed by Massachusetts in 1646, pointed out that the difficulty lay not in the form of the law, or in the mere manner of CULMINATIOIir : PltOHIBITIOlSr. 123 granting the license — circumstances of but little moment, — but in the principle of the law itself. ‘‘They authorize the sale of ardent spirits for com- mon use ; this is the principle that gives them char- acter,” he writes. To these laws is attributed the wide prevalence of intemperance. “They make it lawful and reputable for a person who has a li- cense to sell it, and of course not improper nor dis- honorable to purchase and use it.” As a remedy the report suggests : “When it is seen that the traffic in any article entails not only pauperism and crim6 upon the community, but that in numerous cases it threatens human life, and in many instances de- stroys it at once, it is difficult of escaping the con- clusion that the government should interfere and prohibit it altogether. . . . It is sufficiently difficult to reform the manners and habits of the community when the influence and authority of the law can be brought to aid the object, but to do this against the law and against the direct and pow- erful interests of a numerous class of men created by law is scarcely possible. . . . The mere existence of such a (prohibitory) law would exert the most salutary influence upon the public mind. 124: A Centuey of Dkink Eefoeii. It would of itself go far to create public opinion in regard to tbe necessity of ardent spirits, for it is no more true that the laws are an expression of public opinion than that they influence public opinion. They are as surely the cause as the effect of the popular will.” This report was widely read throughout the State, and did much to mold sentiment. From this time onward the subject was constantly kept before the Legislature and the people, through the instrumentality chiefly of the Maine Temperance Union, which included in its membership many of the foremost citizens of the State, until in 1845 ,a Legislative body had been elected pledged to /total abstinence and favorable to prohibition. The result was the flrst probihitory law, in 1846, passed by a vote of 81 to 42 in the House, and of 23 to 5 I in the Senate, and signed by Governor Anderson. ' After several unsuccessful efforts, later, to pass measures remedying the practical defects in the law, a new bill was brought before the Legislature, which, after being thoroughly discussed in two ses- sions, was passed by a two-thirds vote of both houses, and on June 2d was signed by Governor Hubbard, going into effect July 4th — the law of Culmination : Peohibition. 125 1851. With this event the era of prohibition be- gins. Other States were not slow to follow. Maine had proved herself true to her motto as the Dirigo State — “I direct.” Sentiment had been slowly maturing elsewhere. In a number of States a ma- jority of the towns had already for several years declared against license. They were now ready to adopt the Maine law. 1852. In March the Territory of Minnesota, by popular vote, ratifies the adoption of Maine Law. The courts, however, declared ‘That the sub- mission of this question to the people for a popular vote had been unconstitutional and prohibition is in operation but for a short time. Rhode Island, in May, adopted a similar law, strengthening it by subsequent enactments. Massachusetts, in the same month, followed with a Maine Law. The sec- tion relating to search was declared unconstitu- tional, the law otherwise standing. Its place was taken by the more elaborate law of 1855. Yer- mont, in December, closed the year with a Maine Law, a law that was to stand uninterruptedly for over half a century. 126 A Centuey of Deink: Refoem. During this same year — 1852 — the Sons of Temperance also declared for prohibition. 1853. By act of the Legislature, a Maine Law was submitted to the people of Michigan for a vote, who declared for it by a majority of twenty thou- sand. The court was equally divided on the con- stitutionality of the submission clause. The law remained, but its enforcement was practically sus- pended. It was superseded by the more perfect law of 1855. On September 6th, the second World’s Tem- perance Convention met in ISTew York City, with delegates from every State, from Canada, and from Great Britain. Yeal Dow was elected president of the Convention, a testimony to his service in the cause of prohibition. The Maine Law formed the chief topic of discussion during the sessions. The cause had already found friends in other lands. In England, on June 1st of this same year — 1853 — the United Kingdom Alliance had been organized for “the total and immediate legis- lative suppression of the traffic in intoxicating liquors as beverages.” The initiative in this move- ment was taken by Mr. Kathaniel Card, of Man- Culmination : Pbohibition. 127 Chester, a member of the Society of Priends, in consultation with the leading temperance men of England. Sir W. C. Trevelyan, Bt., was made president of the Alliance. In the Canadian Par- liament, this same year, prohibition was defeated by but four votes. 185 If. In June, Connecticut, by a vote of 148 to 61 in the House, and of 19 to 2 in the Senate, adopts a prohibitory law. In March of the same year the Legislature of Hew York, by a vote of almost two to one, had en- acted a prohibitory law; but Governor Horatio Seymour, notwithstanding this vote and the ex- pressed will of the people, vetoed the measure, claiming that it was oppressive and in certain fea- tures unconstitutional, and that, in general, entire prohibition would be injurious rather than bene- ficial to the temperance cause. That this veto would be accepted as a finality by the people on this question was not to be expected. Their mind had been made up. As Horace Greeley, who did yeoman service in the reform, said in the Tribune: “What the temperance men demand is not the regulation of the liquor traffic, but its destruction. 128 A Centuey of Deink; Refoem. not that its evils be circumscribed (idle fancy!) or veiled, but that they be, to the extent of the State’s ability, uttered eradicated.” 1855. In April the Legislature of New York for a second time passes a prohibitory law. Ho- ratio Seymour is no longer in the governor’s chair to veto this measure; but in bis stead the people have elected Myron H. Clarke, who bad been the able champion in the State Senate of the measure that perished the year before in Governor Sey- mour’s bands. The new governor promptly signs the bill, and prohibition goes into effect on July 4tb of this year. On this day ten thousand people assemble on the magnificent estate of the Earl of Harrington, at Derby, England, in honor of the event. An English and an American oak are planted side by side, and a granite block is erected with appropriate inscription to commemorate an event “so important to the world.” But the fruits of victory were soon to perish. The law was forced into the labyrinth of Justice, and in so doing left hope behind. The Court of Appeals, by a vote of five to three, in March, 1856, pronounces the law unconstitutional. The grounds of the majority de- cision were severely attacked by some of the most CuLMINATIO]Sr : Peohibitiost. 129 eminent jurists in the land; the contention of the court being that the law made no distinction be- tween liquor on hand at the time, and what might be later acquired; holding the confiscation of the former to be in violation of that portion of the Constitution which declares that ^‘no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law” Hon. Henry Dutton, Kent Professor of Law in Yale, and governor of Con- necticut, in a review of this decison, said that if the depreciation of the value of an article renders a law unconstitutional, ‘‘then the statute-books of the United States and of the State of Kew York are full of unconstitutional laws.” Having been thus twice balked in her fervent zeal to reform, the Empire State in angry and sore despair gave herself over to evil entirely — to this day. In June, 1855, the Legislature of New Hamp- shire, by a large vote, passed a prohibitory law, ap- plying to the sale only, not to the manufacture, a law that was to remain in force for near half a century. All Hew England was now under pro- hibition. 9 130 A Centtjky of Deink Refoem. During this year also — 1855 — the first Terri- I torial Legislature of Nebraska enacted a prohib- itory law. Delaware enacted a similar law. In- 'diana, after a vigorous State campaign the preced- ing year that resulted in the election of a temper- ance Legislature, likewise adopts prohibition. Portions of the law were declared unconstitutional hy a majority decision of the court ; as to the valid- ity of the entire law the court was evenly divided. In addition to these, Iowa enacted a prohib- itory law in 1855, which was made to apply to ^spirituous liquors only, a law that remained in ^ force until complete prohibition in 1884. In Wis- ' consin prohibition had been declared for by the ^ people ; enacted by the Legislature, and failed of becoming a law only by the veto of the governor, in 1855. Michigan, Ohio, and Dlinois had abol- ished all license laws, the first two making it per- manent by embodying it in their Constitution. In Pennsylvania a prohibitory measure passed the Assembly, but was defeated by but one vote in the Senate. In Rew Jersey a similar bill was lost only by a tie vote. In addition to these achieve- ments, large portions of other States were under CuLMINATIOSr : Pkohibitiopt. 131 no-license, tlirougli the operation of local option laws. Such was the sweep and momemtum which the temperance movement had now attained. After all these years of labor and sacrifice, in which men had felt every inch of the way ; had found, fought, and won every successful issue, the great reform seemed to be nearing a consummation. John Marsh, the corresponding secretary — and soul — of the American Temperance Union since its organ- ization, and more closely in touch with the entire movement than any other man, wrote in 1855 : ‘^hTot a State has retracted from the high stand it has taken; while in other States the leaven of re- form is powerfully working. Indiana and Illinois are ready for prohibition. ISTor will Pennsylvania, ISlew Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Texas be slow to follow. The North will give up, and the South keep not back; and men in other countries are already hailing and welcoming this as one of those great moral revolutions which occur, under God, in the course of ages, to root out sin and sor- row, and usher in millennial glories.” A kind of expectancy prevaded the air. The priest grown 132 A Centtjey of Deiis^k Refoem. gray in the temple service of the reform was look- ing with eager gaze to see with his own eyes, before he should go hence, the salvation of God. At this point, with the Presidential election of 1856, the temperance reformation was suddenly arrested in its progress. A cloud the size of a man’s hand w'as appearing upon the horizon. It drew attention away from every other object. The anti-slavery agitation had been contem- poraneous from the beginning with the movement for temperance reform. The men active in the one had also, generally, been advocates of the other. “"When there shall he neither a slave nor a drunk- ard on earth” — ^the language of Lincoln — was the vision which these men saw in the night. The passion for freedom and righteousness not unnatu- rally embraced both forms of this dual bondage. Conviction in the one was not less profound, nor the enthusiasm less intense, than in the other. The principles of the temperance reformation had, in fact, penetrated more widely, and had won a more general recognition than those of Abolitionism. Two characteristics, however, were peculiar to the slavery reform, which gave it at once a seeming Culmination’ : Prohibition. 133 predominance, and bronght it at last to a speedy, t^iolent issue. In the first place, slavery was a constitutional question. All agitation was focused at the ISTation’s Capital, and the question was dyed as with blood into the very warp and fiber of our national political life. This accounts for its greater publicity, and also — in part at least — for the fact that the historian, while relating the events of this struggle with great minuteness of detail, does not even so much as make mention of the other. The historiographer is slow to extend his demesne beyond the pageant of kings and armies and forensic jousts. In the second place, slavery was a sectional question. It was this which brought the speedy settlement at last. The Nation was compelled to grapple with it for its very life. At first, for a number of years, the two sections of the country were pretty evenly divided and bal- anced. Then the free States began a slow ascend- ency in population, wealth, and power. The cen- sus of 1820 revealed this growing disparity, with a considerable majority for the North in the House of Representatives. The slave States had looked on with apprehension, and now began in earnest 134 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. their struggle to maintain an equilibrium in the Senate. To this end the South must have more slave States. Upon her success in this the main- tenance of her very life depended. Uor this pur- pose she looked to the Territories. This, together with the ever-growing determination of the Xorth to resist these agressions, furnishes the key to the history of the United States for the next forty years. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was the beginning of the open struggle. Missouri as a slave State Avas made to offset Maine, admitted at the same time as a free State. Shiit out from the North by this compromise, the slave States looked to the Southwest; aided in wresting Texas from Mexico in 1836, and by the election of Polk in 1844 secured its admission to the Union as a slave State. Arkansas had in the meantime been ad- mitted to offset Michigan in 1836, and in 1845 Florida to offset Iowa. To add to the slave terri- tory, an effort had been made, under Polk, to pur- chase the island of Cuba by an offer of $100,000,- 000 ; but failing in that, adventurers tried fili- bustering, to capture and compel her to come in. California was admitted in 1850 as a free State, but only after a debate of ten months and another Culmination : Prohibition. 135 compromise and the enactment of the fugitive slave law. The free States now had a clear majority, and if they acted together might pass such legislation as they chose, voting slavery out of any Territory. To forestall this, the fatal Kansas-lSTebraska Bill was brought forward in 1854, with its doctrine of popular or squatter sovereignty. Congress has no power to vote slavery, either in or out of the Territories, so it was now said. The people of the Territories must decide that for themselves. These two Territories (Kansas and Kebraska) were to he organized on that basis, the plan being to settle Kansas from the slave State of Missouri, then settle Kebraska from Kansas, and win both for slavery. The passage of this measure aroused and unified the anti-slavery sentiment of the Korth, and raised up a new political party committed against the further extension of slavery. The large vote, two years later only, in the Presidential elec- tion of 1856, for John C. Fremont, the candidate of this party, came as a tremendous surprise, espe- cially to the South. It was an ill omen for the peace of the Union. 136 A Century of Deink Reform. The heat of the controversy had been intense ; the long day was well wearing on; the heavens be- came ominous with approaching disaster. Men read it Secession — Disunion, and read aright. Every other thought was crowded out of men’s minds. Apprehension grew rife, and with ample cause, for only too soon it came — ^the Dred Scott decision, the Kansas struggle. Harper’s Ferry, an- other Presidential election — and the first bolt rent the house in twain : the heavens broke in a tempest of blood and desolation. V B. COMPLICATION. The Internal Revenue Tax, July 1, 1862. Taxation. 137 (I.) CHAPTER IV. Its Meaning eoe the Government. That it would prove no holiday affair to sup- press the uprising of the South soon became evi- dent. The Ration was thrust into the awful throes of a life-and-death struggle. With the call to arms came also the call for the sinews of war. The Ration must have money, and more money. After the inadequate revenue measure passed the year before, the Internal Revenue Act, creat- ing a Bureau of Internal Revenue, was passed and approved July 1, 1862. It has been the policy of our Government to resort to an excise tax only as an expedient in circumstances of extreme urgency. Only twice before had such direct internal tax been laid — the first time just after the close of the Revolutionary War, and removed again under Jef- ferson in 1802; the other time during the War of 1812, and removed soon after its close, upon recom- mendation by President Monroe, in 1817. But 139 14:0 A Centuey oe Deink Eefoem. these measures were as nothing compared with that of 1862. By this law, which went into effect September 1st of that year, nearly every visible thing or transaction was made to yield revenue. Among these were tobacco and liquors. In ad- dition to the tax upon liquor, there was a special license tax upon liquor dealers of all kinds — ^brew- ers, distillers, rectifiers ; wholesalers and retailers of spirituous, malt, and vinous liquors (except domestic wines free). A tax of tAventy cents a gallon was laid on spir- its, which was raised to tAvo dollars by the close of 1864:, and reduced again gradually, and fixed at ninety cents a gallon in 1875. Here it remained until the Spanish-American War, since which time it has been $1.10 a gallon. Malt liquors, under the Internal Revenue Act, were taxed one dollar a barrel. This was reduced temporarily to sixty cents in 1863, but was restored the next year, and fixed at one dollar. In addition to this, there was the special license tax upon the liquor-maker and liquor-dealer himself, varying in amount from twenty to two hundred dollars a year, according to the amount and kind of business done. This Its Meaning for the Government. Ill act, by laying a heavy tax upon the liquor industry and requiring a license fee from its chief pro- moters, was to add greatly, in a quite unforseen way, to the complexity and persistency of the drink question. The ISTation gave to the drink business — a business all but outlawed when the war began — official recognition and sanction, and entered into a peculiarly close relationship with it. And yet the evil consequences likely to flow from this act were not wholly unforeseen, and this portion of the bill was not allowed to pass without a vigorous protest. Senator Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts, later Vice-President of the United States, who but a few months before had intro- duced the bill emancipating the slaves in the Dis- trict of Columbia, in moving to strike out the par- ticular clause licensing the liquor business, said: ‘‘My reason for making this motion is that I do not think any man in this country should have a \ license from the Federal Government to sell intoxi- j eating liquors. I look upon the liquor-trade as gTOSsly immoral, causing more evil than anything else in this country, and I think the Federal Gov- ernment ought not to derive a revenue from the 142 A Centuey of Deink Refoem, retail of intoxicating drinks. I think if this sec- tion remains in the bill it will have a most demoral- izing influence upon the country, for it will lift into a kind of respectability the retail trade in liquors. The man who has paid the Federal Gov- ernment twenty dollars for a license to retail ardent spirits will feel that he is acting under the author- ity of the Federal Government, and any regula- tion, State or municipal, interfering with him, are mere temporary and local arrangements that should yield to the authority of the Federal Gov- ernment. . . . Every senator knows that this ITation has been and is being demoralized by the rum traffic. Every man knows that our army of flve or six hundred thousand in the fleld has been greatly demoralized by the sale and use of rum. . . . Since this war opened we have lost thou- sands of lives by rum. Sir, with this Nation suf- fering as it is suffering by the sale of ardent spir- its, the Congress of the United States proposes to give its sanction to the traffic. I would as soon give my sanction to the traffic of the slave-trade as I would to the sale of liquors. ... I tell you, sir, there is not a rumseller or a friend of the Its Meaning for the Government. 143 rumseller on this continent that will not welcome this tax. Why, sir, it has been the struggle of the retailers of rum all over this country for a quarter of a century to adopt the license system and to get licensed. They have contended for it; they have fought for it; they have carried it to the polls; they have carried it into your legislative assem- blies ; they have carried it everywhere ; and now the Congress of the United States proposes to es- tablish the system rejected by many of the States as sanctioning crime, and to grant it to them.” Senator Samuel C. Pomeroy, of Kansas, dur- ing the second day’s debate on this particular clause, registered an equally strong protest. “Sir, I know that the friends of temperance throughout the country have everywhere labored against the license system. Ten years ago the senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Wilson) and I were members of the Legislature of that State, and every rum- seller of Boston clamored for a license. That was their religion, their god. If they could get a li- cense it was all they wanted. They deprecated nothing so much as being deprived of a license. Why ? A license gives a kind of sanction to the 144 A Centuky of Dbustk Refoem. business, makes the traffic, which in that commu- nity as in almost every other is disreputable, popular.” 1. A tax, or specifically the Internal Revenue X on liquor, means, first, permission. To receive money from individuals or a class /does not always or necessarily, of course, imply an / indorsement of their craft or profession. The Government levies a sum of money upon that class of persons, for instance, known as the highway- man, the counterfeiter, the embezzler, the bribe- giver, the wife-beater, the incendiary. It puts this money into its pocket without compunction. But it calls this levy a fine, not a tax. It exacts it as a penalty, not as the price of a privilege. It is not license (permission), but punishment. The levy is not made as light as possible, and col- lected at regular stated times and receipted for; but as heavy as possible, and whenever and as often as such person can be caught in his peculiar occu- pation and convicted. The aim is not to raise reve- nue, but to discourage and suppress such business as subversive of morals and of good goveiiiment. ^Entirely different is it when a Government Its MEAsriira fok the Goveknmeht. 145 raises money, in tlie form of taxes and license fees, for its legitimate and necessary expenditures. It Iderives this support 'from the legitimate industries I of the people. Its aim and interest are not to sup- press, hut to promote. The tax is not made more burdensome than the particular industry can well bear, and is fixed both as regards time of payment and the amount. And when such tax is regularly paid each trade will enjoy immunity from inter- ference or restriction. It is to the interest of the Government that it should prosper. In an address at Columbus, in 1882, John Sherman pointed out the practical identity of a tax and a license — Ohio having since 1851 constitutionally soothed her con- science by ^Taxing” the liquor, business, but not ^‘li- censing’’ it. “A tax on a trade or occupation im- plies a permission to follow that trade or occupa- tion. We do not tax a crime. We prohibit and pun- ish it. We do not share in the profits of a larceny; but by a tax we do share in the profits of liquor- selling, and therefore allow or license it.” 2. A tax implies, secondly, protection. When a trade or business is taxed for the sup- fport of the Government, it follows that such trade 10 146 A Century of Drink Reform. is entitled to tlie benefits of government, one of whose very first functions is that of protection. In levying and receiving a tax the Government makes a pledge of service. The former as a right is inseparably linked with the latter as a duty. That Government which, after collecting taxes from one class of its citizens, would refuse to give them the fullest protection in their business, would be as deficient in morals as a tyrant who makes no pretense of being bound by considerations of right, or a villain who goes squarely hack on his assured promises and decamps as soon as the money is in his possession. Every taxed or properly taxable business or enterprise, the Government must, by every principle of justice and in very self-consist- ency, extend to it protection from molestation and guard it in its right to exist and prosper. With respect to the liquor-trade the Enited States Government has not been consistently true to this principle. "When it collects a tax from the liquor-seller it protects him from molestation only so far as its ovm punitive machinery is -concerned. Beyond this it leaves him to the tender mercies of local caprice and the vengeance of the State. Thus Its Meastistg eok the Government. 147 when a man engages (with proper precaution) in the sale of liquor in a prohibition State or a no- license town, while he will suffer no interference from the Government, if he has paid the Federal tax and holds a Federal permit, neither has he any redress at the hands of the Government if the local authorities pounce upon him, confiscate his stock of liquors and cast him into prison. We have this anomalous condition, then, that a constable or village official may destroy one of the legitimate, taxable industries of a community, an industry upon which the Nation depends largely for its revenue ; and may throw a man into prison for engaging in a business which the Government said was a proper business and one he might engage in. There is a fault somewhere in the logic of this policy. It is not so known elsewhere. In the di- vision of governmental functions between Federal, State, county, township, municipal, and village authority in all other things there is no such con- flict of power or jurisdiction. Each is supreme in its sphere. It would seem as if the Government should do one of two things: (1) If it claims the right to tax the liquor-traffic it should exercise 148 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. toward that traffic the power of complete protec- tion, denying to the States the right to vex or pro- hibit; or (2), If the Government yields to the States the exclusive right to regulate the liquor- traffic, it should keep its ovm hands oS, and with- draw from the business the prestige and support of Federal sanction. But who is sufficient for these things ? However, the principle of protection, though somewhat confused in its application, is still true even here; for let the liquor-seller pay his Federal tax and hang up his Federal permit, and pay his State or local license fee and frame and hang up his “Licensed to sell,” and no power on earth dare molest him. Though a man’s brain be set on fire by the liquor he sells, and he in turn go home and fire his house, or his neighbor’s, or kill his friend in a brawl, or his wife or children, though the cause may be clearly traced to the liquor that he drank, yet the man who gave him that liquor not only escapes punishment, but is protected in his right to sell more. If any crank or zealot should enter that saloon to smash, because it is a source of evil and crime, he would receive but short shrift. Its Meaning foe the Goveknment. 149 Because, therefore, the liquor-trade pays spe- cial revenue and license taxes to the State and Nation, it receives their protection to carry on this trade: which is just and right. 3, A tax, or specifically the Internal Revenue tax on liquor, involves, thirdly, partnership. To give sanction and protection to any busi- ness, and to share proportionally in its profits, is to become, in a sense, a party to that business. Above any other industry in the land is this true of the liquor-trade, with reference both to the ex- tent to which the Nation shares in the profits of this trade, and the peculiarly elaborate and pains- taking methods which the Nation employs to as- certain and collect its share of these profits. Tak- ing these in turn : (1) Extent. — For the year — or rather ten months — ending June 30, 1863, the first year the Internal Revenue law was in effect, the Govern- ment received from the liquor-trade seven million dollars out of a total internal revenue that year of forty-one millions from all sources, or about 17 per cent. That percentage was at once in- creased by the increase in the tax on spirits. When 150 A Ceisttuey of Delnk Hefoem. tlie war was over the other industries were one by one relieved of their special taxes, except only the liquor industry (and tobacco), in whose profits the Government shared in ever-increasing propor- tion. Thus during the decade of the seventies 50 per cent on the average of all internal revenue was derived from the liquor-trade. In the next decade it rose to 70 per cent on an annual average; while during the year ending June 30, 1897, the last year before the special Spanish IVar tax went into effect, 7 8 per cent of all internal revenue taxes laid by our Government came from the traffic in strong drink. Or taking the entire receipts of the United States Government, from all sources, for the year ending June 30, 1900, for instance, in- cluding the Internal Revenue tax ($295,327,027), customs revenue on imports ($233,164,871), postal service ($102,354,579), and all miscellane- ous items, such as profits on coinage, bullion de^ posits and assays, consular and patent fees, sale oi public and Indian lands, tax on national banks, etc. ($38,748,054), the total receipts aggregated $669,- 595,431, of which sum $185,183,657 (Intemal Revenue tax on liquors, $177,137,992 ; duties on Its Meaning fok the Government. 151 wines and liquors imported, $8,045,655), or 27.6 per cent was received from the trade in strong drink. Thus for a Government to share so largely in the profits of the liquor-trade as to derive more than one-fourth of its entire income from that source, means that it stands in closer relationship with this particular one, than with any other of its industries. (2) Method. — The Government shows an eagerness to secure its share of the profits of the liquor-trade unknown in the case of any other busi- ness or industry. The entire Internal Revenue Department has for years had scarcely anything to do other than to watch the ledger of the liquor business. The commissioner of internal revenue at Washington, receiving a salary equal to that of the treasurer of the United States ; the chief clerk, deputy com- missioner, solicitor; the more than threescore col- lectors assigned to the different districts in the Union ; the nearly one thousand deputy collectors ; clerks, surveyors, gaugers, and storekeepers as- signed to the distilleries in the different localities — ■ 152 A Cektuey of Dkink Eefoem. all are kept busy looking after the trade, now in- specting plans and buildings, now measuring and gauging tbe liquor in vats, now tending the ware- house (“keeping store”) and waiting on the pro- prietor when he wants his goods, now — and chiefly — going over accounts and figuring profits. Each brewer and distiller must make a monthly report. Books must be kept open for inspection by the Gevernment agent. Every manufacturer of stills must give notice of each still made, and the name of the person who is to use it. If a dis- tillery is to be built a minute plan must be sub- mitted to the commissioner and collector, who may make any change they see fit. The Government agent has the keys to the distillery, and may enter any time of the day or night. The receiving cis- tern is under his lock and key, and by his per- mission alone can spirits be withdrawn. When the products of the distillery have been placed in the warehouse in bond, the Government furnishes a storekeeper; and when the liquor is withdrawn, to enter upon its mission in society, this store- keeper is on hand to collect the iSTation’s share on each gallon and barrel, and to paste on each cask Its Meaning eoe the Government, 153 and flask, as it goes out, the Federal trade-mark, the sovereign people’s ‘‘0. K.” This is not meant as a guarantee that the stuff is good for man to drink, but means simply that the tax has been paid, and therefore it may flow immolested. The liquor interests have not failed to make use of this intimacy of the United States Government with their business. In a full-page advertisement of a certain brand of whisky recently in several of the foremost publications of the country we have this assuring announcement in large headlines, “Uncle Sam says it ’s all right.” After which follows this information : “Uncle Sam, in the per- son of Ten of his Government Officials, has charge of every department of our distillery. During the entire process of distillation, after the whisky is stored in barrels in our warehouses, during the seven years it remains there, from the very gTain we buy to the whisky you get. Uncle Sam is con- stantly on the watch to see that everything is all right.” The zeal of our great Government is faith- fully depicted here. It must not he supposed, how- ever, that the object of this zeal is the well-being of the public. Uncle Sam is not after purity and 154 A Centtjey of Drink: Kefoem. peace and good citizenship, but after money. It is when he receives this that he finds his voice and says, “It ’s all right.” This trade, therefore, that filches millions each year from the pockets of the people, and gives them nothing in return — no bread for either body or soul, no clothes, no comforts; hut instead, conten- tion and sorrow, want and woe — our Government has become a jealous partner in this business, and has given to it the influence of its great name, be- cause the business is willing generously to share with it its easily and ill-gotten gain. 4. A tax, or specifically the Internal Revenue tax on liquor, involves, lastly, promotion. The sphere of government is not merely the passive function of collecting revenue and shield- ing its citizens in the enjoyment of their rights — taxation and protection. It must assist in promot- ing the welfare of its people by stimulating their industries, facilitating their commerce, and extend- ing their markets. This is what any good govern- ment constantly aims to do. By patents, for in- stance, it seeks to encourage invention; by copy- rights, to stimulate literature and art; through its Its Meaning foe the Goveenment, 155 consular service, to learn the condition and needs of the foreign market, with a view to facilitating export trade and the expansion of its own in- dustries. This is the one thing a government has con- stantly in mind when it levies its taxes. It is this which makes the question of taxation, seemingly simple, so intricate and difficult a problem. The Government needs money. It levies a tax rate upon the country’s wealth-producing industries. But how and where shall the tax be laid ? Shall it be a direct tax upon persons, or incomes, or cap- ital, or land ? Or an indirect tax upon articles of consumption ? Shall the tax be laid upon the necessaries of life, or upon its luxuries ? Shall each pay according to the benefits he enjoys from the Government, or according to his ability to pay ? Shall equality of taxation mean equality of sacrifice, or equality in the amount actually paid ? The statesman who sets himself to work out a tax budget for his people will find these questions anything but trifling. Let him have a care lest in taxing thrift and enterprise and economy, a premium be put upon idleness and improvidence ; 156 A Centuey of Djeink Refoem. or in taxing necessities, the burden be put upon those who consume most and are least able to pay ; or in taxing forms of wealth easily concealed, those inclined to be dishonest make false returns and escape their just proportion of taxes, while those who are truthful pay more than their share. And above all, there must be no discrimination, as in the tariff rates or special privileges, in favor of any one industry as against another. The reason for the frequent change of financial policy in the United States is that the people have believed these very inequalities and discriminations to exist. The pledged purpose of our Government is to “pro- mote the general welfare,” which is to be accom- plished by promoting impartially all its legitimate individual industries. The one industry that concerns us here is the drink trade. In taxing this trade, has our Hation been true to this principle of just government, or has the drink trade suffered retrogression because of unjustly high taxes and harsh restrictions ? ^'\^latever our Government may or may not have done, it has compiled statistics which show that the liquor industry, from the time the Internal Its MEAmsrG fob the Govekhment. 157 Revenue tax went into effect, lias enjoyed contin- uous and increasing prosperity in every respect — (a), as to the amount of capital invested; (b), as to the quantity of liquor produced; (c), as to the value of the product. (a) CAPITAL INVESTED IN THE MANUFACTUKE OF LIQUOK IN THE UNITED STATES. ( From the United States census bulletin. ) CENSUS SPIRITS MALT lilQUORS WINES 1850 $5,409,334 $4,072,380 $ 1860 12,445,675 15,782,342 306,300 1870 15,545,116 48,779,435 2,334,394 1880 24,247,595 91,208,224 2,581,910 1890 31,006,178 232,471,290 5,792,783 1900 32,551,604 415,284,468 9,838,015 (b) PKODTTCTION OF LIQUOB IN THE UNITED STATES SINCE THE INTEENAL REVENUE ACT. (Average annual, by decades.) YEAR BNDINO JUNE 30 1863-1870 1870-1880 1880-1890 1890-1900 SPIRITS 37.000. 000 60.000. 000 75.000. 000 83.000. 000 GALLONS MALT LIQUORS 152.000. 000 308.000. 000 646.000. 000 1,079,000,000 The figures here given are not for the separate years of the census, as in the preceding schedule, 158 A Century of Drink Eeform. but represent an average annual for tbe ten years of each decade. The production of spirits fluctuates so greatly from year to year that the flgures for any one year would not give a correct idea of the real ratio of increase. In the production of malt liquors, however, there has been no such fluctua- tion, the growth of that industry having been regu- lar, and, as may be observed, rapid. Both as re- gards the amoimt of capital invested, and the product put out, this latter industry has about doubled itself every ten years. Again, the statis- tics in the United States reports for any one year represent in reality neither the production of liq- uors for that year, nor the consumption, but the quantity that has been withdrawn from ware- houses, under goverimient supervision, for pur- poses of consumption, and upon which the tax has been paid. Yet in the long run the quantity produced each year will about equal the quantity consumed ; so that the average annual flgures for a period of ten years, as given in the schedule, will represent, with a fair degree of accuracy, the con- sumption of liquor for that year. Wines are not included in this echedule. The Its Meaning eob the Govebnment. 159 wine industry does not figure prominently in gov- ernment reports; is not usually given at all. It pays no tax, except a customs duty upon wines imported. Taking now tlie average annual consumption per capita for our entire population, of all kinds of liquor, during the last three decades, we have these figures: AVKKAGB GALLONS ANNUAL WINES . SPIRITS MALT LIQUORS 1870-1880 .55 1.40 6.91 1880-1890 .48 1.34 11.19 1890-1900 .38 1.25 15.47 Whatever else these figures may show, they demonstrate that taxation has not affected the liquor industry adversely. The slight decrease in the per capita consumption of spirits can not be justly laid to taxation, for malt liquors are heavily taxed, and they have more than doubled on our rapidly increasing population ; while wines, which are not taxed at all, show a larger percentage of decrease than spirits. The causes for this must be looked for elsewhere. 160 A Centukt of DEmK Refoem. (c) VALUE OF THE LIQUOE PRODUCTS OF THE UNITED STATES. (From the U. S. Census Bulletin.) CENSUS SPIRITS MALT LIQUORS WINES 1850 $15,770,240 $5,728,568 1860 30,936,585 21,310,933 $400,791 1870 36,191,133 55,706,643 2,225,238 1880 41,063,663 101,058,385 2,169,193 1890 104,197,869 182,731,622 2,846,148 1900 96,798,443 237,269,713 6,547,310 But all this is as yet only negative proof of our proposition that a tax, or specifically, the in- ternal revenue tax on liquor, involves promotion. These statistics show merely that under the policy of taxation the liquor business has been promoted. That this has been done primarily by those en- gaged in the trade, whose financial interests are bound up with that trade, is, of course, to be as- sumed. But we want to know what hand, if any, the Federal Government has also had in it. That the Government should have had a part in facilitating and fostering the growth of the liquor trade is what we would expect, to begin with. This not in a general way merely (the liquor trade being one of the nation’s legitimate indus- Its Meaning fok the Government. 161 tries), but in a special way and for a special rea- son, for has not tbe Government a special financial interest in this particular branch, of its industries ? Does not more than one-fourth of its entire sup- port come out of it ? The feathered creature that can lay such golden eggs, and lay them regularly, and without pain, apparently, deserves some spe- cial care. ISTo other legitimate industry in the country can yield such revenue and prosper. And to find a good and legitimate trade that can do this — and we must believe that the trade in strong drink is a good business, or the Government would not get its living off it — wise statesmanship will see to it that special care be given to promote it. And this has been done. It is only the policy of taxation consistently carried out. Its logic can not be questioned, therefore. The Bureau of Internal Revenue is the point of contact between the nation and the liquor trade. Through this bureau repeated expressions of friendship and solicitude have been conveyed to the trade. Through this bureau the Government has been officially represented at a number of the gatherings of liquor men. At the fifth United 11 162 A Centuey of Deik^k; Refoem. States Brewers’ Congi-ess, held in Baltimore, in 1865, Internal Revenue Commissioner Wells was present and said : “It is the desire of the Govern- ment to be thoroughly informed of the require- ments of the trade, and I will give information on all questions, in order to bring about a cordial un- derstanding between the Government and the trade.” Subsequent events show that such cordial understanding has been both brought about and maintained during these many years. At the eleventh Brewers’ Congress, held in Pittsburg, in 1871, the president of that body said that he hailed it as an encouraging sign that the Govei’nment v^as being represented at their meet- ings. Mr. Louis Schade, of the Internal Revenue Bureau, was present to address the convention and to report their proceedings. At the Brewers’ Congress the next year, in Xew York, the Internal Revenue Bureau had two representatives present, who assured the convention that “the brewing in- dustry is receiving attention in the office of Inter- nal Revenue that it has never received before.” Two representatives were likewise present at Cleveland, in 1873. When the Brewers’ Congress Its Meaning fok the Goveenment. 163 met in Milwaukee, in 1877, the commissioner of internal revenue stated the situation exactly when he wrote to the convention: “I am glad to learn that the conduct of this bureau has been satisfac- tory to such an important body of tax-payers as the brewers of the United States, and I trust that nothing will occur to disturb the friendly relations now existing between this office and your associa- tion.” The next year, in Baltimore, the same com- missioner was present in person. At the Brewers’ Congress in Washington, in 1890, the head of the Internal Revenue Bureau was again present. “Our business relations for the last year,” he said in ad- dressing the convention, “have been quite exten- sive, and I may say — speaking for the officers of I the Commission of Internal Revenue — that they I have been of a pleasant character. In order that they may continue so, and that the pleasant fea- ture of the connection may as far as possible be increased, it is very desirable that the commis- sioner should know you all personally, and that, personally, he should know your wishes. You are all business men engaged in a lawful busi- ness, and entitled to pursue that business untram- 164 A Centtjey of DEiifK Refoem. meled by any regulation of tbe ofl&ce of the com- missioner of internal revenue, except in so far as may be necessary for tbe purpose of collecting the revenue.” To the principle expressed in this address the Government has been consistently true. It im- poses no regulations whatever upon the liquor business except as they relate to the “collecting of the revenue.” In no prohibition State or no-license town, where people have said that they did not want the business, does the Government lend its influence to suppress it. In fact, the Government encourages the business. In some remote town, for instance, the fathers and mothers have detennined that their sons and daughters shall be brought up free from the in- fluence of the saloon ; that the community shall be peaceable and orderly, and a good place to live in. After a hard struggle and much sacriflce they have carried the day, and liquor-selling in that place must now cease. The community is bent on exer- cising in this particular its full privilege of home rule. The officials proceed to carry out the wish of Its Meaning toe the Goveenment. 165 the people, and enforce the law. They are suc- ceeding — or seem to be — reasonably well. Some saloons have bowed to the inevitable and closed en- tirely; others have taken to the dark. The saloon business is severely crippled and would die, if only the strong arm of federal law would but come to the assistance at this point and administer the stroke of mercy. Will the Government do it ? The liquor business is in sore straits. It is outlawed, and has no standing in the community. The fed- eral permit, too, has run out now. Will the Fed- eral Government, the only remaining partner in the business, now help to enforce the law to the extent at least of withholding from the outlawed business a renewal of its permit ? Alas ! our great and good Government, since the days of the tax- ing, has lost the power of moral discernment as touching the things that pertain to the drink traf- fic. It can scarcely discern between its right hand and its left. It mutters but one word — Revenue. The saloon-keeper is aware of this fact, in this particular village. He is afraid of the local au- thorities, but he is more afraid of the United States authorities, to sell without their sanction, for these 166 A Centuky of Dkiftk Refoem. have a swift and drastic way of dealing with any who may be found selling without a permit. So the man applies to the collector of revenue for his district, for a permit to sell liquor. The Govern- ment does not refuse — it never refuses. It may be said of our Government in this respect, as was said upon the tombstone of a certain saloon-keeper, “He had a pleasant smile for everybody.” The man in this case pays his twenty-five dollars, gets his re- ceipt, and the Government promises to keep its hands off. With but one source of danger now to watch, the saloonkeeper is willing to take his chances. He begins to sell, in the dark, of coiirse. Drimkards are now seen occasionally on the street again; it /becomes a matter of common tallv that liquor is be- I ing sold. There may be an occasional conviction, I but that is hard to get, and unpleasant and expen- j sive for those who prosecute. But even a fine will I not stop the selling; there is such profit in liquor, ■ he can afford to pay. The amount sold will be magnified by those opposed to the law, and disaf- fection Avill spread. At the next election the tem- perance people will probably have hard work to Its Meaning for the Government. 167 carry no-license again ; or if they do succeed, it is likely to be by a narrow margin, only to be beaten the year following. Liquor had been sold anyway, ( people bad argued. There bad been drunkenness and disorder, constant contention and strife, and the town got no revenue; this carried the day for license. This is the actual history of a majority \ of the towns in the United States that have ever tried to put no-license into operation. Of the several factors that enter into the situa- tion we wish here to point out only one, this, namely: If the LTnited States Government bad I not, in defiance of the local law, entered into con- nivance with the saloon-keepers and given them en- couragement, by promise of immunity, those sa- I loon-keepers would not have dared to sell liquor. 5 Consequently, next to the man who stands behind 'j the bar, the United States Government stands as ' the chief promoter of this entire business. The Government practices this same code of ethics in every State, district, municipality, and town that is under prohibition. Any one wishing to sell the contraband article need but to apply I to the Internal Revenue office, inclosing always 168 A Centuky of DEmK Refoem. I the twenty-five dollars, and he will receive the Gov- I emment’s written sanction hy return mail, and no I questions will be asked. And while the local offi- I cers of the law are trying to find out the lawbreak- 1 ers, the agent that acts for the United States could '■ name them by name. Then every twelvemonth all these receipts are duly set down in the official report of the com- missioner of internal revenue, as among the na- tion’s assets. It will be recorded, for instance, that in Kansas, where the citizens are struggling to keep the decivilizing drug out, there were during ► the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901, one rectifier, 2,756 retail liquor dealers, eighteen wholesale liq- our dealers, three brewers, 308 retail dealers in malt liquors. Wliieh means simply that from this num- f her the Government received money, and in turn V issued permits. Some of these may have sold only a small fraction of the year, and then been thrown into prison, or otherwise driven out of their busi- ness by the vigilance of State or local officers. But the Government puts them all down as so many persons doing a full liquor business; furnishing material in so doing, for those who are constantly disparaging the labors of temperance and order. Its Meaning for the Government. 169 These things the IJnited States Government does through its legislative and executive arms, while over against this stands the solemn declara- tion of its highest judicial tribunal, to this effect : l“By the general concurrence of opinion of every I civilized and Christian community, there are few I sources of crime and misery to society equal to the I dramshop, where intoxicating liquors, in small I quantities, to be drunk at the time, are sold in- I discriminately to all parties applying. The statis- \ j ^ 1,-tics of every State show a greater amount of crime / and misery attributable to the use of ardent spirits / obtained at these retail liquor saloons than to any other source. To retail intoxicating liquors is not f an inherent right in a citizen of the United States or of a State; and any State, in the exercise of * its police power, may prohibit the traffic therein entirely.” Verily, while the voice sounds like Jacob’s, the hands are unmistakably the hands of Esau ! Mot only in the promotion of its trade at home has the liquor business received aid from the Eed- eral Government ; it has received aid from the same source in the promotion of trade abroad. It 170 A* Century OF Drink Reform, was but a few years ago that the Secretary of State at Washington sent a note to our consuls in the Central and South American States, ordering them to make inquiry in their respective districts, of the conditions with reference to the drinking habits of the people, and the means of supply, and of the requirements necessary for a successful ex- port liquor trade from this country. And when, with the going out of the century, our nation en- tered upon new paths ; when, in the exigencies of war, we entered upon a career of foreign territorial expansion, justifying this course and assuming this responsibility in the name of civilization and commerce, — the first branch of American com- merce to receive the benefits of such expansion, the first agency of civilization to be brought into play, was the liquor trade. In spite of the declara- tion of such men as President Schurman, of Cor- nell University, the chairman of the first Philip- pine Commission, that the American saloon did us more harm there in the beginning than anything else — the Filipino children staggering when they played mock Americans — still of all trades, this was the one most conspicuously to follow the flag Its Meaning eok the Govebnment. 171 'and to receive the protection and fostering care of that flag. Thus, during the first full year of ex- pansion, for the year ending June 30, 1899, the exports of liquor of domestic manufacture from the United States increased eighty per cent, the largest percentage of increase of any American export ; the exports of agricultural implements coming next, with an increase of 63.3 per cent for that same year. These things have raised a storm of indigna- tion and protest among temperance people all over the land. But why ? We do not complain here because the Government protects and promotes the liquor trade. We have simply shown that this fol- lows logically and justly the principle of taxation. Granted the right of a nation to tax a trade regu- larly for its support, and the nation is in duty bound to do just what our nation is doing toward the trade in strong drink. (H) CHAPTER V. Its Meaning for the Liquor Trade. The Internal Revenue tax has added to the I complexity and persistency of the drink problem, I in the second place, in that it led directly to a I thorough organization of the liquor business, for ! the purpose (1) of promoting its own efficiency and productiveness, and (2) of forming a power to resist legislative aggression. Out of the first has come the great grovqli and present wealth of the liquor business ; out of the second has come the liquor “power” that has played so large a part in the subsequent politics of the nation. We will look at these in turn. I. The levy of a heavy federal tax, in 1862, marked a radical change in the methods of busi- ness and in the forms of development of the entire liquor industry. Promiscuous liquor-selling now ceased. With small capital and indifferent busi- ness methods the liquor trade now became unprofit- 172 Its Meaning eoe the Liquok Trade. 173 able, or impossible. Liquor had hitherto been plentiful and cheap. There were numerous small stills throughout the country, and no large capital was invested. As to the brewing industry, that was yet in its infancy. t — But now there came a change. The grocery store vending liquors, and others engaged in the trade in a small way, either had to abandon it, or go into it as a business — with all that that implies. Many did quit. The rest proceeded to enlarge the business. First, more capital became neces- sary, and with it a more intelligent organization and management of the business. A larger invest- ment of capital, in turn, required a larger income ; which required larger sales, which made necessary the extension of the trade. Then came in competition. This reacted upon the business as a further stimulus. There was a yet larger investment of capital, with correspond- ingly better facilities for production, and a yet greater vigilance in pushing the trade and finding markets. It was now that the economic formula, that demand creates supply, became reversed, and the supply was made to create a demand. “Mine 174 A Centuet of Deink Refoem, host” of the tavern and inn of former days disap- peared, and with him went hospitality and sim- plicity. The drink-seller, now more and more of foreign birth, still had a pleasant smile for his customers, but it lasted only usually as long as the money lasted. Avarice had become his impell- ing power. I He no longer waited for customers to come in ; ^ he proceeded to draw them in. “Ice-cold,” thirst- j provoking signs were made to allure the oppressed I in hot weather. A “Hot Tom and Jerry,” per- haps, would draw thither the feet of the shivering in winter. Wliat signs could not do, a smile would, and a personal invitation, with a free drink and a free lunch — of pickled codfish, red herring, and salted pretzels ; for once awaken a thirst for liquor, and like licentiousness, it never goes backward. Start a saloon to-day in the most temperate com- munity, and give it free course, and it will build p a good trade. Saloons now occupied corner blocks, and were elaborately furnished. They were made attrac- tive, to attract. Expensive plate mirrors were in- troduced — there ’s a charm about a mirror. At- Its Meajting for the Liquor Trade. 175 tractive paintings, usually the figure of a woman in gauze drapery, or other costume calculated to interest men, now greeted the eye on entering. The light became brighter, and the screens darker. Music was brought in as an adjunct to the busi- ness, and not infrequently, mingled with the strains of music and the clink of glasses, were heard the peals of woman’s laughter, — she, too, brought in to attract custom. The drinking place remained either just plain “saloon,” or became “sample room,” or “palace,” or maybe, “Pete’s Place,” just as might suit the tastes and conceits of each particular class of customers. blow all this was made to serve but one end — light, screens, mirrors, music, pictures, games, free lunch, family entrance, — namely, to sell liquor. The frequent lavish displays of wealth, also, such as paving the saloon floor with silver dollars, looked to the same end. It sought either to introduce some striking novelty, or more generally, to main- tain for the business an imposing respectability which is suffering constant peril. The aim is the same — to sell liquor. This sole motive, bom first of necessity, received ever new impulse from the 176 A Centtjey of DkijStk Kefoem. very stimulus of success. The entire business was now driven with an energy and a wantonness un- known in former days, or in the methods of any other pursuit. / To this vigilance and enterprise of the liquor must be laid chiefly the increase in the ( consumption of strong drink in this country within the last generation. Our large foreign immigra- ’ tion during this period has had something to do with it, of course ; hut nothing less than the ag- gressive spirit of the business itself, flrst awak- ened by the tax, could have brought it about that, in spite of the growing sentiment of temperance throughout the land, and the increase in the num- ber of no-license to'wns and districts, the per capita consumption of malt liquors, for instance, should have more than doubled on our rapidly increasing population. Besides, total abstinence is by no means unknovm among our foreign-bom popula- tion. I Another change in the organization of the liquor business is to be noted. As is inevitably the jpase with a growing business when competition |ls felt, the drink business has moved toward con- ■solidation, the actual ownership and wealth pass- Its Meaning for the Liquor Trade. 17Y ing into fewer and fewer hands. The weak have been eliminated or absorbed by the strong, who thereby have become yet stronger. Thus, accord- ing to the census, there were in the United States, in 1870, 1,972 establishments for the manufac- ture of malt liquor; in 1890 there were 1,509. The capital invested on the other hand, increased from forty-nine millions in 1870, to over four hundred and fifteen millions in 1890. In the dis- tillery business the same tendency has been mani- fest, though perhaps in a somewhat less degree. Not only has the manufacture of liquors passed into fewer hands, but the retailing business, also has passed largely into the same hands. Probably from one-half to two-thirds of the saloons to-day are owned by, and run in the interests of, brewers and wholesalers. These latter buy the building, put in the fixtures, furnish the liquor, pay the taxes and license; while the saloon-keeper is only a kind of employee. Such organization and push- ing from behind has doubtless planted many a saloon where there would otherwise have been none, and thus promoted the sale and consumption of liquor. 12 178 A Centtjky of Dbink Refokm. Thus has the liquor business, by its compact- ness and efficiency of organization under the stim- ulus of taxation, attained prosperity and wealth and power. II. The Internal Revenue tax of 1862 led, in . the second place, to the banding together of the liquor interests for purposes of mutual defense against legislative encroachments. Israel con- quered Canaan because the latter was made up of a number of petty and independent kingdoms that offered no united resistance. Before the war, the liquor industry was in many hands, and was car- ried on usually in a small way. Small stills were numerous, license fees were practically nothing, whisky was cheap, and the investments of capital were small. There was no organization or bond i ■ f of union ; no power to wield, therefore, or to fear. I Consequently, when Maine began the decade of the fifties with a prohibitory law, other States fol- lowed and promptly passed similar laws, upon a simple expression of popular sentiment. There was no hesitancy by first calculating political con- sequences, on the part of legislator or politician. The liquor trade, from its very nature not much respected, was also not yet feared. It had not yet Its Meaning eob the Liquoe Teade. 179 found its voice, or become a factor to be reckoned with in politics. With the Internal Revenue Act of 1862 all this was changed. On November 12, of that same year, less than three months after the law went into effect, thirty-four members of the brewing trade met in Pythagoras Hall, on Canal Street, New York, and organized the United States Brew- ers’ Association. “Unity is Strength,” the tempo- rary president suggested as a good motto for their meeting. An agitation committee was appointed to correspond with the Internal Revenue Bureau, and a deputation soon afterwards visited Washington. In spite of the money needs of the Government at that time, they succeeded in getting the beer tax reduced, the following March, from one dollar to sixty cents, on the barrel. A year later, now without serious protest by the brewing interests, the tax of one dollar was restored. At the Brew- ers’ Congress of 1864, in Milwaukee, the agitation committee was made permanent, and deputations to Washington became a regular feature of the work of the association. This was the beginning of the liquor lobby at the nation’s capital. 180 A Centuky of Dkink Eefoem. But the liquor interests soon learned that they had no real hostility to fear from the Government. The tax had been levied, as it had been upon other articles, simply as a war necessity. In a very few years, in fact, it became apparent that the Gov- ernment v/as enjoying the revenue from this source ' so well as to make it unlikely that any really hos- I tile measures would ever be contemplated. The I frequent presence, and friendly addresses of the officials of the Internal Eevenue Bureau at the Brewers’ Congresses, gave assurance to the same end. The tax, so far, was found not to have hurt the business any. It was only necessary to raise the price, for experience showed that those who drank would buy anyhow. From its first work of protest, the organized liquor power now turned toward the exercise of 1 congressional surveillance, to guard against any ! possible future legislative aggression. Such watch- I fulness was not wholly unwarranted. For while 'l the Government has been friendly and intimate even, it has not always been moved by generous or manly sentiment in its dealings with the liquor business. Wliere genuine respect is wanting, Its Meaning foe the Liquoe Teade. 181 coupled with desire, this is perhaps to be expected. The drink business soon proved so willing a part- ner and protege, genial and growing rich, that the Government, an intimate associate in the business, with access to the books and the safe, has not al- ways been free from the temptation to stretch its hands a little too far. This the assertion and self- respect of the organized liquor power has repelled through its point of chief impact upon the Gov- ernment, the liquor lobby at Washington. Yet this has not angered the Government, and led it to an attitude of hostility. For this rebuke to its presumption, this resentment of its undue liber- ties, it has been led to think rather more pro- foundly of the liquor power. In this way the at- mosphere was cleared, and a mutual understand- ing established, — a relation that, according to the annual protestations of both sides, remains cordial to this day. The nation’s capital, however, though the first scene of protest by the organized liquor interests, has not been the chief field of their activity. The Government happily avoids offense by shifting the whole vexatious temperance question upon the 182 A Centukt of Deink Refoem. States. Many of the States, following a lihe policy of evasion, through ostensibly liberal local option laws shift it upon the individual towns and munic- j" ipalities. It is in these State and local campaigns that the liquor power does its most telling work. This is done by the employment of a single agency, I a very potent factor in determining the course of I politics — namely, money, judiciously expended. Besides the national organization of brewers, an organization of the wine and spirit trade was effected in Chicago, in mass convention, October 18, 1886. It was named the Rational Protective Association, with John M. Atherton, of Louisville, as its president. Its avowed object was to resist the rising tide of prohibition, which at this time became very perceptible. This organization did effective work for about a dozen years. Its place . is now taken by the Rational Liquor Dealers’ Pro- '■ tective Bureau, a recent creature of the Rational AVholesale Liquor Dealers’ Association. The Dis- tilling Company of America, better knovm as the Whisky Trust, paid all the administrative ex- penses of this bureau during its first year just closed. Its Meaning foe the Liquoe Teade. 183 The money resources of the liquor organiza- tions are large. They usually have a large regular income from fixed annual assessments upon their members ; and when special funds are required for special needs, there are extra assessments. These funds are at the generous disposal of State and local organizations for any special pressing work. In large cases of liquor litigation these organ- izations furnish the financial backing. When in 1887 several Kansas cases were appealed to the United States Supreme Court, involving the right of compensation for a business outlawed by pro- hibition, it was the United States Brewers’ Asso- ciation that engaged the counsel. Senator Vest, of Missouri, and Joseph H. Choate, of Kew York, to argue these cases, paying them princely fees for their services. It was in these cases that the de- cision was handed down, denying the right of com- pensation to liquor dealers. . The influence of these organizations is also felt I through the country in efforts made to bring the I violators of the liquor laws to justice. Ko accused I liquor-seller in any no-license town or prohibition State stands alone. If local money and influence 184 A Centuky of Deink Eefoem. are not sufficient, he has the organized liquor power of the country back of him. This is one of the reasons it is so hard to get a conviction in a liquor case almost anywhere. But not only in violations such as these is the accused shielded by whatever power money can wield. In those graver crimes that not infrequently occur in connection with the enforcement of the liquor laws, this same power is felt. We will take a conspicuous instance, the murder of Rev. George C. Haddock on the streets I of Sioux City, Iowa, on August 3, 1886. Had- I I dock was a Methodist minister in Sioux City, and I was at the head of a citizens’ movement for the I enforcement of the prohibitory law. He had in this way aroused the wrath of the law-breakers, and had been marked for death. Returning home, on the evening of this day, from a drive to a neigh- boring place, he left his team at the livery stable, and as he proceeded to go home a crowd collected to intercept him, in trying to pass ivhom he was shot and instantly killed. The country was aroused as by an electric shock. Suspicion fastened upon a certain brewer, and he was at length arrested and brought to trial. Its Meaning fob the Liquok Tkade. 185 \ At a meeting of the Saloon-keepers’ Association the night before the murder, it was he who had suggested putting Haddock out of the way, and had called attention to the fact that there was money in the treasury of the association that could be used to reward the deed. The trial awakened widespread interest. Every one had confidence in the judge, but looked with suspicion on the jury. Strong evidence was presented by the prosecution. Yet at the conclu- sion, eleven of the jurors voted for acquittal. Why they voted thus they alone probably, and God, know. It is known generally, however, that the one man who held out for conviction had been ap- proached and offered a bribe to vote for acquittal. A second trial was held. Even stronger evidence was presented ; but to no avail. The jury, after a consultation that lasted about ten minutes, brought in a unanimous verdict of acquittal. The jurors then proceeded in a body to the photographer and sat. for a picture, with the accused brewer in the center of the group ; a proceeding, let it be here remarked, not of every-day occurrence in the an- nals of jurisprudence. The liquor interests of the 186 A Centuey of Deink Reeoem. country, especially the United States Brewers’ As- sociation, were back of this case with money and influence. Uot only is the organized liquor power using its influence against the enforcement of prohibi- tory laws, in that it shields the law-breakers, and murderers even, when brought to trial, it uses its power to prevent the enactment of prohibitory laws in the beginning. To show some of the ways in which money is used when a campaign is on for prohibition, we will take a single notable instance, the Pennsylvania campaign for constitu- tional prohibition, in 1889. The people of that State were to decide by ballot whether prohibition was to become a law and to be a part of the State Constitution. The liquor men had known that the fight was coming on, and had prepared for it. State and local forces Avere completely organized. The raising of money Avas first looked after. In Philadelphia the large hotels Avere assessed a thou- sand dollars each, and the small retailers from tAventy-five to fifty dollars. Besides this, the sales of all beer AA^ere assessed at ten cents a barrel. Pur- Its Meaning eon the Liquok Tkade. 187 ther, each brewer was required to solicit money from every one with whom he had trade dealings, such as the barrel makers, those from whom they bought horses, grain, machinery, etc. In this way, $200,000 were raised in Philadelphia alone for the State committee. These same methods essen- tially were employed over the State. The brewers of Allegheny County, it was reported, had sub- scribed $35,000; and the Retail Liquor Dealers’ Association of the same county, $25,000 more. The trade from all parts of the country responded. The brewers of ISTew York contributed $100,000, and large sums were contributed by the United States Brewers’ Association, and the National Protective Association. The total campaign fund was prob- ably not short of a million dollars. The Philadel- phia Press, in fact, estimated that this was the amount contributed in the State alone. How this vast sum was expended may be seen from the following facts. Nearly all the news- papers of the State were found to oppose the pro- hibitory amendment. Every editor had been vis- ited in person by the liquor interests at the open- ing of the campaign, and arrangements had been 188 A Century of DpaNK EEFOsii. made for his support. Weekly papers were paid from fifty to five hundred dollars, and the city dailies from one thousand to four thousand dollars each. Those papers that would not enter such a contract were paid from thirty to sixty cents a line for all matter published on the liquor side. The material was furnished them, for the most part, by the liquor literary bureau, written up by men paid for this special work, and to be printed as editorial or as news matter, as might be directed. Thou- sands of copies of these papers were then bought and sent out, especially to farmers, to whom such arguments as the liquor revenue, and how prohibi- tion would hurt the farmers, appealed with pecul- iar force. That the almost universal attitude of the press was not a matter of conviction, is made evident by a few facts. Upon the State chairman’s statement, who managed the campaign on the temperance side, a former attorney-general of the State, at least one daily paper in Philadelphia stood ready, for a consideration of ten thousand dollars, to espouse the cause of prohibition. Papers through- out the State not only printed general matter fur- Its Meaning fob the Liquok Trade. 189 j. nished by tbe liquor management, but tbey printed t bogus articles, made up in Philadelphia, under the guise of honest dispatches from Des Moines, Topeka, Atchison, and other places in prohibition States, — giving what pretended to be facts and figures to show the failure of prohibitory laws, and the havoc wrought by them. These dispatches so called, were printed with the full knowledge that they were bogus. They appeared in the news col- umn in the ordinary way, with nothing to indicate that it was advertising matter. When the man- agers of the campaign for the other side sent to the prohibition States and obtained from aulhori- ( tative sources a complete refutation of these state- ments, this matter was refused publication in the leading papers except upon the payment of so much a line, and upon the condition that the correction should in each case appear with a mark to distin- guish it as advertising matter.* Another heavy drain upon the purse of the liquor management was the politician. There is always a purchasable vote in every campaign, varying largely with the amount of money avail- *8ee article, Const. Prohibition. Pennsylvania, In Cyclopedia of Temperance and Prohibition. Funk & Wagnalls Co. 190 A Century of Deink Reform, able for such purpose. It seems that Hr. Quay ) i‘‘bled” the liquor organization for three years, and ^ben came near causing its defeat at the polls. The ^umor became current that this money was being contributed to defeat Grover Cleveland for the Presidency. A movement was then set on foot to have the Democratic vote cast solidly for the amendment, to punish the brewers of the State. This was prevented by timely discovery, and by the liberal use of money in “fixing the boys,” by such soft answer turning away their wrath. In Phila- delphia the poll-list was bought of the county com- missioners by the liquor interests, for their exclu- sive use, with the understanding that it was not to be returned until after the election. Then some money went out for speakers, but not a gi’eat deal. It is the general practice of the liquor interests in any contest not to make large use of this means of campaigning. Probably good speakers are hard to get. Those whose serv- ices can be secured are of course well paid. In the Pennsylvania campaigTi Kate Field was said to have received $250 a day, and expenses, for her efforts to convince her hearers that prohibition is bad for a State. Its Meaning foe the Liqtjok Trade. 191 With all this money at its disposal, the com- mittee on the liquor side was $50,000 in debt at the close of the campaign, chiefly in accounts with newspapers. On the other hand, the State com- mittee which managed the prohibition side of the campaign, though it had the influential support of such men as John Wanamaker, Governor Beaver, T. V. Powderly, ex-Chief Justice Agnew, and many other foremost men, there was but a com- paratively poor equipment of funds from the be- ginning. The proposed prohibitory amendment was defeated by a vote of 484,644 to 296,617, and the average American citizen will diagnose this as a symptom that public sentiment is not yet ready for prohibition. In conclusion: to claim that all this activity by the liquor interests is due entirely and chiefly to the Internal Revenue tax would probably be trying to prove too much. That the liquor inter- ests would have opposed the propagandism of tem- perance and prohibition which has swept over our land since the Civil War, even had no Internal Revenue tax ever been laid, is more than probable. Such a thing was to be expected, of course, as a 192 A Centuky oe Deii^k Eeeoem. plain matter of self-preservation. "What we wish to emphasize is this : that it was the Internal Rev- .enne tax which first directly aroused the liqnor in- Jterests and put them in fighting fettle ; that it is I this tax which took the liquor business out of the I hands of the many, and concentrated it in the I hands of the few, thereby giving to it organiza- I tion and wealth and power. In the hands of the ^ many, with small profits, it could never have be- come the formidable power it now is. It could not have reached the compactness of organization, the unity and celerity of action, or amassed the immense corruption funds that it now has. Xo industry that is not' in a measure a monopoly, and wealthy, and knows itself thoroughly, can have much infiuence in shaping or defeating legislation. "While it is, then, the vigorous temperance agi- tation everywhere that calls forth the constant resistance of the liquor power, it is the Internal Revenue policy of the United States that has, during these forty years put the liquor power in fine shape for the battle. CHAPTEE VL Its Meaniitg eor the Free Citizeh. There is a third complication, finally, which the federal policy of taxation has introduced into the drink question. This applies also to State and local taxation under the license system. The com- plication is this: the payment of a heavy money sum into the public treasury by the liquor business has so blinded the eyes, seared the conscience, and sealed up the fountain of pity in the human breast, in the face of the daily manifest train of want and woe that proceeds from this traffic everywhere, that the whole drink issue has never yet been squarely met and fought out on its merits, whether it is good or whether evil. That the drink industry itself, under the disci- pline of taxation, should from its first strenuous efforts for self-preservation have become strong and lusty, and wanton even, is scarcely to be con- sidered strange. That the attitude of the Federal 13 193 194 A Centuky of Dkink Eefofm. Government toward this industry, this genial, rich patron, from whom it receives more than a fourth of its entire support each year, — that its attitude toward this industry should be one of devotion, this too is not unnatural or strange. But that the free-horn American citizen, to whom it is given to see truth face to face ; whose strength is not stayed ; whose strong arm, beneath high heaven, is free to support or strike down ; that his hands, conse- crated under God to relieve the oppressed, to raise up the faint and the fallen, to lift up in this land of the free an ensign unto which the nations of the earth shall come for their healing, — that these hands, too, should have become unsteady and un- certain, itching for gold ; this is unspeakably de- plorable. On the assumption that the liquor business is in a true sense a legitimate business, like any other, the whole license and special tax policy, from the heavily disproportionate burden it places upon this pursuit, is palpably and inexcusably unjust. That the business can stand this burden will not serve to justify it; it only raises suspicion. That the liquor business cheerfully pays this heavy tax. Its Meaning fok the Fkee Citizen. 195 ' and even advocates the policy, is yet more signifi- I cant ; it is itself a condemnation. On the assump- V tion, then, on the other hand, that the liquor busi- I ness is not like other pursuits, but from its very , nature is fraught with evil, which a rigid 'legal restriction must and can effectually prevent, — on this assumption the entire policy of license and taxation, from the fact that after the fairest trial under such severest restriction the consumption of strong drink in the aggregate and per capita has grown, and the evils flowing therefrom have known no perceptible abatement, — this has proven the license and restriction policy a stupendous failure, and again without justification. A little clear thinking should have made this plain in the begin- ning. The way to restrict is to restrict, not per- mit — for money. It remains, then, that because the liquor trade is willing and able to pay a large amount of money into the public treasury, the American citizen al- f lows that it may work evil; refusing to suppress the evil because with it would cut off a source of revenue to the State. In other words, the Amer- ican citizen sanctions and sustains the public drink 196 A Century of Drinr Eefoem. trade, not that it is good, but because be thinks it pays him well. It is Ruskin who observes that the condemnation resting on the world is not that men do not believe in their Lord, hut that they sell Him! The farmer sells the product of his land; the laborer, that of his hands ; the professional man the product, or service of his brain, — for money. This money, as a medium of exchange and a con- venient measure of material value, will in turn buy a suit of clothes, or a book, or a carriage, or the services of a railway company for a journey. These are commodities, and are, therefore, proper I objects of barter or sale. The value of the one can be estimated, vdth some degree of approxima- , tion, in terms of the other. But in what terms I shall the value of life be stated ? How much will I a man give in exchange for it ? “All that he hath,” yet that will not buy it, nor will it represent the value of it. We have here come upon terms that 1 are incommensurable. Life — the soul, unlike wheat or wood or gold, has no units of measure, of size or weight, or value. It can not possibly be exchanged, therefore, for any of these. Do Its Meaning eok the Feee Citizen. 197 we allow a man who has deliberately taken a human life to expiate his crime by the payment of so much gold? Noj he has to pay with his own life. Only in terms of another life can the value of a life be estimated. Indeed, so sacred is life that even this right of the State to take the i wretched life of a murderer, is coming to be more and more questioned as civilization advances. But there are yet higher values than life, — ■ virtue, honor, love. To sacrifice life rather than virtue and honor; to perish in a labor of love — to such deeds all mankind pays tribute. If mur- der, then, is so gvave a crime, when death is con- fessedly not the worst of evils, what shall we say of a sanctioned public practice whereby reason ends in insanity, and virtue in shame ? How many dollars will represent the difference between that sad remnant of womanhood, with face once fair, now festered and foul, who, after having served the lusts of the fiesh,, has now been cast away to be trodden under foot of men, — and that other woman, with face yet fair and heart yet pure ; a devoted wife, a tender and beloved mother of children, by grace queen of the home; com- 198 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. manding by her presence everywhere the involun- tary respect and homage of men; how many dol- lars ought a man fairly to receive before he should hand over his sister or daughter to an institution that will transform her from the latter into the former state ? The close relation between drink and impurity no man may dare deny. Drink opens the way into the citadel of virtue which would otherwise have been impregnable. Or how much money, again, will represent the difference between that man whose very presence is feared by his own children, and dreaded by his worse than widowed wife ; whose daily earnings, left at night in the saloon till, serve to feed other mouths and clothe other bodies than those of his own family; who on returning home after midnight hours will curse and destroy articles of furniture that come in his way, and proceeding to his wife’s bed, begets imbecility, and after ridding himself of discom- fort by copious vomiting, sinks into a heavy sleep ; this man and that other husband and father, whose home-coming is eagerly looked for by his little ones ; who devoutly asks the blessing of God upon the frugal evening meal ; who by industiw and self- Its Meaning- eoe the Free Citizen. 199 j denial is raising up a large family to usefulness and honor; to whom no appeal of religion or hu- manity comes in vain; in whose daily walk every young man finds an incentive to better living, and every woman a profounder respect — in what terms of money, by coolest calculation, shall we estimate the difference between these two men — their value before God, or to society ? That widowed mother who spent many an anxious, weary midnight hour over the cradle of her only child ; who nursed him to health and strength by her love and her prayers ; who took from her own want that he might lack nothing; in whose requiting confidence and affec- tion, his bright eye and fine promise, the mother found a joy and a cheer that made her very sacri- fice sweet; how high a license fee ought a com- munity to require of a liquor-seller that he may take this boy, give him liquor, and throw him into the gutter, or send him home to his mother — drunk ? How the tax-advocating citizen will work out such a question honestly in his own soul, if he does work it out, he alone probably knows. Prob- ably he changes the form of the question, by that 200 A Century of Drink Eeform. same instinct wliereby one involuntarily shifts his body from a position of discomfort to one of ease. Were he to give an absolutely candid and logical answer to this question he would say this: the money value of the ruin wrought the country over by the use of liquor for any given period, divided by the amount of liquor consumed during that period, fixes the appraisement of damage done at $1.10 for each gallon of whisky drunk, and one ; dollar for each barrel of beer consumed. This the distiller and brewer have to pay before the liquor goes out, a kind of penalty for making it. This is the Federal excise tax. Furthermore, the ex- tent to which the retail liquor-seller contributes to the damage, by handling the liquor, is estimated at an average of twenty-five dollars each year. This is the Federal special liquor tax. According to the same Government schedule, the wholesale liquor dealer’s part in the harvest of desolation is estimated at one hundred dollars a year; the rec- tifier’s part, likewise at one hundred dollars. If he does a large business, however, and ‘‘rectifies” more than five hundred barrels a year, he is be- lieved to do two hundred dollars worth of damage each year, etc. Its Meaning eok the Fkee Citizen. 201 This is the American citizen’s estimate when he is acting in his federal capacity. As a citizen of the State he has a slightly difFerent basis of computation. Here he does not concern himself with the brewer, the distiller, the rectifier, the maker of stills ; he fixes the responsibility upon the I retailer, the man who sets the liquor before the I people to drink, the immediate agent of evil. Ap- j praising the total human wreckage wrought by i the fire, flood, and tempest of strong drink for one year, the citizen divides this by the total number of drink-sellers, and reaches an annual average damage for each, say of five hundred dollars. This is then fixed as the minimum annual rate, or li- cense fee. This is the rate in Illinois, for instance. In other States, like Wisconsin, with a large alien population and a less enlightened conscience, the injury wrought is appraised at a lower figure. In Massachusetts, on the other hand, with its Puritan standard of morals, sobriety and manhood are ap- praised much higher. It takes not less than about twelve hundred dollars to get permission to sell liquor for one year in that State. Ho ; the citizen does not really want it to seem 202 A. Centuky of Deink Refoe^i. that he is setting a money value on virtue, though in truth and before God he does do this very thing. He does not really look at it in that way, but he carries out the transaction just the same. He knows that the liquor business is fraught vdth evil, not potentially or casually, but actually and inev- itably. He knows that an open public saloon in a community will spread evil and destroy morals, just as inevitably as a public well which has be- come polluted by sewage will spread typhoid fever, and cause death in that commimity. Hot every- body gets water at that well. Hot every one that uses the water will get typhoid fever; but a num- ber will. Some will die. And the Board of Health will condemn that well! Hot every one in toivn goes to that saloon to drink; but it is there for that purpose, and many do go. Hot every one that goes and drinks will be perceptibly affected thereby, but a number will, in their persons and finances — and their families. Some will be utterly ruined. And the citizen says. Make him pay five hundred dollars every year! We must have revenue, the citizen says; and his eyes see and ears hear nothing but the gold as Its Meaning eok the Free Citizen. 203 . it drops clink, clink, into the strong box of village or citj. The liquor interests take advantage of this peculiar human weakness, and when a cam- jpaign is on for no-license or prohibition, word is /passed down the line of the workers on the liquor / side, as was done in the Pennsylvania campaign ■already mentioned, namely, “Don’t defend the I saloon. Talk revenue, and how prohibition will / hurt business.” Just before a recent election there ■ appeared on the first page of one of the leading dailies, in large letters, in a city which for cul- ture, intellect, and morals prides itself as Being the foremost city of America, words to this effect (an advertisement, of course, paid for) : “ dollars were paid into the city treasury of ylast year by the liquor trade. Remember this I when you vote to-morrow.” The citizens remem- ■ hered. With such large figures in mind it would be hard, indeed, to think of anything else. Only one more thing let the citizen remember, over against this, namely: except for this revenue he would not tolerate the drink nuisance in any com- munity, not for a twelvemonth. But, never mind. It ’s done, and business is 204 A Cebttuky of Deiyk Eefoem. business. How mncb bas tbis bargain netted us ? How much bave we made, now — money ? Tou tell. ‘‘Well, in tbis town we get three thousand dol- lars a year. There are six saloons, which pay five hundred dollars apiece. This is paid promptly, the first of each quarter, in advance. Out of this we maintain our electric lighting, keep our streets and sidewalks in good condition. This money is easily raised, and lessens our taxes by just so much. Hot only that, but the saloons bring trade to to-^vn. The town would be dead otherwise. They are the making of the town.” Indeed. Then perhaps there is another side to this question, besides a right and a wrong side. Perhaps the evils connected Avith drink-selling are only necessarily incidental to any real material prosperity. Perhaps, after all, one son’s degrada- tion, one mother’s woe, must not outweigh the material necessities and well-being of society at large. It may be true, we have not seen all sides. “Yes; and besides these large sums that the saloons pay into the treasury of our towns, the liquor industry of the country pays a large part of Its Meaning eok the Free Citizen. 205 / } I the expenses of our Government, in the form of revenue and special taxes. The people are already complaining of heavy taxes; yet except for this liquor revenue they would be taxed still heavier.” Indeed ! Indeed ! Indeed ! So much money ! There is another side, surely. And — but where do they get all this money ? Listen ! Let us look at a thing here with steady, scrutinizing, unflinching gaze. Where does all this money come from? Do the distiller, the brewer, the drink-seller make it ? That is to say, does the drink business, which does not dig this money out of the earth, but like other lines of trade receives it in exchange, — does this busi- hess, upon any principle of sound economy, earn ithis money by rendering adequate service for value received ? If so, it then becomes an actual pro- ducer of wealth, and these millions constitute its assets — whatever its liabilities — and must be set down to its credit in its ledger account with so- ciety. Has this money been earned ? That ’s the question. The farmer who tills the earth and makes it yield her increase, becomes an agent of produc- 206 A Centuky oe Dkink Reedem. tion. The man who invents his implements for him; the man who constructs them; the man who furnishes the materials for them, who digs the iron out of the earth; whose sagacity and enter- prise locates and opens the mine — these are all producers of wealth, creators of value. So is the man who builds your house, makes your clothes, rears the sheep, raises the cotton and flax; who builds a bridge, constructs a railroad, blasts a rock, levels a road; the miller who grinds the wheat, the baker who makes it into bread, the merchant who sells clothing and groceries, the banker who facilitates exchange, the teacher who imparts and fosters learning, the physician who relieves suffer- ing and aids in restoring to health, the lawyer who gives coimsel and protects alike the rights of the guilty and the innocent, the minister who com- forts the sorrowing, brings hope to the despairing, and a nobler incentive to every soul — the prophet of a better life; all these, yes, and the man who digs a drain, or sweeps the pavement, or cleans your chimney, or shines your shoes, or curries your horse — all these add to the cleanliness, the com- fort, the health and happiness of the world; con- Its Meaning fok the Fkee Citizen. 207 tributing to its material, intellectual, sestbetic, and moral wealth. Each of these has his place, and take him out of it, society would suffer, so far forth, an absolute loss. How about the man who makes a living by sell- ing liquor ? Is he, too, a producer of wealth ? j Would the world be poorer if he were taken out of I it ? Does he, too, minister to human comfort and , plenty and happiness, or encourage industry and economy, or promote skill, or foster education and religion, or offer incentives to better living ? If so, to what extent ? Do the three hundred million dollars which the liquor trade paid last year, in I the form of special revenue taxes, licenses, and ^ fees of all kinds, national. State, and local, — f which represents but a portion of its profits, which, in turn, represent but a small portion of its in- come; are these three hundred million dollars to be taken as but a fractional indication, therefore, of the sum total of services which the liquor trade contributed to the well-being of this country dur- ing one year ? Ho; these millions simply represent a portion of the money that the saloon-keeper received from 208 A Cefitjey of Dkink Reform. ^ the people who bought his ware. In return for this money he set before them beer, wine, whisky — al- S ft ^ ^ ^ ^ I coholic and intoxicating liquors, which ministered * to no human necessity or comfort or well-being, but to an acquired and perverted appetite only. ISTo home was thereby made happier, no heart purer, no life stronger. The saloon-keeper, in spite of the fact that he works early and late, and sometimes has to contend with beasts, has not earned one cent of his money. When people spend their money for that which is not bread, and their labor for that which satisfies not, we do not call this a purchase or an acquisition, but a waste at best. The liquor saloon in society at large is at best, from an economic point of view, a vast sewer into which the flood of human appetite carries each, year millions upon millions of the people’s hard earned money. The amount which society receives in taxes and license fees is simply that small por- tion which has been saved to it out of this waste sewage, the largest amount that the avaricious citi- zen, with soiled hands, has been able to fish out of this underground stream. We know now where this liquor revenue comes Its MEAjrma eok the Feee Citizen. 209 from, this magical money which the citizen is bid- den not to forget on election day. We know now who contributes all this money that makes towns and cities and governments prosperous, and we know pretty well how much the citizen gets in re- turn for his outlay. Three hundred million dol- lars is approximately Avhat the citizen, by every device of taxation and fines, has been able to save out of this drain. We want to look a little more closely now, to see how much really goes in there, that we miy estimate about what is lost — absolutely and for- ever. Here a man’s senses and understanding will fail him. When the United States official reports give out the information that in the course of a twelvemonth more than one hundred million proof gallons (i. e., fifty per cent alcohol) of spirits were Avithdrawn for consumption, and of malt liquors over forty million barrels; and that, besides this, from eight to ten million gallons of wines and liquors were imported from other countries ; be- sides the total production of native wines, which are not taxed, and the products of illicit distilling, of which a thousand and more stills are seized 14 210 A Century of Drink Reform. each year by the Governmeiit officials ; these figures become simply incomprehensible. They only con- fuse the mind by their very size, and leave but an indefinite impression of vastness. And when we read that the people of our land pay for this liquor, ‘ as their yearly drink hill, not less than one billion ' dollars, and very probably nearer a billion and a half, every object of man’s knowledge and com- prehension dwindles instantly into nothingmess ; the perspective is lost, and man murmurs only a weary, half-indifferent, half-incredulous “large.” William Hargreaves, H. D., of Philadelphia, author of “Worse than Wasted,” estimated the drink bill of the United States for 1900 at $1,465,- 000,000. He explains his method of computation ; says he has made these estimates for twenty years, and that they have never been questioned ; that he has laid them before gaugers of the revenue depart- ment, before ex-saloon-keepers, and other persons capable of judging, and they agree that his esti- mates are as nearly correct as it is possible to make them. He insists that his figures are conservative, below rather than above the actual cost. We will take only $1,200,000,000 here, for purposes of comparison. This is probably on the safe side. Its Meaning eok the Free Citizen. 211 We will now place an object or two in tbe fore- ground, that we may better judge of distance and size. The public school system of our land, that best exponent of democracy and greatest factor in our national assimilation, — for every dollar that 1 the American citizen pays in taxes for public edu- I cation ($200,000,000), he pays not less than six I for liquor. Again, the United States of America, I a country vast in extent, first in resources, great in achievement, liberal in expenditure, a world power — the total expenditures of this great nation for one year ($593,000,000 for the year ending June 30, 1902), covering the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; including the army, the navy, Indians, pensions, post-office, interest on public debt, and every other last item and source of ex- pense; these liberal expenditures of a liberal gov- ernment, - which the citizens do not always con- tribute without grumbling, amount to just about one-half of what the same people pay out, in a like period, for strong drink. Subtracting, now, the $300,000,000 which the liquor trade pays back to the people, and we have an absolute waste, or loss, of $900,000,000 and upwards; one billion dollars, approximately. 212 A Centuey of Dkink Refoeh. Let it not be forgotten that this vast sum rep- resents, at its best, an annual waste and loss. That the money is not sunk into the ocean, but is all kept in the country, does not make it one whit I less a waste and loss. The expenditure has brought j no returns. It is as if this country should engage I half a million skilled workmen, set them at mak- ing pianos and fine furniture, having them fur- nish their own materials, and pay them an average of two thousand dollars a year for every man; then give orders that each night the entire finished product of that day’s work shall be burned up. The money paid for this work all stays in the country, hut it brings no return. It represents destroyed wealth. We hear much in our country about the large standing armies of Europe. We are taught to look upon this institution as a burden and a drain upon the productive, honest industries of a people. Why a drain and a burden? The money paid out for the maintenance of standing armies all stays in the country. It makes business for the gold braid and brass button industries, the gam and powder factories. It creates model cities like Essen, and Its Meaning fok the Feee Citizen. 213 makes Krupp millionaires; and any town where soldiers are quartered will witness lively times. How a drain, then, and a burden ? For this rea- . son: the taxpayer gets nothing in return for his I money, except perhaps the spectacle of imposing I field maneuvers and splendid sham battles an- ' nually. The armies eat up wealth and create none. ( They do n’t make their own living, but are sup- ported by the country. They are a burden, there- fore, to every honest toiler. For this reason the statement, that in Europe every workman carries a soldier upon his back, comes not far from being the truth. Yet the United States could better afford to support a standing army of a million men, gath- ering up all the unemployed and relieving every overcrowded business and profession, and pay each I man an average of a thousand dollars a year, hav- I ing him out of this sum furnish his own hoard, f clothes, and ammunition, — could better afford to support this body of men, and keep them shooting at targets, than it can afford to pay a similar sum to a nearly similar number who now spend their time and labor at making and selling liquor. Each 214 A Century of Drink Reform. eats up the same amount of wealth of others’ toil ; neither gives anything in return ; with this much in favor of the army — it would at least leave its supporters sober, probably very sober. This coun- try could better afford to support in absolute idle- ness, as lords and gentlemen, the 200,000 men who run retail liquor establishments in our land, pay- ing them $5,000 a year, each, the salary of a United States Senator, than it can afford to pay the same sum to these same men, as it now does, for selling strong drink. Out of the money now spent for liquor, our Government could buy out, every twelvemonth, the entire wine, spirit, and malt liquor industry of the coimtry, using land and buildings for the benefit of the people, and have a number of millions left besides. We have in each instance said that our nation could better afford to do these things. The imme- diate money transaction would be the same. But while the citizen who supports a lord or soldier in idleness is out of so much money, he has himself left yet. He can still work and produce more wealth. But when the citizen pays out his money for liquor, while his money is gone — an absolute loss to him — that is not all ; (and we are not speak- Its Meaning eoe the Fkee Citizen. 215 / ing of health or manhood or morals now, but just I of money and material wealth.) The man gets drunk, say, and for the time being at least is not able to work. The value of so much of labor is I lost. Or because of drunkenness he loses his place , and is altogether without work. The wealth that his labor might have produced is totally lost, an . absolute loss to himself and to society. He eats ' up and does nothing. Or because of drinking he becomes sick and thus loses his labor; or becomes a pauper and a public charge. Or he becomes con- tentious as the very common result of drinking, and destroys property or commits assault, perhaps a crime, even murder. Then society employs offi- fcers to catch him; pays a lawyer, judge, jurors, / and witnesses to try him ; builds a penitentiary to receive him; pays out money to feed him, a war- den, a chaplain, and attendants to look after him. Or the man, as the result of drink, becomes a maniac, and society builds an asylum for him to live in, and pays out money to feed and keep him. Or he begets an imbecile child, or by neglect and example rears one to crime, or his family to pau- perism; and society cares for them all. 216 A Centuey of Dkiistk Refoem. Add up, if you can, the entire criminal budget of the country — tbe whole police machinery, court expenses, prisons, everything, for one year — and take one-half of this as representing probably at the very least the cost of liquor’s aftermath in crime and disorder, either immediately or re- motely; find the total amount expended each year in charity, privately and by the State, and the cost of our almshouses, and of the asylums, public and private, for the insane, — and take of these figures from one-fourth to one-third, as represent- ing the amount traceable, immediately or remotely to the drinking habits of the nation; take these figures, together with the money value of labor lost and labor misdirected as the result of liquor, and add to them the one billion dollars spent annually, above all license fees received in return, for liqnor, and you will arrive with some degree of approxi- mation at the yearly cash account of the drink trade with society. ' If it is true that in a country with a large standing army every honest workman carries a soldier upon his back, it is no less true that in a conntry with the public saloon system every Jion- Its Meaning for the Tree Citizen. 217 estly toiling citizen carries upon liis back either a brewer, distiller, or barkeeper, a pauper, an idiot, a maniac, a murderer, a policeman, or a criminal lawyer : and some of these are heavy. Verily, the clink of the license money as it Jrops into the public cash-box has charmed the i citizen with a fascination akin to that with which Uhe magician’s coin charms the rustic at the fair. So sure was the latter that he would have staked his very soul upon the guess, when behold! the coin was under the other hat. An old farmer of the writer’s acquaintance, now gone to his reward, once took a load of hogs to market. As the wagon stood upon the buyer’s scales, and the attention of the buyer was for a moment diverted, the old farmer reached over and gave the balance weight a smart turn. The buyer, pretending not to have noticed it, proceeded to weigh the hogs, and when the farmer drove off thought he would adjust his scales, to see out of how much he had been cheated. He found that the farmer had turned the weight the wrong way! He had been willing and anxious to barter his conscience for a few pounds of pork, but — bad 218 A Centuey of Deine; Eefoem. bargain that it was — be was not bright enough ; he was cheated even at that. This man carried with him into his grave this confident, two-fold delu- sion : first, that no one ever knew of his tampering with the scales ; and secondly, that he made money by the transaction. C. EDUCATION. 219 CHAPTEE VII. Mokal Movements Since the War. We paused in our narrative at the year 1862, the year in which the Internal Eevenue Act was passed, to consider the principle and policy of liquor taxation in its effect, first, upon the Gov- ernment; secondly, upon the liquor trade; and thirdly, upon the free citizen. This necessarily led us on, to take into account those main facts of subsequent and recent history which pertained to these particular phases of our subject. We will now go hack and see what form and direction the temperance sentiment of the country took in the meantime. The Civil War was a great destroyer. It blighted in fairest blossom time the promised fruits of the maturing temperance reformation. A dozen States had expressed themselves for ab- solute prohibition of the liquor traffic. Others had adopted this policy in partial form, and every- 221 222 A Centuky oe Dkenk Refoem, where sentiment was strong and growing. Tem- 'perance societies of many kinds and names had been active and increasing in numhers and strength. The progress of the reform seemed ir- resistible, and its culmination inevitable. When the smoke of battle cleared away the aspect was changed. Temperance work had been I paralyzed, and temperance societies impoverished of membership. Row after the long night watches, ' when the tension of fearful anxiety was relieved by the matin bells of peace, came the repose of weari- ness. All life and interest that remained was di- verted to other channels — reconstruction and citi- zenship, problems arising out of emancipation and rebellion. Besides, during the night the enemy had arisen. He had entered a compact, and had gone out to destroy. A plan to do away with all existing prohibitory laws had been set on foot by him. For the first time, it seemed, he at once fully recognized his danger and his opportunity. In addition to all this, the home-coming soldier, with the demoralizing influence of camp life upon him, helped no little to undo what had been ac- complished before the war for sobriety. Moral Movements Since the War. 223 I 1. Temperance interest had, however, not been wholly inactive even during the war, and was by no means dead. Following immediately upon the close of the war, in the summer of 1865, a fifth Ilational Temperance Convention was held at Saratoga, fourteen years after a last similar gathering had convened. (The first ISTational Temperance Convention, it will be remembered, met in Philadelphia, in May, 1833.) This con- vention was conspicuous by the absence of the heroes of earlier temperance battles. Justin Ed- wards, mightiest organizer and leader in the early reform, had passed to his reward. So had Gov- ernor Briggs, fine type of man and public servant ; and Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, senator, states- man, college president, friend of every cause of religion and humanity. Lyman Beecher, too, at the ripe age of eighty-seven, had laid his armor by; so also had President Hitchcock, of Amherst, than whom few had done more in the cause; and Rear Admiral Alexander H. Foote, one of the first to introduce temperance into the navy; and Robert Baird, who personally planted the seeds of temperance over northern Europe in the early day. 224 A Ceettuky of Dkiftk Refokm. Lastly, and recently, Lincoln had been taken, whose example and influence had been a pillar of strength to the cause. The country had not yet recovered from the shock of his death. Walworth, Pierpont, Delavan, and Marsh were still present, but only themselves soon to follow. At this convention 325 delegates were present from twenty-five States, representing the Churches and the various temperance organizations. Gov- ernor Buckingham, of Connecticut, presided. During a two-days’ conference papers were read on important toitics by Rev. Dr. Chickering, of Boston; Rev. W. W. ISTewell, of Rew York; James Black, of Pennsylvania; and by Dr. Charles Jew- ett. It was resolved to form both a national tem- perance society, and a national publication-house; the former to concentrate all the temperance forces of the land by bringing together the different tem- perance orders and associations, the latter to pre- pare and circulate sound temperance literature. James Black was the moving spirit in the latter organization. Separate committees were ap- pointed ; but the two branches of work were united, and by fall The National Temperance Society and Mokal Movements Since the War, 225 Publication-house was formed. The American Temperance Union, organized in Saratoga, at the second national temperance convention, in 1836, jwas now merged in the new organization, and fceased to be. The basis of the new society was, /total abstinence for the individual, and total pro- jf hibition for the State. Hon. William E. Dodge, merchant prince, member of Congress, Indian com- missioner, Christian philanthropist, became the first president of the society, and J. H. Stearns, a man of experience and clear vision, became its efficient corresponding secretary and publishing agent. This new society was destined to fill a large place in the work of temperance reform. With- out affiliation of party or sect, but embracing all, it was to become a sort of large temperance uni- versity, devoting itself specifically to publishing and circulating effective temperance literature in schools, hospitals, jails, etc., and among the people generally, including the freedmen of the South. The society has also given effectual aid in prohibi- tory campaigns, sending out speakers and mission- aries in the reform, and drafting and urging legis- 16 226 A Cejsttuey of Deink Refoem. lative measures. To this society more than to any other one agency has been due the rehabilitation of temperance sentiment since the close of the Civil War. 2. In 1869 a few zealous temperance workers in the city of BufPalo, ivho were members of the Order of Good Templars, the Sons of Temperance, 'and the Templars of Honor and Temperance, hav- ' ing tried to secure the enforcement of the Sunday i . . law against liquor-selling, and failed, became con- vinced that the people were not willing to give this question their serious thought and support, and that public sentiment must be created in favor of law enforcement, backed by the moral and relig- ious elements of the community. To this end they launched a new order, the Royal Templars of Tem- perance. This was not intended to be a rival of other temperance orders, but with a distinct mission in educational rather than reformatory lines. Its object is thus stated: “To labor unceasingly for the promotion of the cause of temperance, morally, socially, religiously, and politically.” Xo special efforts were made to spread the order until, in Mokal Movements Since the Wab. 227 1877, it was reorganized on a beneficiary basis. Its prosperity since then has been mainly due to this change. \ 3. On February 22, 1872, the Catholic Total i Abstinence Union of America was formed in Bal- I timore, by representatives of Catholic total absti- nence societies from about a dozen States. Some I of these temperance societies had been in existence since the days of Father Mathew’s visit to America. There had been no bond of union between them, however, until 1871, when the societies of Con- necticut formed a State Union. This suggested the idea of a general Union, and culminated in the meeting at Baltimore. After the adoption of a constitution an address was issued to the Catholics of America. Rev. James McDevitt, of Washington, was elected the first president of the Union, and B. J. O’Driscoll, of the same city, its secretary. The pledge of the Fnion reads as follows : “I promise, with Divine assistance and in honor of the sacred thirst and agony of our Savior, to abstain from all intoxicat- ing drinks ; to prevent as much as possible, by ad- vice and example, the sin of intemperance in 228 A Centuky of Deikk Reform. others ; and to discountenance the drinking cus- toms of society.” Subordinate branches, State and diocesan Unions soon began to be formed. The laim of the Union has been to establish a total ab- fstinence society in every parish throughout the land. Through this organization much has been given in relief to the poor and suffering, and halls have been built, reading-rooms and libraries es- tablished as counter attractions to the saloon. Through the labors, chiefly, of the Philadelphia Union, a magnificent fountain "svas erected in Pair- mount Park of that city, and on July 4, 1876, in the presence of an immense concourse of people, it was dedicated to American liberty. The Catholic Total Abstinence Union has re- ceived the approval of the Plenary Coimcil of the Catholic Church in America, and the commenda- tion and blessing of the Holy Pather, the late Pope Leo XIII. Many of the foremost men of the Church, both among the clergy and the laity, are giving their active support to the Union and to the cause of temperance. The practice of the bulk of the Church, however, with respect to temper- ance, leaves yet much to be desired. Mokal Movements Since the Wae. 229 4. In 1881 the Church Temperance Society i J/ was formed in ISTew York City. This is the tern- I perance organization of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Its object, as stated in the constitution, ^ is threefold : to promote temperance ; to rescue the intemperate ; to remove the causes of intemper- ance. As agencies for accomplishing these results it employs (1) the Gospel; (2) coffee-houses, as counteractives of the saloon; (3) improved dwell- ings for the poor; (4) healthy literature. One peculiar feature of this society is that it is the only temperance organization that does not now stand upon unconditional total abstinence. Its basis is defined in these words : “Recognizing temperance as the law of the Gospel, and total ab- stinence as a rule of conduct essential in certain cases and highly desirable in others, and fully and freely according to every man the right to decide, in the exercise of his Christian liberty, whether or not he will adopt said rule, this society lays down as a basis on which it rests and from which its work shall be conducted, union and co-operation on perfectly equal terms for the promotion of tem- perance between those who use temperately and 230 A Cesttuey of Deink Refoem. those who abstain entirely from intoxicating drinks as beverages.” Restriction rather than prohibition is the aim of the society, with reference to the traffic in liquor — stopping the sale on Sundays, to minors, and to drunkards ; witl^ high license and local option. The control of the society is under an executive board and the bishops of the Church. Robert Graham has been its efficient secretary from the beginning. The society aims ultimately to estab- lish a branch society in every diocese, and a paro- chial society in every parish. 5. The Reform Clubs and Gospel Temper- ance. The first Reform Club was formed at Gardiner, Maine, on January 19, 1872. The chief agent in its formation was Mr. I. K. Osgood, a man once successful as a merchant, but brought to ruin by drink. Coming home late one night, on approach- ing the house he could see his wife through the window, as she sat in her wretched home waiting for him. He resolved then and there, that by the help of God he would never drink again. After several months he induced another to sign the Moral Movements Since the War. 231 pledge. They then called a meeting on the day mentioned above, inviting the public, and espe- cially drunkards, to come and hear -what rum had done for them. Eight drinking companions signed the pledge that night, and the first Reform Club was started. The movement attracted attention and spread to other cities, and clubs multiplied through the State and in other States by the labors of Osgood and his converts. A larger work, of a similar kind, was that started by Dr. Henry A. Reynolds, of Bangor, Maine. Reynolds was a graduate of the Harvard Medical School, had served as surgeon in the Civil War, and was a practicing physician in Bangor, and — a drunkard. He had tried several times to break off, but in vain. A band of women wei’e holding a prayer-meeting in that city; he went to the meeting and signed the pledge. At once he tried to help others like himself. He conceived the plan of a reform club made up of drinking men only. He gave notice of a meeting of drink- ing men, and the Bangor Reform Club was or- ganized on September 10, 1874. With true mis- sionary spirit others were brought in, and the mem- 232 A Centtjky of Deink Refokm. bership grew rapidly. Excitement spread. Be- lieving he had a call of God to this work, Dr. Rey- I nolds gave up his profession and devoted himself r to the reform. In one year forty-five thousand I men had been gathered into Reform Clubs in the State of Maine. Reynolds then went into Massa- chusetts, and extended his labors westward into Illinois, Michigan, and other States. The badge of the movement was a red ribbon, worn by the re- formed drinker, so that the clubs became known as the Red Ribbon Reform Clubs. Others also en- tered into the work. In 1877, John B. Einch, one of the most knightly, energetic, and invincible men that ever donned armor in the great reform, lec- tured in Nebraska in the interests of the Red Rib- bon movement, securing a hundred thousand signa- tures to the pledge. Of much the same character as the Reynolds Refonn Club movement was the work started by , Erancis Murphy, at about this same time, and knonm as the Blue Ribbon movement. Murphy was in prison in the city of Portland, for drunk- enness. He had ruined himself, and brought rags and shame to his family, through drink. While in prison he was visited by Captain Cyrus Stur- lIoEAL Movements Since the War. 233 devant, a Christian gentleman, and was induced to attend religious service. Murphy made a re- solve with God’s help to walk in a better way. While yet in prison he tried to save others from drink. He started in as a lecturer in Portland. Being well received he went elsewhere, and his power grew. Laboring first through the adjoin- ing States, he turned westward, and soon the coun- try became his field. The winter of 1876-77 wit- nessed a remarkable work in Pittsburg. There were over sixty thousand signatures to the pledge, and more than five hundred saloons in Allegheny and neighboring counties closed up for want of business. From there Murphy went to Philadel- phia, where the results were nearly equally great. The Murphy meetings, which were continued for years after, were characterized by great fervor and power. But the work was not closely organized, and the results were not as permanent and far- reaching as they might have been, on that account. The blue ribbon, which Murphy had adopted as the badge of abstinence, was introduced into Eng- land in 1878, when a similar work to that of Mur- phy and Reynolds was started there. 234 A Centtjkt of Deink T?F.FnE>r. 6, At the close of 1873 there occurred a new, and in some respects the most striking, phenome- non in the whole history of temperance reform — an uprising of women. The 'Womans Crusade. To the outside world this crusade appeared like a kind of second reign of terror, the crusaders being likened to the French women who filled the streets of Paris, an angry mob, during those awful days of the French Revolution. In fact, however, the women of this crusade were persons of highest Christian character and culture, wives and daugh- ters of governors, judges, clergymen, and of the leading professional and business men. Their weapons were not those of carnal warfare, hut of the Spirit of the living God — song, prayer, en- treaty- — mighty to the pulling down of the strong- holds of sin. In its intensity and contagion the crusade reminded one of the Wasliingtonian move- ment, begun in Baltimore in 1840. Only the lat- ter was entirely divorced from religion, while the cursade was the soul of religion itself. Then men — reformed men — appealed to men as brothers to cease drinking ; now women — ^mothers, wives, daughters — appealed to the saloon-keeper to cease Moeal Movements Since the Wae, 235 selling. The anguish of a woman’s heart, upon whom the evils of the saloon always fall with most cruel and crushing weight, must now at last find expression. The wonder is that she had repressed her woe so long. The crusade broke out in Hillsboro, a college town in southwestern Ohio, on the day before Christmas, 1873. Dr. Dio Lewis, in a temperance I lecture the night before, had related how his mother with a few friends had, by prayer, pre- vailed against a saloon that had ruined her home ; and he declared that the saloons could he closed in this way if women had only grace and courage and persistency enough. By a rising vote this idea was to be carried at once into execution. The names of seventy-five ladies of standing and in- fluence were enrolled. A meeting was appointed ^ for the next morning at the Presbyterian Church. I At this meeting a conunittee was appointed to ; draft an appeal to liquor-sellers. Mrs. Eliza J. ’ Thompson, the wife of a judge and the daughter of an ex-governor, was placed at the head of the undertaking. She became the leader and the mother of the crusade. Before going to this morn- 236 A Century of Drink Keform, ing meeting, her daughter had opened her Bible at the 146th Psalm, and feeling its peculiar appro- priateness, she told her mother that she believed it was especially intended for her. This psalm be- came the battle-hymn of the crusade. After prayer and organization, the women filed out of church, two by two, and singing “Give to the winds thy fears,” they proceeded to the first dramseller. Every morning during the winter and spring these meetings of prayer were held; every saloon was visited, and nearly all were closed. The night following his address at Hillsboro, Dr. Dio Lewis spoke at Washington Court House, another toivn in southwestern Ohio. Here, too, a praying band was formed. The appeal with which these women went forth was as follows — the form generally used later: “Knowing, as you do, the fearful effects of intoxicating drinks, we, the women of Washington Court House, after earnest prayer and deliberation have decided to appeal to you to desist from the ruinous traffic, that our hus- bands and brothers, and especially onr sons, be no longer exposed to this terrible temptation, and that we may no longer see them led into paths which go down to sin and bring both body and soul to Moral Movements Since the War. 237 destruction. We appeal to tlie better instincts of I your heart, in the name of desolate homes, blasted hopes, ruined lives, vridovred hearts, for the honor of our community, for our happiness, for the good > name of our town, in the name of God who will judge you and us, for the sake of your own souls Avhich are to be saved or lost. We beg, we implore you to cleanse yourselves from this heinous sin, and place yourselves in the ranks of those ivho are striving to elevate and ennoble themselves and their fellow-men. And to this we ask you to pledge yourselves.” Thus panoplied the band went forth the morn- ing after Christmas, while others remained at ( church to pray, and while the church bell kept toll- ing, telling to all the community that concerted I prayer and appeal were moiung against the saloons ' in their midst. Where admittance was denied them, the women knelt in the snow on the pave- ment. The second day witnessed the first surren- , der, by a saloon-keeper, of his entire stock of liquor; and on the second of January it was an- nounced at a great mass-meeting that the last liquor-dealer had unconditionally surrendered. 238 A Centuky of Deink Refoem. This movement, thus begun, spread like wild- fire. It covei’ed the ISTorth Central States, crossed the Mississippi, swept through Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, and up into California and Oregon. East- ward it swept to the Atlantic. Its influence went out to the remotest parts of the land, even to the islands of the sea. In Ohio, the storm center of the movement, and where ‘‘Mother” Stewart be- came one of its foremost leaders, it was said that in two hundred and fifty towns the saloons had been closed as the result of the crusade. This blaze of enthusiasm was as brief as it had been intense. After that, what? This: crystal- lization, organization. It led directly to the for- mation of that noble body of cultured, consecrated women, the largest number ever banded together in the cause of humanity, and the most potent per- sonal agency, perhaps, in the annals of the reform, namely — 7. The Womans Christian Temperance Union. This organization was effected at a conven- tion held in Cleveland, on Kovember 18, IST-l. During the preceding August, at Chautauqua, Moral Movements Since the War. 239 New York, it was agreed by a few earnest women that tbe fruits of the crusade must be gathered up. A temperance prayer-meeting was called, to which about fifty women responded and were present. At this meeting, over which Mrs. Jennie F. Will- ing presided and Mrs. Emily Huntington Miller acted as secretary, it was voted to send out a call to all temperance organizations composed of women, to hold conventions in their respective States and send delegates to a national convention to be held in Cleveland, as before mentioned. One hundred and thirty-five delegates, from more than a dozen States, responded to this call. An organization was effected, a plan of work adopted, and the following were elected as the first officers of the Union : President, Mrs. Annie Wittenmyer, of Pennsylvania; corresponding sec- retary, Miss Frances E. Willard, of Illinois; re- cording secretary, Mrs. Mary C. Johnson, of New York; treasurer, Mrs. Mary B. Ingham, of Ohio. An appeal was sent out ‘‘to the women of the great nations” for their co-operation, and a plan inau- gurated to appeal to the President, to Senators and Members of Congress, to Governors, and to all in 240 A Century of Drink Reform. authority, to lend the weight of their influence to the temperance cause. Thus, in the flres of that soul affliction which I welded together at white heat the anguished hearts [ of womankind in the crusade, did this organiza- tion receive its baptism. This sacramental bless- ing was never lost. It was to give to that body a patience and persistence, a consecration so gen- uine, a courage so undaunted, methods so practical and appealing, as had never before been known. A resolution placed on record at the very organiza- tion of this .body reveals the spirit that handed these women together : “That recognizing the fact that our cause will be combated by mighty, deter- mined, and relentless forces, we will, trusting in Him Avho is the Prince of Peace, meet argument Avith argument, mis judgment with patience, de- nunciation Avith kindness, and all our difficulties and dangers with prayer.” The badge of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union is a small bow of white ribbon; its motto, “Por God and home and native land;” its pledge, “I solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain from all dis- tilled, fermented, and malt liquors, including Moeal Movements Since the Wae. 241 wine, beer, and cider, and to employ all proper means to discourage the use of, and traffic in, the same.” One of the prominent features in the early work of the Union was saloon visiting. It was soon learned, however, that the saloon is but an outpost of the enemy; that the real enemy lay in , the rear and out of sight, entrenched behind breast- i works of appetite and avarice, ignorance, and in- difference, of wrong customs and false ideals, of law and politics. More emphasis was therefore laid on the larger plan of work. There must be counter-attractions and substitutes for the saloon I — coffee-houses, social rooms, and the like, pure fwater fountains, homes for the inebriate, instruc- tion for the young in church and school. The press must be utilized, literature distributed, lec- turers and evangelists and missionaries sent out, and bodies in authority, in Church and State, memorialized to lend the weight of their influence to the cause, in the promotion of right sentiment and the enactment and enforcement of right laws. In order better to accomplish this larger and varied work, the committee plan was changed, in 1880, 16 242 A Centuey of Dkink REroKii. into the department plan of work — organization, preventive, educational, evangelistic, social, and legal — with a capable and responsible person at the head of each department as superintendent. Under each of these six departments are a number of sub-departments, with superintendents. To this plan of organization has been due, in no small measure, the success of the Union in the various spheres of its activity. The Union Signal, an able paper published in Chicago, is the official organ of the National Union. Urom its beginning the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union has had a large place in its program for work among the yoimg. Juvenile or- ganizations were formed under the auspices of local unions, and auxiliary to them, in the various States. They bore different names, such as Juve- nile Unions, Bands of Hope, Cold Water Armies, True Blue Cadets, Cadets of Temperance, and Loyal Legions. LTany of these had been in exist- ence for many years before. In 1886 a uniform plan of organization was adopted, and a unifonn name, the Loyal Temperance Legion, with a na- tional superintendent at its head. Through the efforts of the Woman’s Christian Mokal Movements Since the War. 243 Temperance Union, or specifically, of Mrs. Mary H. Hunt, the superintendent of the department of scientific temperance instruction, in co-operation I with the national Temperance Society and Pub- lication-house, text-hooks have been introduced into the schools, teaching the effects of alcohol I . . I I upon the human system, and of narcotics. Begin- ning with Vermont and Connecticut, which passed such law in 1882, other States soon followed, until at the present time every State in the country requires scientific temperance instruction in its schools. Through the labors of the Woman’s Chris- tian Temperance Union, again, by petition and ap- ipeal, the International Sunday-school Lesson Com- ^ mittee has, since 1887, devoted one lesson in each ! quarter to temperance. From the same source also ' has come largely the present practice by most Churches, of using pure grape-juice — unfermented wine — at the communion service. Among the suc- cessful recent labors of the Union was that which resulted in the enactment, by Congress, of the anti-canteen law, which shuts liquor out from the army post exchanges, an act approved February 2, 1901. 244 A Centuky of Deink Eefoem. Tlie example of the women in the United States led to the organization of the Dominion Woman’s Christian Temperance Union in Canada, in 1885, and led to its introduction into England. Wrs. Mary Clement Leavitt was sent as the first round- the-world missionary of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, beginning her jour- ney in 1885. The result was the formation of a World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Lnion, which has now branches and societies in many lands. The National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union has strenuously advocated the ballot for women, partly on the general principle of right, partly for the reason that in this particular reform woman should have the right thus to make her sen- timent effective in law — she who, while suffering most, has been denied a hearing and redress. The work of the Union has been distinctively a work of education and moral appeal. While it advo- cates the abolition of the liquor traffic by law, it is a non-political organization. All parties have been appealed to, that they further in their legisla- tive or executive capacity, or both, the cause of Mo t?, AT. Movements Since the Wak. 245 temperance and prohibition. The general princi- ple of the Union, oft repeated, is this : ‘‘We will lend our influence to that party, by whatever name called, which shall furnish the best embodiment of prohibition principles, and will most surely pro- tect our homes.” When at the national convention in St. Louis, in the fall of 1884, resolutions were adopted, after all parties had been appealed to, that the Union would lend its influence “to that national political organization which declares in its platform for national prohibition and home protection,” adopted by a vote of 188 to 48, — this caused dissent, and led to a defection, through the leadership and persistent purpose of Mrs. J. Ellen Eoster, of Iowa, and to the formation, in 1890, of a separate organization, under the name, “The Uon-Partisan Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.” The head of the regular national organ- ization, for several years now, is Mrs. Lillian M. U. Stevens, of Maine. To name all who have rendered distinguished service in the cause of temperance would make too long a list. ISTo mention of woman’s work in temperance would be complete, however, without 246 A Centuey of Deikk Eefoem. the name of that gracious and gifted woman, so wise to plan, and strong to lead ; respected and be- loved of the people ; the uncroAvned queen of Amer- ican democracy — Miss Frances E. Willard. Re- signing her position as dean of the Woman’s Col- lege and Professor of M^sthetics in Northwestern Fniversity, in June, 1874, Miss Willard began at once her career in the temperance cause. The scenes of the woman’s crusade had stirred her. She was present at the organization of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union that same fall in Cleveland, as a delegate from Illinois, and presented at that convention, with grasp and fore- sight, a plan of work that was laid out upon the general lines which have since been followed by the Union. Elected its first corresponding secre- tary, Miss Willard was in 1879 elected president of the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, a position she held for nearly twenty years, until her death. For a munber of years before her death she was also the president of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union. During all these years Miss Willard was not merely the most conspicuous and commanding Moral Movements Since the War. 247 figure in woman’s wprk for temperance, but she represented in her rich intellectual endowments and Christian culture, her lofty and discerning purpose, her rare balance of judgment, and her wide sympathies, the best exponent of the entire modern movement for woman’s emancipation. In her passing away, near the going out of the cen- tury — she died in New York City, [February 17, 1898 — the cause of humanity lost one of its stanchest friends, and among women its ablest ad- vocate. (H.) CHAPTER VIIL Legal and Political Measlkes Since the War. That the prohibitory laws of the fifties, to- gether with the heavy internal revenue tax of 1862 should awaken the liquor interests to an attitude at least of defense, was certainly not unexpected. They met the issue where, by the logic of evolu- tion in temperance reform, and in the exigency of ;war, it had been brought, namely, in politics. The ATational Brewers’ Association, organized in 1862, announced as one of its chief objects the wielding of political infiuence, to see “that its interests be vigorously and energetically prosecuted before the legislative and executive departments.” It soon became evident that all prohibitory laws were, by concerted action, to be repealed. Aggressive cam- paigns were carried on in a number of States to this end. Of the prohibitory laws passed before the war, Delaware voted for repeal in 1857 ; Ne- braska and Indiana in 1858 ; Rhode Island in 248 Legal and Political Measukes. 249 1863; Massachusetts in 1868, re-enacting the law the following year, and repealing again in 1875; Connecticut in 1872 ; Michigan in 1875. As legislation is secured through political ac- tion, the determined and aggressive aim of the liquor interests henceforth was to influence and control the action of political parties. The 17a- tional Brewers’ Congress held in Chicago, in 1867, adopted the following resolution: “That we will use all means to stay the progress of this fanatical party, and to secure our rights as individual citi- zens, and that we will sustain no candidate, of whatever party, in any election, who is in any way disposed toward the total abstinence cause.” By “this fanatical party” was meant the temperance contingent as it was found in, and working through, existing party organizations. This was the first clear announcement of that business- above-party, balance-of-power policy, at once the annoyance and fear of the political helmsman, by means of which the liquor traffic has been able to maintain a prolonged existence to the present day, in spite of the combined agencies of reform. These things awakened those whose lives were 250 A Centuky of DEiifK Refoem. wrapped up in the temperance cause to a new and most serious danger. “If the adversaries of tem- perance shall continue to receive the aid and coun- jtenance of present political parties, we shall not ^hesitate to break over political hands and seek re- j dress through the ballot-box,” so the State Tem- ' perance Convention of Pennsylvania, held at Har- risburg, in February, 1867, had declared. The Brewers’ Congress in 1868, in session at Buffalo, repeated in yet stronger language the resolutions of the preceding year, determined “to deprive the political and Puritanical temperance men of the power they have so long exercised in the councils of the political parties in this country.” And when the temperance people observed that it was true, that they were being deprived of their power in “the councils of the political parties,” and that the liquor interests were supplanting them in the exercise of that power, a gTOwing conviction forced itself upon them of the necessity of independent political action. Such step was soon to be taken. The Eight Worthy Grand Lodge of Good Templars, the su- preme body of that order, had declared for the Legal and Political Measures. 261 formation of such separate party at its session in 1868. The same body, in May, 1869, in session at Oswego, l^ew York, repeated the declaration and recommended the calling of a convention for that purpose. A committee of five was appointed to issue a call, consisting of Rev. John Russell, of Detroit, one of the very first to advocate independ- ent political action ; Professor Daniel Wilkins, of Bloomington; J. A. Spencer, of Cleveland; John R. Stearns, of Yew York; and James Black, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The committee is- sued the following call : ‘‘To the Friends of Temperance, Law, and Order in the United States : “The moral, social, and political evils of in- temperance and the non-enforcement of liquor laws are so fearful and prominent, and the causes thereof are so entrenched and protected by govern- mental authority and party interest, that the sup- pression of these evils calls upon the friends of temperance; and the duties connected with home, religion, and public peace demand that old polit- ical ties and associations shall be sundered, and a distinct political party, with prohibition of the 252 A Centtjey of Dkink Eefoem. traffic in intoxicating drinks as the most promi- nent feature, sliall be organized. “The distinctive political issues that have for years past interested the American people are now comparatively unimportant, or fully settled, and in this aspect the time is auspicious for a decided and practical effort to overcome the dread power of the liquor trade. “The undersigned do therefore earnestly in- vite all friends of temperance and the enforcement of law, and favorable to distinct political action for the promotion of the same, to meet in general mass convention in the city of Chicago, on Wednes- day, the 1st day of September, 1869, at 11 o’clock A. M., for the purpose of organizing for distinct political action for temperance.” The call was signed by more than fifty promi- nent men interested in the cause, representing the different religious bodies, professions, and walks in life. How long, 0 Lord! Surely the time is now at hand. At last, at last ; after the most determined and vigilant pursuit of the trail, en- countered and worsted, eluding his pursuers again and again, the devourer has at last been tracked to his lair. How for the fight iinto death ! Legal and Political Measures. 253 Pursuant to call, nearly five hundred delegates, from twenty States, met in convention in Chicago on the day appointed. James Black was made chairman, and J. A. Spencer secretary of the con- vention. A declaration of principles was set forth ; an address, prepared by Gerrit Smith, was issued ( *' to the American people ; and a party organized for independent political . action. It was named the national Prohibition Party. Around this ensign all the temperance sentiment of the country was , to gather for a final campaign of victory. The I children of this world shall, in this instance at least, not outgeneral in wisdom the children of light. The history of drink reform had now entered upon its final epoch. The successive steps in the movement had reached a logical and inevitable con- clusion at this point. Hothing new has since been added ; the last factor in the problem had been dis- covered. The real question since then has been, I not to find the difficulty or a solution, but to apply I to the manifest difficulty a solution already found. [ The proposed remedy has been bitterly assailed by ' friend and foe alike of temperance ; but it has 264 A Centtjey of Deink Eefoem. never been fully or fairly tried. Many things, however, have been tried, all of which are inter- esting and suggestive to the student of the reform. 1. The Citizens’ Law and Order League. This originated in Chicago, in 1877. During the railway riots of that year it was observed that a large proportion of the rioters were half-druhken boys. Subsequent observations revealed the fact that a large army of such boys Avere habitual pat- rons of Chicago saloons, and were there receiving the beginnings of a transformation into druakards, vagrants, and criminals. A few earnest Christian men sought a remedy, and a “Citizens’ League of Chicago for the Suppression of the Sale of Liquor to Minors” was organized, Avith Frederick F. El- mendorf as president, and AndreAV Paxton as pros- ecuting agent. The first aim of the movement was to preserve the rising generation from habits of dissipation and vice. Starting with this single object, the purpose and scope of the movement soon broadened, including the enforcement of every re- strictive liquor law, and the laws against gambling and other forms of Auce. Meeting Avith such success in Chicago, the Legal and Political Measures. 255 movement spread to other cities and States. In 1883, at a convention in Tremont Temple, Bos- ton, a national organization vras effected, taking the name, “The Citizens’ Law and Order League of the United States.” The growth of the move- ment has been rapid and spontaneous from the beginning. It had the sympathy and support of influential men from all classes and creeds. Mr. C. C. Bonney, of Chicago, was prominent in this movement, and for some time the head of the or- ganization. Although not in existence at the present time ■ as a national organization, the law and order move- ij ment has done good service in toning up a lax pub- / lie sentiment on the vital principle of the suprem- acy of law, and in showing that even where offi- cials are inclined to do their duty in this respect, they must have back of them the co-operation and support of a determined body of constituent citi- zens. Local and State leagues are still doing effect- ive work in many places. There is probably no I more efficient organization of the kind to-day than the Law and Order League of Connecticut, whose ■ continued success has been due to its capable and 256 A Centuey of Deiftk EEFOKii. energetic secretary and manager, Mr. Samuel P. Thrasher, of i^ew Haven. 2. live High License Policy. To enforce the law against the sale of liquor to minors, and the other countless restrictions placed upon the saloon business, was a difficult task. A more severe and practical restrictive policy, tem- perance men said, would be to raise the license fee. This will eliminate the lower and more objection- able resorts, it was thought, Avho can not pay such fee. The number of saloons, too, will be reduced, and the temptations to drink will be just to that extent lessened. Furthermore, by bringing the business thus within narrower limits, the task of police supervision will become easier and more ef- fective ; and, again, those who pay the high license fee for the privilege of doing business, it was thought, will themselves help to enforce the law against any who might attempt to sell without li- cense. The larger revenue, lastly, thus derived from the drink traffic will better compensate the public for the evils it suffers from the traffic. Be- sides all this, some of the most ardent temperance men thought that this first severe restriction would Legal and Political Measures. 257 I prepare the way for further and severer restric- tions, until the traffic should gradually be taxed to death, or prohibited. In this movement for high license Nebraska I took the initiative, in the passage of the Slocumb I law in 1881. This law fixed the minimum license fee at $500 a year for towns with a population less than ten thousand, and $1,000 a year for cities with a population of ten thousand or more. The framers and supporters of this measure were radi- cal temperance men, John B, Finch among them, believers in the principle of prohibition, who looked upon this measure as a serious inroad upon the traffic, and an important step towards its com- plete destruction. Missouri and Illinois, beginning in 1884, fol- lowed the example of Nebraska, fixing the mini- ■ mum fee at $550 and $500, respectively. Most of the States have since then enacted high license laws, either fixing the minimum annual fee at $500, or thereabouts, or providing a sliding scale, varying with the size of the city, or with the amount of business done, or with other contingen- cies. In these cases the fees range from about 17 258 A Century of Drink Reform. $300 to $1,000, or as high as $2,000 even, a year, • 111 Massachusetts it costs not less than about $1,300 to do a regular retail liquor business for one year. I The high license policy, which was originated ]|y temperance men and opposed by liquor men, as a severe restriction and a step toward prohibi- tion, has since then been espoused by liquor men and more and more opposed by temperance men, as the most effectual barrier to prohibition. Except that it yields revenue, it has disappointed its friends on every count. This one success is now its very condemnation. 3. The Dispensary System. Another fact had been discovered. The rea- son the liquor-seller breaks over the restrictions imposed upon his business and sells to minors, to drunkards, on Sundays, and at all hours of the night, and in fact at any time or place that a man is on hand to ask for a drink, is his desire to make money. Indeed, this is the reason itself, it was discovered, that he enters the business at all, rather than from any religious or philanthropic motive to uplift his fellow-men. And the reason he can pay even a high license fee and still prosper, is because Legal and Political Measukes. 259 there is profit in the business. This was the dis- covery. : The path of procedure, then, became plain; I eliminate the element of private profit. To this ■ end the business must be taken out of the hands who administer it for private gain, and placed in the hands of salaried agents who shall make no extra profit by pushing the sale. This idea did not originate wholly in America. The principle involved here had been caught sight of in Sweden many years before. As early as 1865 the city of Gothenburg applied this principle par- tially to the sale of spirits. The city did not itself go directly into the business, but granted a monop- oly of the sale of spirits to a private company, or bolag, to operate a limited number of public- houses, where spirits could only be obtained in connection with food. All the profits above a divi- dend of five or six per cent on the capital invested, the bolag hands over to the public ; being at the present time divided between the city, the province, and the Agricultural Society. The bolag, or com- pany, is required to place responsible managers in charge, paying them a salary, and to secure strict 260 A Century of Drink Reform. supervision of all public-houses by private inspect- ors and by co-operating with the police. The sale of malt and vinous liquors is not farmed out and monopolized in this way. In Sweden, where this system largely prevails, the companies are required to furnish food, and the drinking places are made attractive, the aim appearing to be to make the eating feature pre- dominant. In Horway the companies, or samlags, as they are there called, furnish no food, no chairs, papers, amusements, or accommodations ; dis- mantling the place of every feature of attraction. The customer swallows his dram and gets out. The profits here, above the dividend, until recently went to philanthropic enterprises; but on account of a growing protest to this practice, they now go almost entirely into the national treasury. These are the main features of this system, which is named, from the city of its origin, the Gothenburg System. It remained for the State of South Carolina to make the first thorough-going application of this principle ( i. e., eliminating the element of private gain) by taking full charge of the business of Legal and Political Measures. 261 liquor-selling, and pocketing the entire profits. I The dispensary system went into effect July 1, f 1893. The State got into the white apron, put on the proper smile, and waited for customers. It was not that the people wanted it so. In the election of 1892 the drink question had been submitted to them for an expression of sentiment, and they had voted for entire prohibition by a majority of eight thousand. A bill to this effect, providing for com- plete prohibition, was brought before the legisla- ture, hut it was headed off with a dispensary sub- stitute, which was brought in and rushed through by the friends of the governor, Benjamin Till- man, and signed by him. Tinder this act the State has entire control of the liquor business, and all who handle liquor are its salaried agents. A State Board of Control ex- ercises supreme supervision. A State commis- sioner is the agent through whom all liquors must he purchased by county and local dispensers. The dispensers are appointed by county boards, upon application indorsed by a majority of the voters of the town or city in which liquor is to be sold. The liquor is sold in sealed packages, as purchased 262 A Centuky of Dbink; Refoeai. from the State authorities, and is not to be opened or drunk on the premises. The profits on sales go to the State, county, and local treasuries. These are the general provisions of the law, though in its details it has been modified many times. The dispensary system is in operation also in a num- ber of counties and towns in Alabama, Georgia, hlorth Carolina, and elsewhere. South Dakota re- pealed her prohibitory law in 1897, and passed a dispensary act, which was done in such hurry that it was found to be unconstitutional; which leaves the State now under license. To those who hold that all permissive measures relative to the liquor traffic are wrong in principle, the dispensary system offers but little satisfaction. Dor a State to go directly into a business that de- bauches her citizens makes the wrong, in fact, only the more grievous. On the other hand, those who rest all legislation relative to the drink traffic on the basis of expediency solely, they, too, will find but little to encourage them in the results that have attended the operation of this system. In South Carolina the consumption of liquor has not been lessened; the criminal budget has not been re- Legal and Political Measukes. 263 g duced; illicit sales have not ceased; and the ques- j' tion has not been eliminated from politics. To I pay a man a salary and set him over a business, I and expect him to do as little business as possible • — this is an anomalous situation. These measures and expedients, just named, have to do with the policy of regulation, stopping short of the complete prohibition of the liquor traf- fic — although the Law and Order Leagues work under prohibition as well as under license. We will now look briefly at efforts that have been made during this period for the complete suppression of the liquor traffic. 4. State Constitutional Prohibition. The prohibitory laws of the fifties were simply statutory enactments by the different State legis- latures, passed in response to the sentiment of the people. The successive repeals, by the different State legislatures, of most of these laws after a few years, revealed the insufficiency of this policy. It led to this reflection : the constituency of a legisla- ture changes with every election. A statute law enacted by one legislature may be repealed by a subsequent legislature, and this without direct 264 A Century oe Drine: Reform. reference to the sentiment of the people, which may remain unchanged in its favor. The likelihood of legislatures doing this very thing became enhanced just in proportion as the liquor interests became a political power, and held a club over the head of every candidate for office — or slipped a purse into his pocket after he got into office. To rescue the temperance cause from this precarious situation, it was seen that the prohibition policy must not he left for its fate in the hands of the office-seeker and politician. It must be safeguarded by the people, where the law will not be sacrificed to serve personal or party interests. The people must ; therefore, by vote, insert a provision in their State I constitution which will at once compel the legis- i latiu’e to enact a prohibitory law, and at the same time will prevent that body from repealing the law until the people themselves have first voted to that . effect. Thus originated the movement for State consti- tutional prohibition, which began its success in 1880, and ended, after many hotly contested con- flicts, in 1890. Kansas, first in the irrepressible conflict of slavery, was also to take the lead in adopting this, the most effectual method so far, in Legal and Political Measures. 265 this equally irrepressible conflict. It had been pro- posed in other States, but Kansas was the first to f carry it into effect. The constitutional amend- f ment was carried by a vote of the people of Kan- sas, in 1880; going into effect May Ij 1881. Iowa passed a similar amendment by popular vote, in 1882. On a slight error in transcription the amendment was declared unconstitutional ; but the legislature, yielding to the pressure of an aroused and determined public sentiment, enacted a pro- , hibitory statute law, which went into effect July f 4, 1884. Maine, strengthening her statute law of years’ standing, passed a constitutional amendment in 1884; Rhode Island in 1886; Korth Dakota and South Dakota in 1889. In the following States the proposed prohibitory amendment was defeated at the polls: Ohio, in 1885 — the amend- ment failing to receive a majority of all the votes cast, though it had a large majority (82,000) of all who voted on the question; Tennessee, Michi- gan, Texas, and Oregon, in 1887 ; West Virginia, in 1888 ; Washington, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Kew Hampshire (complete prohibition), in 1889; Kebraska, in 1890. The 266 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. aggregate vote in these several States — all of them, where prohibition carried, and where it did not — was: Against, 2,072,722; for, 1,758,895; with nearly a million not voting either way. This en- tire movement was toward settling the drink ques- tion a State at a time, and by a strictly non-par- tisan, popular vote. 5. National Constitutional Proliihition. This was a hope only, labored for, but never consummated. While temperance people generally were turn- ing toward State prohibition as the remedy for the defective statutory prohibition, a number, see- ing the necessary inadequacy of any mere State legislation on this question, went a step farther and argued for national constitutional prohibition. State prohibition is good, they agreed, but national jDrohibition is for obvious reasons better, and the only final remedy. The method for securing the latter was to be precisely the same as in the for- mer instance, namely, the non-partisan method. As in the former instance the legislature submitted the amendment to the people for their approval, so Congress, in this instance, was to submit such amendment. Legal and Political Measures. 267 The United States Constitution may be amended by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress proposing the amendment, which, when ratified by three-fourths of the States, through their legislatures or by special representative con- ventions, shall become a part of the Constitution and fundamental law of the land. Let temperance men therefore see to it that such senators and mem- bers of Congress shall be elected from their several States and congressional districts as are favorable toward a prohibitory amendment. It matters not what his party affiliations are, so he will only vote for the amendment. It matters not even whether he himself is for license or for prohibition, so he will only agree to have this question submitted to the people for their judgment. And ‘‘what polit- ical party which cares for political freedom, can deny to the millions who desire to be heard upon this tremendous question . . . the exercise of this fundamental right ?” In this way it was thought to be comparatively easy to get such amendment before the people, and once in the forum of the people, to carry it to victory. The most earnest and hopeful advocate of na- 268 A Centuey of Deink Eefoe^i. tional constitutional prohibition was, perhaps, Hon. Henry W. Blair, of Hew Hampshire, from whom the foregoing words are quoted. Senator A. H. Colquitt, of Georgia, also, was as pronounced for prohibition as he was distinguished and hon- ored in public service, and tried for years to get Congress to act on this question. Hr. Blair was the first to introduce into Congress a joint resolu- tion, in 1876, while a member of the House of Rep- resentatives, proposing an amendment to the Con- stitution. This amendment was made to apply to spirituous liquors only, leaving the traffic in malt and vinous liqiiors for each State to decide; and was to go into effect with the year 1900. The rea- son for making the amendment cover half the ground only was the hope that it would, in this form, stand a better chance of carrying ; and that, when once in force, the destruction of the traffic in fermented liquors would follow. Hr. Blair in- troduced this resolution in every succeeding Con- gress, chauging the form of the amendment, after a few years, to complete prohibition. In the meantime, in 1881, at the national con- vention of the Republican party, strong efforts Legal and Political Measures. 269 were made to induce that party to declare in its platform in favor of submitting the question of such amendment to the people. A resolution, drafted by Senator Blair, was presented to the con- vention by Senator Rollins, and Miss Frances Wil- lard, the president of the Woman’s Christian Tem- perance Union, spoke before the committee — to quote from Blair — “like an angel from heaven.” But the seed fell on stony ground. 6. The National League for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic — N on-P artisan and Non- Sectarian. The League was organized in Boston on Jan- uary 1, 1885. The bitter animosities awakened by the Presidential campaign of 1881, on account of the intrusion of the drink issue into national politics by the Prohibition party, led many to the conviction that the temperance cause was being hazarded in thus being tied to the fortunes of par- tisan politics. It was in opposition, therefore, to party prohibition that the League was formed. What the prohibition party sought to achieve through separate party action the originators of this League averred could be accomplished only 270 A Century of Drink; Reform. by non-partisan action, the voice of all the people. The former, or party method, divides the tem- perance sentiment of the coimtry; the latter, or non-partisan method, unites it. Thus “thnist forth by Providence, in a great public exigency,” the League was launched under circumstances most auspicious. Rev. Daniel Dorchester, promi- nent in temperance work and literature, was made its president, and Mrs. J. Ellen Foster, its gen- eral secretary. Among its other officers and di- rectors were, Hon. John D. Long, Hon. John Wanamaker, Hon. Henry Metcalf, Judge Daniel Agnew, Rev. Edward Everett Hale, Rev. Albert H. Plumb, Hon. John Earwell, Mrs. Mary A. Livermore. The League called upon persons of all classes and creeds to work and vote against the liquor traffic in every way, and everyivhere, without ref- erence to party, or within existing party lines by regular means of procedure. Attention was called to the fact that the dozen or more prohibition State laws enacted before the war were passed without the existence of a “third party,” and that “all the wonderful advances of the temperance reformation Legal and Political Measures. 271 from 1826 to 1860j moral and social transforma- tions scarcely if ever equaled, were effected on a non-partisan basis.” Over two million pages of literature were printed during the first twelvemonth of the League’s existence. The League died not long after. 7. The Anti-Saloon Republican Movement. The Presidential campaign of 1884 was the most memorable since the days of slavery. The Prohibition party had purposely postponed its nominating convention that year until after the national conventions of both the larger parties had been held. Some expression favorable to the temperance cause was eagerly looked for from one or the other of these parties. 17ot only the Pro- hibition party, but the wider temperance interests of the country, were represented at both conven- tions, to make appeal on behalf of a common cause. To this appeal the Democratic platform responded : “We oppose sumptuary laws which vex the citi- zen and interfere with personal liberty.” The Republican platform declared: “The Republic- ans of the United States, in national convention 272 A Centuey oe Dkink Eeeoem. assembled, renew tbeir allegiance to tbe principles upon which they have triumphed in six successive Presidential elections.” The complete ignoring of the temperance ques- tion by the Republican party led to a considerable defection from its ranks, including such men as Governor John P. St. John, General Clinton B. Fisk, and John B. Gough. The tenor of this revolt is best expressed in Gough’s own words : ‘‘For for- ty-two years I have been fighting the liquor trade — the trade that has robbed me of seven of the best years of my life. I have long voted the Repub- lican ticket, hoping always for help in my contest from the Republican party. But we have been expecting something from that party in vain, and now, when they have treated the most respectful appeal from the most respectful men in this couu- try with silent contempt, I say it is time for us to leave off trusting, and express our opinion of that party.” The defeat of the Republican party in that campaign, for the first time in a quarter of a cen- tury, — a defeat due largely to the non-committal attitude of that party on the drink question, and Legal and Political Measukes. 273 the consequent largely increased vote of the Prohi- bition party, — led to that interesting phenomenon, the Anti-Saloon Republican Movement. This dif- fered from the 17ational League, just mentioned, in that it was avowedly partisan. What the Prohi- bition party sought to accomplish through sepa- rate, or ‘Third party,’’ effort, and the National League through popular, non-partisan action, this movement sought to attain through the Republican party. It originated within that party, with those who, while believing in prohibition, were also deeply attached to the name and traditions of the Republican party; who believed that this party, which had been brought into being on a great moral issue, and had carried that issue to a glorious con- summation, was able also to carry through the great temperance reform. To commit the Repub- lican party uncompromisingly to that issue was the object of this movement. It originated with the temperance Republicans of Kansas. To “save the grand old party from disintegration,” and in full hope of settling the drink question, a call was issued by Albert Griffin, editor of the Manhattan Nationalist, on December 1, 1885, for a national 18 274 A Centuky oe Dei^^k; EEEOKii. convention of Republican foes of tbe liquor tra£B.c, to meet in Toledo the following May; declaring that the time had come when this issue must he squarely met and fought out, and that “the Repub- lican party must and will mount a temperance platform.” Such language, however, Mr. Griffin found on his tour through the Eastern States, was too rad- ical to be acceptable to party leaders, and but lit- tle enthusiasm was manifested. The call was then withdrawn and a second call was issued, framed in more judicious speech, for a national confer- ence to be held in Chicago, September 16, 1886. Conferences were held in a number of States to elect delegates. Some two hundred representa- tives were present at the Chicago conference. Sen- ator Henry W. Blair was the temporary chairman, and Hon. William Windom, one of the best men the party ever had, was made permanent chairman of the convention. The party press had not been wholly friendly to this movement, and not many of the influential party managers were present. The convention adopted a platform, or declaration of principles, and selected a national committee, with Albert Griffin as chairman. Legal and Political Measures. 275 At the approach of the Presidential campaign of 1888, a second conference was called to meet in iN’ew York, on May 2 and 3, 1888. ‘‘The Anti- Saloon Pepnhlican movement has now reached a magnitude and a momentum which nothing can withstand,” the call declared. “It no longer pleads for a hearing. It commands compliance. It pro- poses to place the Republican party where it be- longs, positively and finally on the side of home and public safety, as against the saloon system and its destructive work. . . . Speaking for an over- whelming majority of Republican voters and good citizens, we respectfully, hut most urgently, ask our brethren of the Republican National Conven- tion, which is to meet in Chicago in June, to in- corporate in their platform of princij)les a declara- tion of hostility to the saloon as clear and as em- phatic as the English language can make it.” The conference sent a deputation, headed by Dr. H. K. Carroll, to plead the cause before the platform committee at the Republican national convention. This seed again fell on stony ground. The convention platform made this declaration : “We reaffirm our unswerving devotion to . . . the 276 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. autonomy reserved to the States under the Con- stitution; to the personal rights and liberties of the citizens in all the States and Territories of the Union.” Just before adjournment, however, several days after the platform had been adopted, the convention, on prudent second thought, tacked on the following “Boutelle” resolution: “The first concern of all good government is the virtue and sobriety of the people, and the purity of the home. The Republican party cordially sympathizes with all wise and well-directed efforts for the promo- tion of temperance and morality,” — ^^vhich was scarcely either as clear or as emphatic as the Eng- lish language could have made it. Soon after this the Anti-Saloon Republican movement, which had enlisted in its behalf some of the best men and women in the party, passed into history. 8. The National Anti-Saloon League. This is the latest agency in the field, to many a kind of David of the Lord’s host, which, with omni-partisanship as its sling, and agitation, legis- lation, and enforcement, as its missiles, is to de- stroy that arrogant Groliath, the American saloon. Legal and Political Measures. 277 This organization seeks to enlist all existing tem- perance forces in united and aggressive work. It is affiliated with no party, and has no party ends to serve; members of all parties work together under it. In this it differs from the other move- ments which went before it. The Prohibition party seeks to overthrow the liquor traffic through “third party action the Anti-Saloon Republican movement sought to attain this end through the Republican party; the ITational League, through any means except through the Prohibition party, — it being really a move in hostility to that party. The Anti-Saloon League is not sectarian, yet it is essentially Christian, — the Church at work for temperance, engaging with weapons both of spir- itual and of carnal warfare its most opposing and destructive foe. Unity, Perseverance, Victory, are its watchwords. The Anti-Saloon League labors for practical results. While the destruction of the saloon and the liquor traffic is its ultimate goal, it insists on doing the immediate best thing. Where it can not destroy, it seeks to cripple. By insisting on the enforcement of existing restrictive laws ;- by urg- A Centuey of Deink Refoem. ing the passage of more stringent and prohibitive laws; and by literature and agitation awakening a sustaining public sentiment, the League is labor- ing in every practical way to restrict, restrain, and suppress the legalized saloon. Its working principle is : “The solution of the Saloon problem is, Ho Saloon.” The first Anti-Saloon League was formed at a imion Sunday evening meeting, June 4, 1893, in the old First Church, at Oberlin, Ohio. It was the result of the faith and agitation of Rev. Howard H. Russell, whose efforts toward secur- ing temperance legislation and law enforcement, during previous pastorates in Ohio and Missouri, had convinced him of the necessity of such an organization. The Ohio League became the model for other State Leagues, and in December, 1895, the American Anti-Saloon League was formed in Washington. As an opportunist in politics, the Anti-Saloon League showed its most decisive hand, so far, in the Ohio election, in the fall of 1905, when it defeated Myron T. Herrick for Grovemor, for his subserviency to the liquor interests. (in.) CHAPTEE IX. Ground Won and Ground of Conflict. In tlie long struggle for sobriety, wbicb has been waged with unprecedented, almost unabated, vigor during the century just closed, two great and decisive issues have been successively fought : and won. The first has established a correct per- ^ sonal principle for the individual; the second, a I correct public policy for the State. These are, * in turn: ; 1. Total abstinence from intoxicating liquors as a beverage. This proposition has really passed the stage of argiunent. Time settles some things, and this must be considered one of them. After one hundred years of earnest debate, when the champions of both sides have been heard, it is time, in the parlia- ment of free discussion, to apply the rule of closure. Xo case in law can drag on endlessly. When the evidence is all in, and the bearing of this 279 280 A Centuky of Deink Eefoem. evidence on the case at hand and its relation to the law in question has been set forth, the case goes to the jury for a verdict. It is many years now since the Christian conscience, on gathering evi- dence from the drinking customs of society, first gave its decision that even the moderate regular use of strong drink is indefensible. Upon every subsequent appeal this verdict has only been re- affirmed, and upon increasingly strong and univer- , sal testimony. That verdict, hearing to-day the I seal of the best thought and best life in Christen- ^ dom, the tribunal of ultimate appeal, must be con- sidered final. Judgment is already being served ; beginning, as always, with the house of God. The findings in the case are, in substance, as follows : Firsl — The liquor habit is a fearful habit, klen become in bondage to it with fetters as cruel and hopeless as ever shackled felon or slave. There i is no drinking community that has not its slaves to this appetite. Tinder the power of this habit a man not only imdermines his health, squanders I his substance, and brings himself and his family to want; but what is worse, he loses his self -re- Ground of Conflict. 281 spect and the respect of his fellow-men. His own manhood, the dearest interests of his family, the most sacred things in life — all are sacrificed to his love for liquor. He loses his interest in events around him, and becomes gradually insensible to his reproach. Before the eyes of all, who are help- less to save him, he goes down daily, and passes hence, a hopeless failure and wreck of a man, to an ignominious grave. Aside from, and in addi- tion to, this typical instance there are all degrees of alcoholism and occasional drunkenness, with their varying concomitants of shame and evil. The blanched bones from a million graves rise up and cry out to the living. Beware the drunkard’s drink! Secondly — This human wreckage, which no .man can number or find out, has all come from ^moderate and supposedly harmless drinking. The I custom of society which says that the moderate use ? of liquor is permissible, is responsible for it. From moderation men have ever gone over to excess, in spite of self-assurance that they would not, and determination that they should not. In spite of all preaching and moralizing that men exercise self- control and remain within the bounds of modera- 282 A Century of Drink Reform. tion, they have ever been unable presently to ex- ercise such self-control, and have ever exceeded such prescribed bounds. To have totally renounced the cup in the beginning would alone have saved them. Thirdly — The strong have a duty toward the /'weak. If the safety and salvation of the latter lies only in entire abstinence, it is the duty of the former to encourage these, by their own example, to practice such abstinence. ISTo man lives to him- self, and no man dies to himself. Xo man may put an occasion of stumbling in his brother’s way. Xay, he must help him. If my drinking liquor causes my brother, who follows my example, to he made weak and to fall, I will quit drinking for his sake. This is according to the highest code of ethics that the world has received, and my con- science approves that it is right. My conduct in this particular becomes from now on a matter of principle. Xot to do so, in the face of such rea- soning, would be unprincipled. The moderate drinker walks before all the world in dangerous places, which when others try to do, with less steady nerve and sure balance, they Ground of Conflict. 283 fall. His influence as far as the example he sets, therefore, is worse than that of the drunkard. Ho one cares to imitate the miserable wretch who falls reeling in the gutter. The sight of him acts rather as a deterrent to the use of any liquor. But when your leading citizen, who is respected by all, is seen to take his daily drink, every mother’s hoy will reason that what that man does can not he wrong for him to do ; and some mother will know sorrow. Did the beverage use of liquor serve any neces- sary and indispensable purpose in our daily econ- omy, the case would be different, and the ethics of moderation might rest upon a more valid foun- I dation. But drinking is not indispensable; is not I necessary at all. It is not necessary to make men ; healthy and strong. The athlete and prize-flghter j discard liquor when they go into training, and ; men and women everywhere enjoy good health j without it. Liquor is not necessary to promote ? longevity. If any corroboration were needed in (. addition to our common observation, the actuaries’ tables of our life insurance companies are conclu- sive on this point. Liquor is not necessary, again. 284: A Centuey of Dkink Eefoem. to make the brain clearer or tbe band steadier. In our large industrial and commercial establishments preference is given, other things being equal, to . those who do not use liquor; and in not a few in- I dustries, such as railroading and the like, where I the largest risks and gravest responsibilities are involved, it is becoming increasingly the practice to employ no man whatever who uses liquor in any form. Lastly, liquor is not indispensable to the promotion of those interests in life which stand out above all as chiefest, namely, the per- sonal and domestic virtues — chastity, honor, rev- erence, love. These things need no more than the stating. Many of them are so obvious, and all of them are established upon such evidence, that there can be scarcely any one who would presume to enter a denial. As a matter of fact, the average man who uses liquor will not pretend that he does so for any of these reasons. His excuse, if he takes the trouble to offer one, is that it does n’t hurt any- body ; it does n’t hurt him. But no man can look upon the ruin wrought among men by strong drink, and reflect that such catastrophe would have been averted, and would again be averted from a sure Ground of Conflict. 285 recurrence, except only for the drinking custom of society, — no man, we say, can understand this and continue to raise the cup to his lips, for the mere pleasure, and escape guilt. Some mightier po- tency for good will have to he established for our drinking custom, other than the plea that it does no one any harm, before, in view of the appalling evils that flow therefrom, it can be longer justifled. Fourthly — Man has duties toward himself. [This, placed last here, should perhaps come flrst. iSelf-preservation is nature’s flrst law. And self- jpreservation means not the saving of the body merely, but the saving of the real self — the man. jSTo prayer is more oft repeated by human lips than this. Lead us not into temptation ! Which means at the very least, if it means anything whatever, that man is not to walk into temptation with open eyes, ji;st for pleasure. To defy dan- ger and take serious risks when some prize of love or humanity is to be won, this is the act of a hero. But to risk both body and soul recklessly, when nothing is sought to be gained and everything may be lost, is nothing less than foolhardy, which is not merely wrong, but may be wicked. 286 A Centtjet of Dkink Eefoesi. jSTow, it has just been said that the strong have a duty toward the weak. But with reference to the use of intoxicating liquor, in the power to re- sist its evils, ^ho are the weak, and who the strong ? How is this to be determined, and when ? In the beginning were they not all strong, as they thought, and was there one who had not unques- tioned confidence that he would never -be brought under the power of strong drink ? Yes, some there will be who will succumb, each man knew, but he would never be one of them. This was the assur- ance, not of a few, but of every single man. The final roll-call revealed that many had succmnbed. What principle, now, shall the oncoming gen- eration adopt for its guidance, from among whom strong drink is to reap its next harvest of death ? Can it be told from the appearance, or size, or age, or birth, or nationality, or intelligence, or wealth, or any other outward circumstance or condition of the individual who are to be its outcasts through drink ? Absolutely no. Experience alone can de- termine that, and "then only when it is too late. Every man who drinks liquor takes chances for evil. Whether these are small or great, he has no Guouisrt) OF Conflict. 287 means of knowing beforehand. If he can not re- sist the enslaving power of liquor, he will not be- come aware or convinced of it until his O'wn expe- rience has brought him into such enslaved condi- tion ; and then, like those who go in at the gate of the scarlet woman, he will never return. Even those who have for years tasted of the intoxicating cup without apparent harm, can not say that they may not yet be brought under its power. Thus, while a kindly and unselfish regard for his fellow-beings should lead a man, for the sake of those who are weak and are sure to err through drink, to renounce the cup, a sober regard for human worth and a decent respect to his Maker should lead him to take care of his own life. ISTo man may climb to the pinnacle of the temple and cast himself down. Up to this point we have accepted the common distinction between drinkers as “moderate,” and “intemperate.” We have assmned the contention of the former to be valid ; namely, that while mod- erate drinking may not do any particular good, neither does it do any particular harm. We have pointed out, upon the basis of this very contention. 288 A Century of Drink Eeform. that instead of making the moderate indulgence in liquor permissible, the right rule of conduct still condemns it. Man should abstain entirely, in the first place, as a right example to the weak; and for his sake, secondly, in removing himself from a temptation which he has no right to assume that he has exceptional power to resist; it has ruined so many. But there is a third consideration which makes the common beverage use of liquor, even in so-called moderation, indefensible. It lies in the nature and effects of moderate drinking itself. This shall be our fiual inquiry upon our present theme. . As used in common speech, what do we really ■; mean by moderate drinking ? And is such drink- I ing harmless ? While the term is not veiy accu- rately defined, we may say that a ‘^moderate"’ drinker is usually thought of as a person who has not been brought into visible bondage to liquor. He drinks regnlarly, or on occasion, but he has not formed what men distingnish as the drink habit. Although he does not do so, yet it is said that he could let liquor entirely alone, if he wanted. He is not known as a man who gets drunk. To Ground of Conflict. 289 the commou eye he displays none of the physical symptoms that are clearly attendant upon typical cases of alcoholism. This, in a word, by inclusion and exclusion, gives us a rough composite which men would recognize as that of the moderate drinker. iN’ow, is evil — both moral and physical — all on the side of that which is excluded by this defini- tion of the moderate drinker ? May not the con- tinual introduction of alcoholic liquors into the human system exercise a disturbing influence on the finer, subtler functions of body and brain, and effect slow degenerative changes in tissue, which the average man is not likely or able to discern? Do not men die daily, as a matter of fact, from alcoholism of the heart, of the kidneys, or of the liver, under different names, without the world, or they themselves even, ever knowing it, — men against whom the suspicion was never raised that they drank other than moderately ? Who knows in how many cases of mental and bodily disease alcohol may not form, if not the immediate or direct cause, at least a predisposing or contribut- ing cause ? Or how many years may not have been 19 290 A Centuet of Deink REFOEii. cut off from a man’s life because of alcohol ; or to what extent the physical weaknesses and peculiar- ities of any of us, our mental and moral incapaci- ties, may not have been determined by the drink- ing habits of our progenitors. And aside from the physical changes that may be wrought by the long and constant use of strong drink, are there not some very plain moral effects visible immediately upon indulgence in the cup by those who would resent the imputation that they were drinking j other than moderately? The loosening of the ^ tongue, and the bonds of self-restraint generally ; the racy story, the questionable jest, the liberties of speech and of conduct — are these to be excused, if not exactly as exemplary, yet as harmless ? The German is often cited as a model instance of mod- erate drinking. And what effect has such drink- ing had upon this people ? Is it not a fact of ob- servation by thoughtful men that the beer drink- ing of Germany has stifled the idealism and the finer feeling of its people, and has produced, espe- cially among the academic youth of the nation, as seen in its beer jokes, its beer literature, and its beer conversation, an almost incredible vulgarity ? Ground of Conflict. 291 Do not some of the foremost medical men in Ger- many to-day declare this to be a fact ? And did we not read just in yesterday’s papers of a masterful I address on ^‘Alcohol and Art,” delivered by Pro- I fessor Behrens, Director of the School of Arts and . Crafts at Dusseldorf, before the ninth Interna- tional Anti-Alcoholic Congress in session at Bremen, in the presence of fourteen hundred dele- gates from fifteen nations, how the drinking habit is dulling that spiritual aspiration and finer per- ception in men so necessary to the greatest achieve- ments in art ? Is not conduct also one of the fine arts, nay, the highest among them ; and does it re- quire, for its highest achievements, soul qualities less spiritual and less refined than to carve a statue or paint a picture ? Is it a matter of small con- cern that the best in life should thus be quenched and cut off by a public habit of self-indulgence that finds its stronghold in custom, and dares even to claim the sanction of religion ? All this, it must be remembered, comes within the pale of moderate, every-day drinking, and is not usually even mentioned in the indictment against society’s drinking customs. Yet the pres- 292 A Centuky oe Dkij^k REEOKii. ent writer does not hesitate unreservedly to con- fess that it was his observation, in boyhood days, of these very effects of moderate drinking in a German speaking community — the relaxed man- ners in social drinking, of a people otherwise and naturally decent — that first moved him to disgust, and led subsequently to determined convictions upon this entire question. ; Nothing has been said thus far of the scientific • phase of the alcohol question. We have purposely : refrained from so doing. lio great moral reform, in the first place, ever comes through the labora- tory. It must come through the conscience, by such facts and reasoning as lie within the scope of common sense and the common powers of tmder- standing. If the people believe not Woses and the prophets, neither will they believe though one rose from the dead. Again, Satan himself can quote authority, which serves only to confuse or deceive, unless one can read with discrimination. Thus, for instance, when Professor W. O. Atwater, of Middletown, Connecticut, conducted some experi- ments a few years ago upon a university janitor, whom he had confined in a specially constructed GEOTTisri) OP Conflict. 293 metal chamber, which he called a ‘‘respiratory calorimeter,” and fed partly on alcohol, — when the professor announced that he found the alcohol to have been oxidized in the system, and to have served some uses as fuel, though it did not make new tissue or repair the machine, all the drinking world — men who care more to bolster up a habit than to know the truth — shouted for Atwater. As though the careful conclusion that a given quantity of alcohol can, under certain conditions, be oxi- dized in a healthy human body were a Come on boys! for everybody to step up and take a drink. It would seem that if it requires such painstaking, careful experimentation by an expert to determine the value of alcohol for the human system, it should require an equally careful prescription by an expert — the physician — to determine under what conditions, and in what quantities, alcohol should be administered in any given case. These experiments of Professor Atwater, it 5 may be mentioned, were made under the auspices I of the Committee of Fifty, a self-constituted body, I j since 1893, for the impartial study of the liquor ^ question. The gentlemen comprising this body 294 A Centuey of Deiftk Refoem. hold very conservative views, for the most part, in the matter of temperance. On this subject of the attitude of medical science toward alcoholic liquors we will quote but a single authority. We deem this sufficient, first, because of the pre-eminence of the person among the recent men of medicine in America ; and sec- ondly, because his statement is safely conservative, representing a position from which the world will probably never again move backward. The testi- mony is that of the late Dr. William Pepper, Pro- vost of the University of Pennsylvania, author of the gTeat work on medical practice, who says, as quoted by Senator Henry W. Blair in his book, ‘‘The Temperance Movement “Commonly one hears the question put in this form : Is alcohol a food or a poison ? It is neither the one nor the other. It is not a food in the com- mon and correct acceptation of the term, though it has points of resemblance with foods. It is not strictly speaking a poison, though it often produces highly-poisonous effects. It is to be regarded as a medicine or a drug, and belongs to the same class with opium, Indian hemp, tobacco, and some anal- Geotjnd of Conflict. 295 ogous substances. Nearly all healthy persons can with impunity take occasionally a small amount of dilute alcohol. With some individuals, however, even the smallest quantity disagrees and disorders digestion ; on the other hand, a very small propor- tion of individuals seem able to take large amounts regTilarly for many years without damage. But I do not doubt that this impunity is more apparent than real, and that nearly all such persons are slowly but surely injured by the habit. One of the worst features of the action of alcohol in a large number of young persons is that, though taken in small amount and even in the form of light wines or beer, its first agreeable effect is fol- lowed by a feeling of lassitude and depression, readily mistaken for debility, and suggesting a repetition of the stimulant. But these unpleasant feelings are the direct result of the presence in the blood and tissues of poisonous matters, coming from the imperfect digestion of the alcohol, or food with whose complete assimilation the dose of alcohol has interfered. Here evidently is a fruit- ful source of functional disorder ; and still more is it a source of gradually-increasing use, ending 296 A Centuey oe Deiek Refoem. in actual excess, with its inseparable physical and moral degradation. It is impossible to exclude from our consideration this enslaving tendency which separates alcohol so widely from all ordinary articles of diet, and relegates it to a special class fof drugs. I am indeed satisfied that all persons in good health are better without alcohol in any form or in any amount, as a regular beverage. If this is true of dilute alcohol, by which I mean light wines or beer, or greatly-diluted spirit, it may be asserted without hesitation that all stronger forms of alcohol capable of causing positive local stimu- lation or irritation of the stomach, should be re- garded purely as drugs, and be used exclusively under medical advice. Their habitual use by healthy persons is highly injurious and involves the risk of developing serious disease. It is, how- ever, impossible to deny the great value of alcohol even in large amounts during critical stages of some acute diseases. And I can speak with confi- dence of the beneficial effects, in suitable cases as determined by a physician, of small amounts of dilute spirit, or of generous wine, taken as a stim- ulant by weak and elderly persons. While, how- Geotind oe Conflict. 297 ever, we admit the therapeutic value of alcohol in these and other suitable cases, it is clear to me that every medical man should prescribe it with a distinct recognition in each individual case of the special danger attaching to its habitual use.” ; If alcohol, then, is not properly a food for the I body, hut must be classed as a drug, or medicine, ; with opium and kindred substances, it would seem that there could be no such thing as a rational, “moderate” use — constantly, indiscriminately, and self-prescribed, by all classes, and on all occasions — of such drug or medicine. But if all this does not yet make clear this en- tire matter of moderation, we will add a final tes- timony in the form of an experiment. In order to determine accurately just what quantity of al- cohol is harmless and “moderate,” and what quan- tity is injurious and therefore “intemperate,” numerous thorough-going experiments have been made independently by men whose scientific au- thority is unquestioned, with the following results : Doses of 7-10-15 grams (one-fourth to one-half ounce) of alcohol, which corresponds to a glass of wine or a pint of German beer, are sufficient regu- 298 A Centuet of Deink Refoem. larly to paralyze, retard, or disturb all tbe central and centripetal brain functions. By delicate measurements it is foimd that tbe number of mis- takes in such exercises as typesetting, memoriz- ing, calculating, etc., is increased. Sensibility is blunted, and mental reaction is retarded. Tbe sub- jective consequences of tbe effect are agreeable; one feels beat, cold, and pain less ; one is not merely less accurate, but less scrupulous, less afraid. A very slight veil of illusion bas spread over reality, wbicb is tbe beginning of later intoxi- cation by larger doses. Sucb are tbe first effects of alcoholic liquor. This explains at once why men are tempted to drink; why tbe habit grows, and why drinking usually goes before immorality and crime. To say nothing of the advanced status of tbe total abstinence cause in this and other English- speaking lands, when we note the awakening of other nations to the import of this refonn, and read that such men, for instance, as Eorel, of Zurich; von Bunge, of Basel; Weigert, of Frank- fort ; Delbruck, of Bremen ; Moehbins, of Leipsic, and lastly, Kraepelin, of Heidelberg, who stands Gkottnd of Conflict. 299 at the head of authorities on diseases of the mind, and to whose clinic medical students from all lands resort, — when such men, we repeat, change their personal habits and prejudices of a lifetime, and renounce even the moderate use of beer and light wines ; and raising their voice and pen against the custom of a whole people, become pronounced leaders in a propagandism for complete abstinence, — the friend of sobriety and of humanity, who has labored long and hard in the cause, may well re- joice. It mates one feel that now is our redemp- tion nearer than when we first believed. 2. The suppression, hy State and nation, of the traffic in alcoholic liquors for beverage pur- poses. This is the other decisive issue that has been won in the long warfare against the drink custom of society. This is clearer, if anything, than the first. When we come to consider a public institu- tion like the traffic in intoxicating liquors, which fattens, not upon the ambitions and virtues of man- kind, but upon its vices; which pumps into the body politic — without surcease night nor day — disease, insanity, degeneracy, pauperism, lust, 300 A Century of Drink Eeform. crime, corruption, pain, and woe, — an institution, we repeat, whicti does this, and can produce no record of good — there is but one attitude that a State can consistently assume toward it, and that is its suppression. The right of a State to do this is no longer open to question ; nor its duty. TVhat a man eats and drinks is his own concern prima- rily; and any change which one may seek to effect in these habits of an individual must he left to reason and moral appeal. But what a man sets up business in, and keeps open house for, on our main thoroughfares, becomes public business, and may be suppressed iu the interests of decency and good order. As far as lies within this sphere, what the people’s welfare demands, the State not only may but must do. To say that the saloon exists only in response to a human demand, namely, the natural craving for liquor in man, which no legislation can take away, will hardly do. If this were true, indeed, that the saloon exists to wait upon, and take ad- vantage of, a hmnan weakness, it would scarcely make this business out to be of a character that should receive the official approval of a State. In Gkotjnd of Conflict. 301 such case the State should at the least withdraw from it its express permission and protection, and give the moral forces among its citizens a fair chance to cope with this appetite. But instead of saying that the saloon merely supplies a univer- sally existing appetite, it would he nearer the whole truth to say that the saloon first incites the appe- tite which it so cheerfully ministers to. Men learn to drink in the saloon. The open door, the screens, the light and attractions withiu, the free lunch and free drinks, these draw men in — are intended to draw them in. Did the saloon exist just to satisfy some inborn, irresistible appetite, there would be no need for such attractive and elaborate saloon furnishings. The man who goes in because he must have his drink cares nothing for plate mir- rors and paintings. He will get to the bar if the floor is n’t paved with silver dollars. Indeed he will pass through dark and narrow passageways, so we are assured, and up a rickety flight of stairs perhaps, and before a hole in the wall swallow his dram without so much as stopping to see how ^ar- tistic the surroundings may he. Or he will take it — yes, will be delighted with the chance thus to 302 A Centuey of Deii^k: Eefoem. get it — from the man who brings it around in his bootleg, or in a hollow cane, or from the lady who carries it, quite conveniently, in a metallic bustle. When such simple means and small outlay of cap- ital suiEce to satisfy a want that our Creator has given us, it would show but small business sagacity to rent corner blocks and put in them paintings and plate glass, and wine stalls, and family en- trances, and electric fans, and salted victuals, and music, and games, and peeping, and other devices, — poor calculation, we say, thus to squander money if people will drink anyway. A wise man would put his new silver dollars in the bank instead of in the saloon floor. Ho; the public saloon and saloon system is a vast organized inciter of human appetite. It is an onmipresent, publicly sanctioned temptation to evil. It exists not because man, by nature, must drink, but because, by proper incentives, man can be made to drink, and there is money in selling it to him. The craving of large numbers of people for .alcoholic liquor is no more to be charged to the Creator than is the craving of certain people for opium, or of many for tobacco, or the irresistible Gkotjnd of Conflict. 303 tendency of others to utter themselves in copious I profanity. These, and others like them, are I strictly acquired habits, perverted and evil habits, I acquired in association with companions of evil. ; These are among the offenses of which Holy Writ says. Woe unto them by whom they come ! The curse of Almighty God is heavy upon the tempter to evil. And because the public traffic in strong drink is precisely such a tempter on a vast scale, provoking those very elements of evil in man which the agencies of religion and of civilization are con- stantly endeavoring to suppress and eradicate — and undoing in large measure their work, — the State must suppress it. The State must exercise the same authority by which it now permits and protects this business, to prohibit it. It must do it. Indeed, this scarcely needs any lengthy argu- ment. People are pretty generally agreed that no saloon in a community is better than the best exist- ing saloon, and that if the liquor business could be effaced from the earth it would be a rich bless- ing to humanity. Men are coming to agree pretty well, too, that the saloon can never be removed and the traffic suppressed by means of coffee-houses. 304 A Centuky of Deink Refoem. ice-cream stands, club and game rooms, reading- rooms, drinking fountains, mission rooms and tracts. As long as the saloon has permission to do business, it will make life hard for all of these self -constituted philanthropies; it will run them out eventually. The saloon must be removed by the same power which gave it existence — the State, namely; and through the same agency — the law, backed by a correct public sentiment. Then for coffee and ice-cream and reading-rooms ! Men are pretty well agreed, again, that to abolish pov- erty, or to equalize industrial conditions that pro- duce poverty, would not remove the saloon, or miti- gate its evils, on the plea that it is poverty which leads men to drink. If it were thinkable that a man who has no money will regularly go to the saloon and buy that which he has no money to buy, and can not get without money ; if it were psycho- logically probable that a man Avho is poor and mis- erable will deliberately take to drink which makes him yet poorer and more miserable, — it is a very plain fact, whether or not men take to drink be- cause they are poor, that men are poor — and their families — because they first took to drink. With Ground of Conflict. 305 the saloon doing business, itself one of the most constant and prolific sources of poverty, the task of abolishing poverty v/ill be uphill work. Let the saloon be first removed, the impoverisher of the people, which robs men of their hard-earned money and gives them only rags and woe in return ; then the grocer, the house furnisher, and the savings bank will have their inning. ITo; all this does not have to be seriously ar- gued before intelligent people. On all this men are sufiiciently agreed. But what beyond this point ? Here men can not see as clearly. While we have been brought up squarely at the point of prohibition, still the fortunes of the prohibition policy have been so varied, and its suc- cess in many of the States where it has been tried apparently so doubtful, that many an honest man, who has no difficulty in discerning what is right in principle, begins to be perplexed. He begins to question whether what is right and good is also always expedient — that is, practicable. For which misgiving, in this instance, there seems to be no little ground. Towns and cities that have voted no-license constantly change back, after a short 20 306 A Centuky of Defyk; REFOEii. time, to the saloon ; and even wliile no-license is in operation there is more or less liquor sold. "Who can be sure when the saloons are cleaned out that at the next election they will not he voted back? And is this not true of State prohibition as well ? Just about an even dozen States that have had prohibition in our ovm land, have repealed it — even Vermont recently, after fifty-one years of continuous complete prohibition, and Rew Hamp- shire, after forty-eight years of partial prohibition, early in the year of grace, 1903. Some States, like Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have not fewer than twice passed a prohibitory law, and as often repealed it ; while after all the hard struggle for prohibition during more than fifty years now, the prohibition policy is in force to-day only in three States — Maine, Kansas, and Korth Dakota, with forces constantly at work here for resubmis- sion and repeal. Kow, the cause for such reversal of policy has not been that the people had, in each case, discov- ered some new blessing in the saloon, or that they had found a better method of stopping its ravages ; or that they themselves had come to love sobriety Ground of Conflict. 307 and quiet less, — but rather, generally speaking, that they had not been able to make prohibition I work well. ‘^Very hard to enforce,” its friends f reluctantly conceded ; while the enemy carried the I day with the slogan that prohibition does n’t pro- ihibit; that as much liquor is sold as before, and the further consideration — always added — that the people get no revenue. From all this the com- mon-sense generalization is made that it is never wise to enact laws in advance of what public sen- timent will sustain. These observations are far enough removed from the beggarly elements of the reform to de- serve respectful and thorough consideration. We have here come to a point where it will require clear and penetrating vision, or we shall lose our way. It is true, then, that the real reason why pro- hibitory laws have not been sustained, and the drink question, which half a century ago seemed surely to be approaching a final settlement, is to- day as far as, or farther, from a solution than ever, — is the real reason for this that the temper- ance sentiment of the country has at no time been 308 A Centuky oe Deink itEEOEii. jsufficiently advanced ? Sliall we say that this sen- I Himent has not only not grown, but that the con- tinued repeal of prohibitory laws has been evidence of its constant recession; and that to-day, when ' there are fewer State prohibition laws in force in ; our land than for fifty years, there is less pro- nounced and widespread sentiment against the saloon than ever ? Is the real difficulty with the public sentiment ? ^Vhen, after an agitation which for intensity, duration, and universality knows no parallel in the history of any other similar reform ; when the pen, mightier than the sword, is on every hand enlisted against the Philistine of strong drink, and every school and church-bell peals out its death knell ; when from the innumerable undisturbed public pursuits the liquor business alone is singled out and humiliated with every kind and manner of legal restraint, of business exclusion, and of social ostracism, and aside from the bald fact that it yields revenue, finds not a single conspicuous public defender ; when in spite of the poor enforce- ment and general handicap hitherto of prohibitory laws ; at the risk of boycott in business, at the risk of personal danger, and in the face of the damn- Ground of Conflict. 309 ing temptation of the “revenue” and “trade” ar- guments urged for the liquor business, — vrhen in the face of these things individuals and communi- ties have again and again voted to sustain the no- license policy, and not a State that has not its considerable area under prohibition — in some in- stances from two-thirds to three-fourths of its en- tire area — shall it be seriously said, and with re- flection, that the reason why the long struggle against the open. State-sanctioned traffic in liquor is not already clearly within sight of its goal, is because not enough sentiment has yet been created on this question ? How much sentiment does it require in a democracy to make the will of the peo- ple effective in law ? Or to come closer to the point still. Is it true in those States, specifically, which have enacted a prohibitory law by the deliberate choice of their voting citizens, that public sentiment in those States does not sustain the enforcement of that law ? What did the people pass the law for ? The people of Iowa, for instance, on June 27, 1882, voted for constitutional prohibition by a majority of 29,759 — 155,436 voting for, and 125,677 310 A Centukt of Drikk Eefoem. against. Ordinarily such majority in such vote would he quite sufficient to inaugnarate and carry out a change in governmental policy. Yet there are not wanting those who loudly asserted that I)rohihition in Iowa was a failure from the begin- ning; and that it ceased we know. Was not pro- hibition, as a matter of record, amply justified by its fruits, taking the State over ? If prohibition really was a failure, wherein was it that it failed ? Again, the people of the State of Rhode Island, on April 7, 1886, voted for constitutional prohibi- tion by a more than three-fiiths majority vote, — 15,113 voting for, and 9,230 against. Even if one were inclined to question the sufficiency of the Iowa majority, surely here we have a majority — nearly two to one — large enough thoroughly to carry out any policy. Yet the law was not en- forced, and after three years, the people in dis- gust and despair repealed prohibition by a vote of nearly three to one. The people will not sustain prohibition, was said. If prohibition in Rhode Island was a failure, why was it a failure ? Wust public sentiment be stronger — poll more votes yet ? In what way must it be stronger ? Ground of Conflict. 311 Once more, the people of the State of Maine, at the fall State election in September, 1884, voted for constitutional prohibition by a majority of three to one — 70,783 voting for, and 23,811 against. There can be no disputing that such a vote shows a very strong sentiment in favor of pro- hibition. And when we reflect that this vote was that of the male population only ; that had woman, who also has convictions on this subject, been per- mitted to express these convictions in votes, and those under twenty-one just fresh from school — with these added considerations, we can not but say that the backing of prohibition in Maine, in the popular electorate and in the moral sentiment of the entire people, is — or was — literally over- whelming. Yet there are those who have faith to believe that prohibition is not succeeding in Maine, and never has succeeded. Public sentiment does not sustain prohibitory laws, is proclaimed abroad. You can get liquor anywhere, some say. Others enter an emphatic denial, and affirm that prohi- bition is a success. So how shall we tell ? We would naturally expect it to be a complete suc- cess, with such a vote back of it. And if it is, the 312 A Century of Drink Eeform. matter becomes very simple ; let every State in the Union speedily adopt prohibition. But if it is not a complete success ; if liquor is sold there gen- erally and in considerable quantities, contrary to law, we want to know why liquor is sold there. There is some obscure difficulty here, and there is too much at stRke to remain indifferent in this matter, or to be satisfied with generalities. We propose to probe deeply and unflinchingly until we have located the precise seat of the trouble. We want to make it very plain that the difficulty lies not with the sentiment of the people, but some- where else; and we want to know by what right any man who enjoys the blessings of free popular government, and professes to believe in democratic institutions where the people themselves, by ma- jorities, exercise the right of rule, — ^may dare even to intimate that a clear majority of two to one, or of three to one, on any measure of State is not yet large enough to warrant its enactment, or to insure its reasonable enforcement. D. ADJUDICATION. 313 CHAPTEE X. The Alleged Failuees ob’ PEOHiBiTioiir. Pkohibitioh has not been a failure; neither has it been an unqualified success. It has worked well enough to convince men that it is not only right, but practicable ; that it is the only sufficient and final remedy for the drink evil. To furnish proof of this is but to give what everybody knows, or has no excuse for not knowing. On the other hand, the prohibition policy has hobbled plainly and long enough at once to indicate the presence of a difficulty, and to enable us to locate it. That this difficulty lies elsewhere than in a lack of pub- lic sentiment among the people on this question, began to grow apparent at the close of the last chapter. The hindrance to a complete success of prohi- bition hitherto has been twofold. It has to do with the area, on the one hand, to which prohibi- tion has been applied; and to the method on the S15 316 A Centuky of Deuvk Kefoem. other hand, by which it has been applied. These we will discuss in turn. First — Area. A no-license policy is not likely to be com- pletely or permanently successful in any town when all the surrounding towns sell liquor freely. Such a law, from start to finish, suffers a heavy handicap. It is hard to get such law passed, in the first place. Hot that a sufficient number of citizens may not believe in it, or would not like to see liquor banished from their midst, but be- cause they see in advance how the law will be ham- pered in its operation. They are aware how easy it will be to ship in liquor, or bring it by wagon at night from the next toAvn ; and they do not like the thought of the general law-evading and law- breaking that is almost sure to follow. They are aware, too, that to antagonize the saloon right in their midst, where a man has his home and his business, is no holiday matter. A United States marshal can go to a town and close up, and spare not; but for a home citizen to try to do this is neither pleasant nor wholly safe always. Good citizens prefer generally to live in peace, even to Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 317 suffering annoyance and wrong. Then, too, the I citizen is influenced by trade and tax considera- f tions. It is predicted that if the saloons are closed f in this town trade will go to adjoining towns ; and I this prospect again is not pleasing. And getting no revenue, local taxes will be much higher, it is added. These considerations, any or all, will in- fluence a considerable number to cast their ballot against no-license, while really believing in it, and with no love for the liquor business. This fact must he borne in mind when we consider the ex- tent of local option, or no-license, territory throughout the country, — that large as that area is — in a few States all hut entire — the aggregate of local votes, to say nothing of woman’s complete exclusion, does not in fact represent the full strength of the sentiment against the liquor trade. / The local option method of dealing with the I drink evil works against heavy odds. ISTo com- I munity should be expected to settle single-handed I a question that has such larger than local bear- ! ings. As well try to protect a community against } pillage and robbery when robbers’ dens infest the woods on all sides just across the town line, as to 318 A Century of Drink Keform. keep liquor out of a town when all around they are allowed to sell it. It might be done possibly, but the citizen would begin to question whether it was worth the cost. He would probably conclude to bar the door and take his chances. What we have said here of local option applies i also in a measure to State prohibition, which is but a kind of local option on a larger scale. Pro- hibition probably never has had a fairer trial than in Iowa under Governor WiUiam Larrabee, from 1885 to 1889. The State administration made an earnest effort to enforce the law, yet in the border counties and in the larger interior cities it was more or less openly violated. All the adjoining States made lawful, and were deriving revenue from, that which Iowa was trying to suppress. Hot only did the railway communications and the imaginary State border lines offer every facility ^ for smuggling in the contraband article, but when the Chicago and Horthwestern Railway, for in- stance, refused to carry open consignments of liquor into the State, it was sued, and — what is ; worse, — ^beaten. The United States Supreme \ Court, which handed do’wn the final ruling, de- Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 319 dared that the act. of carrying merchandise from one State into another did not come within the province of State law, hut belonged to Federal au- I thority alone, in its control of interstate com- merce; and that a railroad, as a common carrier, has no right to discriminate against any com- modity which constitutes a proper article of com- I merce. This decision, rendered in 1888, was fol- lowed by another decision, in 1890, known as the I “original package” decision, in which the Supreme I Court held that liquor thus shipped into prohibi- / tion territory could not be seized by the local au- ' thorities as long as it remained in the original package, as shipped; and that in such packages it might be sold. The widespread protest which this decision called forth, led Congress to enact some remedial, though insufficient, legislation. The man who now sells liquor in prohibition territory /does so at his own risk; but the interstate law still ■i j protects the shipment of liquor until actually in / the hands of the consignee. In other words, the ' thief may come within the town limits — under Federal protection; let the constable have a care that he does n’t steal ! 320 A Centuey of DEmK Refoem. No; the same power that controls interstate commerce must control the liquor traffic. One would scarcely expect that the prohibition of the sale of any article within its own limits, by a State or town, can be made thoroughly effectual except the importation, the actual bringing in of that ar- ticle, also, can be made punishable. You say Con- gress should at once enact a law prohibiting such importation. This Congress certainly should do. A bill to this effect was introduced in the Tifty- seventh Congress, but the liquor power showed its hand at the seat of legislation, and the bill was killed. A similar measure, the Hepburn-Dolliver bill, was brought before the Fifty-eighth CongTess, just adjourned. This measure had a strong in- dorsement of public sentiment, and committee hearings were held; but coming just on the eve of a national political canvass, nothing more was heard of it. When our Government declares that the liquor question belongs to the States for such settlement as they may severally choose, it should respect them in their full right of such settlement. "When a stronger lets a weaker wage combat with Alleged Failukes of Pkohibitiojst. 321 the destroyer single-handed, he should at least give the weaker a fair field. Such law, making the carrying of liquor into prohibition territory pun- ishable, would greatly help the individual States in their uneven contest. It would have made it impossible for the brewers of Dubuque or Daven- port, for instance, under the protection of the Fed- eral Government, to ship their liquor across the river into Illinois (this being interstate com- merce), and immediately ship it back (this being interstate commerce again) into any part of the State whence it came. However, such a law, considerably though it would strengthen the hands of the State, is not yet sufficient. The executive machinery of Federal authority is alone adequate properly to enforce a general prohibitory law. Do not the Federal liquor permits taken out everywhere in prohibi- tion territory bear witness to this fact ? What do they mean if not this : the liquor-seller is willing to take his chances with the prohibitory law of the State as enforced in his locality, but he will take no such chances with the Federal Government? He will sell — or try to sell — without a State li- 21 322 A Centuky of Dkiek Eefoem. cense, but he will not dare to sell without a Fed- eral permit. If the Government should experience I a change of heart, therefore, and use the same vig- I orous means entirely to suppress liquor-selling I which it now employs to collect revenue from it, I we should probably hear of fewer repeals of prohi- bition on the ground that it had failed to prohibit. If a State is able to maintain its policy of pro- hibition against such odds, with every neighboring State, may be, against her; with the Federal Gov- ernment against her; with the wealth and the power of the liquor interests throughout the land incessantly at work to break down the law, — ship- I ping in liquor free, if necessary, as was openly charged in Iowa, to those who will agree to handle it, and even giving it away to those who will drink, — to bring the law into discredit, and to be able to say before the world that prohibition does n’t pro- hibit, and thus bring about its repeal: — if a law, under such conditions, is not severely and even fatally crippled, but can show much good, what may we not expect of it under more favorable con- ditions ! But aside from' the question of practicability Alleged Failukes of Pkohibition. 323 I there remains the question of right. If liquor-sell- i ing is ruinous and wrong in Kansas, is it benefi- f. cent and right in Nebraska or Illinois? Are the ! effects of strong drink different on the opposite sides of an imaginary geographical line ? Does jf liquor start men on the road to prosperity and I heaven in one State, and send them to the peniten- I tiary and the madhouse in the other ? If not, — if i liquor works everywhere essentially the same works, and if a town has an unquestioned right completely to suppress the liquor business in its midst, on the ground that it is evil, have the people i of the next town an equally unquestioned right to I permit this same business in their midst, and to I throw around it the protection of law ? The right to suppress has been amply confirmed, and is now unquestioned ; but how about the right to permit ? You say that is a matter for each community to ( decide. No ; no. If it were a matter of building a bridge, or paving a street, or operating a light and power plant, or any other business that has a purely local and business character, it would rest 5 properly with the citizens of the community to de- cide. But not so with far-reaching questions of 324 A Century of Drjnk Kefoem. f morals. !Mo individual or community lias any I option, for instance, on tlie Decalogue. If one I should ask you. Is it right to steal (provided you I are not caught) ? you would scarcely answer — pre- f tending that you were liberal and practical. This depends upon the community you are in. Or if you saw a man throwing a carcass into the city’s water supply, would it change the character of the act to be told that the people did not relish plain .j water, and that the doctors and undertakers had I agreed that he might do this thing ? Or if in a I certain place you saw an excited multitude sear- ing a naked body with a hot iron and strangling its life with a rope, w'ould you, on seeing that the vic- tim had swarthy features, and that this occurrence Avas taking place- south of a certain degree of lati- tude, withhold your judgment and acknowledge that all such acts must be judged according to the sentiment prevailing in each separate community ? Ho; if the local authorities were indifferent, or sanctioned it, you would appeal to the State to overrule local sentiment; such things must not be knovm Avithin a State. If the State were indif- ferent, you would appeal to the nation to overrule Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 325 the sentiment of the State; such things must not receive sanction within a nation. And if the na- tion refused to hear, you would raise your voice in the ears of the people in appeal to a higher law than statute or constitution — as men before you have done, — and declare that this thing is an in- iquity before God, and must cease ; compelling the world to hear. If therefore theft and murder are wrong, not as localities may decide, but anywhere — every- where, what shall we say of a public traffic in an article that robs men, first of their purse — trash; then steals away their brains, filches from them their good name, and wrests from them their hope of heaven ? Is the right or wrong of this a mere matter of locality? Shall we say that it is crime for a man, anywhere within the broad domain of humanity, to defile the water supply of a people, which produces fever and may result in death, and say of a man who supplies people with a drink that poisons the fountains of virtue, that turns bit- ter the milk of human kindness, and lays men also in their graves with a worse than physical death ; shall we say that it is all right for a man to do this 326 A Centttey of Deink Refoem. provided the conunimity said he might (for money), and the State said it didn’t care what the towns did ? Or perhaps the fact that a man is willing to take his chances with liquor alters the case, — that he knows about it and agrees to it. Perhaps it is all right for a man to put the bottle to his neigh- bor’s lips, if the latter wants it and finds it agi’ee- ahle, — is it ? Perhaps the circumstance that a man is willing — or a woman — makes it all right for another to debauch him — or her ; does it ? The attitude of a large portion of the Amer- ican people — the position of the Government it- self — on the liquor question is precisely the atti- tude to which Stephen A. Douglas wished to com- mit this nation on the question of Xegro slavery, when he brought forward his doctrine of squatter sovereignty, which cost his party, and almost the nation, its life. Let every community decide for itself ; he did not care “whether it was voted up or voted doAvn in the Territories.” To this Lincoln replied : “Any man can say that who does not see I anything wrong in slavery, but no man can logic- j ally say that who does see a wrong in it ; because Alleged Failukes of Pkohibitioit. 327 / no man can logically say lie does n’t care wlietlier I a wrong is voted up or voted down. He may say I he does n’t care whether an indifferent thing is ^ voted up or voted down, but he must logically have a choice between a right thing and a wrong thing. He contends that whatever community wants ^ slaves has a right to have them. So they have, if f it is not wrong. But if it is wrong, he can not say people have a right to do wrong.” With respect to the morals of the liquor traffic our several governmental bodies in America prac- tice a policy of evasion, from first to last. The Federal Government says. Let each State decide as it sees fit ; this question belongs to the police I power of the States. The State, in turn, when I questioned, replies. Let each community decide I for itself ; our population is so diverse. Towns are ' granted, consequently, the privilege of “local op- tion.” Going, again, to the town or city, we ask, AVhat do you purpose to do with this question of ' allowing men to engage in the public drink traffic in your midst ? We get essentially the same reply. Let the different wards decide what they want ; or. It shall rest with the property owners on both sides 328 A Centuey of Dkink Refoem. of the street in the block where the drink shop is to be opened. But why stop at this point ? ISTo, we must not stop after getting so far. "WTaat right has the resi- dent on one side of a street to express an opinion to the resident on the opposite side as to what he should, or should not, have or do on that other side — may not the sentiment on this question be differ- ent on the two sides ? Why not leave the question with those who live on the same side of the street, in the same block ? This would come nearer the ideal of local autonomy. A broad street forms a more real geographical division between people, for instance, than an imaginary line running be- tween States or counties or tovms. We have in fact known a town line to rrm through the middle of a building, part in one township, part in an- other. But we must go a step farther. What justice or practical wisdom is there in lumping all the families in a long row of houses, several families perhaps in one house, strangers to one another, with different tastes, habits, views, — what justice to force a uniform policy upon all of these ? Xo Alleged Failtjkes oe Pkohibition. 329 justice, when you come to think of it. Why not then at once avow to rest the question where this principle logically leads us, where sentiment is most homogeneous, where son will swear by his father, and where wife and husband, under stress of outward interference at least, will be of one mind — namely, the family? ISTo special sanctity attaches to a State or town line, city ward, or brick block; but civilized peoples have ever accorded a peculiar sacredness to the family as an institution, and have ever sought to keep its autonomy intact and inviolate. But there is yet no peace. This principle still lacks its final application. “He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me,” indicates an obedience and a unity higher than that of the family. Once assert the principle of “local option” in a matter of right and wrong, and that principle will know no peace until it rests localized in the individual conscience. Stop short of that — anywhere, and you deny the very princi- ple which you have affirmed. Who is the slayer of kings and rnlers — anarchist, we call him — ^bnt he who has followed this principle to its logical 330 A Centuey of Dkink Eefoem. conclusion, and has had the courage to carry out I his convictions in action ? All human government ^ is coercion, he asserts, and -wrong. Xo man can f decide for another what is right. Each man’s con- I science is the tribunal to whose decrees he must give allegiance. And for his logic we condemn I this man ; for his courage we execute him. Still he is wrong. His premises are false. > While the conscience must be obeyed, and while igovernment may not interfere with a man’s purely /personal beliefs and habits, yet the public acts of a ( man are a matter of concern to the entire people, and if these become subversive of public peace and good order, the people in their ruling capacity j may restrain him from doing evil. Government thus properly becomes, as the Apostle Paul tells I us, a terror only to evil doers. It becomes an in- I strument, not of oppression, but of liberty. The author of the Declaration of Independence had an absolutely correct conception of the fimction of government when he wrote : ^“To secure these rights” — life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, * etc. — ‘‘governments are instituted among men, de- riving their just powers from the consent of the Alleged Failures of Pkohibitiost. 331 governed.” To this end the people, in the inter- ests of peace and order and public welfare, over- rule not only the “option” of individuals, but the “local option” of bands, sects, societies, of towns, cities, and States even. The people of Utah, for instance, believe religiously in Mormonism, and are said in their heart to cherish polygamy ; Colo- rado believes in free silver, and Texas in free trade ; Louisiana late in the day operated a lottery, and South Carolina a little earlier practiced nulli- fication. Did we — or do we — pay deference to the principle of autonomy and self-government, or to the consideration that a uniform policy would be either not right or not expedient ? ISTo — yes, to the autonomy and sovereignty of the people as a nation^ that largest and final unit of action in all matters pertaining to the common weal. To one or the other of these tribunals all questions of morals must be ultimately referred : to the indi- vidual conscience — the personal unit, for all purely personal matters ; to the national conscience — the social unit, for all questions of far-reaching public concern. It is just as true of the public commerce in 332 A Century of Drink Reform. strong drink as it was, or is, of any of these other l^nestions — as it was of Negro slavery: this nation, .|on grounds either of expediency or of right, can ^not remain permanently half under prohibition, I and half under license (permission). It Avill be either all the one or all the other. Either, event- ually, every prohibitory statute must be repealed, or else every legalized drink shop must go. There is no other alternative. Second — Method. ( The other great hindrance to the complete suc- cess of prohibition hitherto lies in the fact that tlie men who enacted prohibition forgot that no law will enforce itself; that whether or not a law I shall prove effective will depend almost entirely I upon the machinery and men that are back of it for its enforcement. Fairly to test any law, the same people who enacted it must, in the first place, put a man behind it who is sworn and determined to enforce it; and in the second place, they must stand back of him through the storm and stress of opposition — if there be any — and uphold him in such enforcement, maintaining him in office until the policy is permanently established, or has Alleged Failukes of Pkohibition. 333 at least been thoroughly tested. Then one man can put a thousand to flight. We will inquire how far these conditions have been present in the history of prohibitory legisla- tion. We will take for this purpose the prohibi- tion policy at its best so far, namely, where it has been made a part of the constitution of a State. It came about in this way: The temperance forces of the State, after a thorough agitation and a vigorous campaigTi, have elected a legislature that is pledged to submit the question of a pro- hibitory constitutional amendment to the people. An amendment is drafted, and the time is fij^ed for the popular vote. For this purpose a special elec- I tion may be ordered, as in Iowa (June 27, 1882) ; I or the vote may be taken at the general State or i Presidential election, as in Kansas (Kovember 2, ■ 1880), Maine (September 8, 1884), Rhode Island ■ (April 7, 1886), Korth Dakota and South Dakota (October 1, 1889). Kow where the election was held by itself, as in Iowa, the matter was com- paratively simple. Ko national or other State issue was present to obscure the horizon. There were no party interests to serve, and all party feel- 334 A Centuey of Deink; Eefoem. I ing was studiously repressed. Xou-partisan was / the magical word by which prejudice was disarmed / and all the temperance sentiment brought together. I The canvass was made solely on the merits of the * issue. The temperance people for the most part voted for the amendment ; all others, solidly against it. The amendment carries. Prohibition, thus enacted by the people withont reference to / party, now passes out of their hands into party / hands — the party in power — for suitable legisla- tion and its enforcement. Or, to take the instance where the prohibitory amendment is voted on at the regular general elec- tion. Here again, the parties in the field do not take issue, probably, on this question, for the chief claim for this constitutional method is that it is strictly non-partisan. It does not make the ques- tion a football of party politics. The two things therefore are kept quite separate. The chief con- cern of the voter is not so much which party will win, as wiU the amendment carry. The temper- ance forces, irrespective of party, are working hard that it shall carry ; the liquor forces from all j parties work equally hard on the other side. The Alleged Failukes of Pkohibition. 335 I ballots show a majority for the amendment. Pro- I hibition has carried the day! It now passes into 5 the hands of the party in power for its execution. But prohibition has not yet as a matter of fact wholly carried the day. It remains yet to be car- I ried out This rests now with the party in power. I Did the temperance voters who stood together on I the amendment think of this and stand together f also to elect a party that was to make the law ef- fective ? ISTo, they did not. They voted ‘‘Yes” on • the amendment, unitedly, because they believed in the suppression of the liquor business ; then they broke ranks and voted for the several parties and / party candidates according to their convictions / upon the tariff, or civil service, or bimetallism, I and like questions of national policy. The liquor element did the same, after voting “Yo” on the amendment. The prohibition policy, established by the people without reference to party, thus passes into party hands for its life or death — that is, for its enforcement. Wlio is this party in I power — what bond has it for the proper fulfillment I of its duty ? ■ First of all is to be noted the fact that the 336 A Centuky of Deink Refoem. party in power owed its success at the polls to the combined votes of both those who have ardently championed, and those who have as bitterly op- posed, the very law which it will be the party’s chief task to carry into execution. The party is one or the other of the two parties that have held the reins of office in onr land for many years. The one goes back to Thomas Jefferson as its founder; and though it has passed through changes of time and a change of name, it maintains that the suc- cession is unbroken. The other party came into being, like a new continent, with the seismic dis- 'turbances of later abolition days, when the pent-up feelings of the people found vent and submerged slavery in a sea of human blood. With the issues settled that brought these parties into being, they have since then taken up various new issues from \time to time. But they have never taken up the \iquor question, neither of them. Locally they have sometimes given some expression upon it, for or against ; but never nationally, except expressly to repudiate it. They have other issues. The I question what to do with the public traffic in alco- Iholic liquors, does not form the dividing line bo- Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 337 I ) I tween them. One’s convictions on this question, either way, do not form the basis and bond of party union, nor are they called for as a test of party fealty. These parties are compactly and com- pletely organized, and from national to township elections full separate party candidates are named, and party lines are closely drawn. The national party organization, in each case, sets the pace, and from President to pathmaster the party candidate marches in lock-step. The party shibboleth may pe this, or now that ; but it has nothing to do with me public traffic in strong drink. Thus when Maine, in the heated political can- vass of 1884, voted on the question of putting prohibition into her constitution at her September State election, Mr. Blaine, though personally con- vinced of the benefits of prohibition, and on record to that effect, refused to vote either way on the amendment, though he had been urged to lend his infiuence in its favor. In explanation of his posi- tion, Mr. Blaine said in an address that same night at Augusta: “The issue of a temperance amend- ment to the constitution has been very properly and very rigidly separated from the political con- 22 338 A Centuky of Deine; Kefoem. test of tlie State to-daj, Many Democrats voted for it, and some Republicans voted against it. The Republican party, by the desire of many leading temperance men, took no action as a party on the amendment. For myself, I decided not to vote at all on the question. I took this position because I am chosen by the Republican party as the rep- resentative of national issues, and, by no act of / mine shall any question be obtruded into the na- tional campaign which belongs properly to the do- ■ main of State politics.” That is to say, the liquor question has no place in a national campaign; it belongs to State politics, and in the State it is very rigidly and very properly separated from party issues and party lines. It is into the hands of a party thus constituted and elected on other issues, which has never taken a well defined position on the drink question, and has within its ranks both a temperance and a liquor element, that the prohibition policy is thrust for its life. A swaddled infant has been laid in the party’s lap, to call forth the mingled feigned love, fear, and aversion of an irregular parentage. Will the party look faithfully after the law ? It will Alleged Faildkes of Prohibitiost. 339 not do it effectually if it can; it can not do it effectually if it will. Tlie party will do one of three things, any of which will turn out rather adversely for the cause of temperance. 1. The party will try to conciliate both its temperance and its liquor constituents, endeavor- ing to retain the favor and support of both by not too seriously offending either. This is obviously the first recourse. Any party will be slow to hazard its life unnecessarily on an extraneous is- sue like temperance. If it is true of an individual that self-preservation is nature’s first law, it is ' more true of an established political party. An in- dividual, under great stress of soul, may sometimes forget considerations of safety and even court death ; but a political party never. It is true that in the beginning a party is sometimes launched forth upon some wave of moral impulse, but after it becomes of age and begins to feel the exhilara- tion of success, of applause and emolument, its aim becomes less ethical, and its spirit less heroic. It comes to be moved more and more by the one con- I sideration — success, that is, victory at the polls. In the meantime it develops, by specialization, a 340 A Centuky of Deenjc Kefoem. set of men — the practical or professional politi- cians, office-holders, and office-seekers — whose spe- cial work it is to emphasize this necessity of suc- cess, and to steer the party craft intact through the breakers of discontent and popular caprice, which ever and again threaten it with disruption and de- I feat. Expediency rather than right becomes the rule of party action. Eidelity of its oath of office counts for something, of course, but the interests of party are supreme. In its relation to the prohibitory law, there- fore, the party will adopt a conservative attitude just as far as this is possible. The situation is serious, for the party owes its success to the com- bined votes of those who have ardently favored, and those who have determinedly opposed, the very policy of prohibition which the party’s offi- cials have now taken a solemn oath to enforce. I The law will not he enforced — ^very rigidly. In localities where temperance sentiment is strong, V +he enforcement, mider local pressure and by local fficials, will be more stringent. In other locali- ties, where sentiment is less pronounced and pres- sure from the liquor element is felt, the law will Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 341 be more or less openly violated. The party will adopt no general, uniform policy of enforcement the State over, as it not only has a right to do, but is in duty bound to do if local officials fail of their duty, or need re-enforcement. In taking this atti- tude the party will please most and offend the few- est among its own number. It will impress upon the temperance people, those within the party at least, that it is making every reasonable effort to enforce the law as far as sentiment will permit. And party loyalty is strong enough on this side to make such course reasonably safe, nothing less than undisguised party perfidy or open insult being likely to cause these to break away. On the other hand, the liquor and anti-prohibition elements within the party will content themselves with the furthest concessions which may reasonably be ex- pected, the situation being bad at the best. This appears to have been the situation, for in- stance, in Kansas, which led to the Carrie Kation joint-smashing crusade, of recent, terrible memory. It has been the policy, more or less, at some time or other, in every State that has had, or has, prohi- bition. It is from this condition of things that 342 A Centuet of Deink Eefoem. much of what we hear of the failure of prohibi- tion originates. That there is a failure somewhere here — this appears manifest. f 2. The party in office, again, after the people I have declared for prohibition, may secretly yield I so far to the influence of the liquor interests by " refusing, in its legislative capacity, to enact meas- I ures sufficient to carry prohibition into effect, or ^ refusing in its executive capacity, to try reason- I ably to enforce such measures as it has enacted, / that the very people who supported the amend- / ment will now, in sad disgust at the law’s failure, vote for its repeal. j This was the case, for instance, in Ehode I Island under the short constitutional prohibition 3 regime, from 1886 to 1889. The people, aroused ■ at the dictation of the liquor power in State poli- tics, and at the disregard by the party in power for the open violation of the very moderate restric- tion law^s throughout the State, voted by more than the required three-fifths majority for consti- tutional prohibition. Under the double system, again, of voting at such time — voting now on the amendment, now for a national party organization Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 343 -a system under whicli the right hand knows not Avhat the left doeth, the prohibition policy was en- trusted for its enforcement to the self-same party at whose subservience to the liquor interests the \ people had just protested. The leopard did not — / perhaps could not — change his spots. The party remained subservient to the liquor interests still. The legislative measures enacted to make prohibi- tion effective were inadequate. Amendments to these measures were promised in return for tem- perance support, but never materialized. The State and local officials, who had sworn to admin- ister the laws of the commonwealth honestly and impartially, were largely indifferent to open viola- tions of the prohibitory law, — officials, to quote the attorney-general of the State, that could have made the law affective ‘Tad they shown any honest dis- position to respect their oaths of office.” The chief party journals, notably the Providence Journal, which fought prohibition from the beginning, at- tributed these violations to the inherent weakness of the prohibition policy, rather than where it be- longed, to inherent weakness in the party’s officials. Thus after three years of violation and open 344 A Centuky of Dbink Refoem. abuse, at the very time when temperance people were looking for more effective legislation, in ac- cordance with recent party pledges, and for a more determined effort at enforcement, the legislature, under the liquor lobby’s influence passed a vote to submit the amendment to the people for repeal. I And by practically cutting off public discussion in I fixing the date for the popular vote at twenty days ; I by specially changing and putting off the time at I which a ballot reform act was to go into effect I until after that date ; by misrepresentation and lay- f ing the blame all on the law; by money, and by the honest conviction of large numbers of good men that it “can’t be done,” the amendment was repealed. Which was true : it can’t be done — that way. 3. The party in power, on the other hand, r may seek no favor and tolerate no complicity with i’ the liquor interests, but with a respect unto its oath of office seek an honest and determined en- ^ forcement of the prohibitory law. It may not be "* able to do this completely, owing to the limitations, territorial and other, imposed upon the party from without and from within, yet reasonably and suffi- Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 345 ciently well to give all encouragement to tlie friends of temperance. The prohibition policy, from its achievement of good and its promise of yet greater good as thus administered, may have every prospect of permanence and of offering a last glad solution of the whole vexed drink ques- tion — and the next election will come around. At that election this will take place : the temperance votes of the State will, as usual, he divided among the several parties as an expression upon national party issues, while the liquor interests, instead of voting dividedly as before, will now, with their business-above-party policy, throw their united support against the party in power, and defeat it. From the time when the first prohibition law was enacted, that of Maine, in 1851, over which the Democratic party in that State went to pieces, up to the present time, wherever the party officials have taken their oaths of ofiice seriously, this has been the result. The most conspicuous instance of this is the experience in Iowa. When under the four years’ governorship of William Larrabee, a sincere champion of prohibition from the time ■ that he saw its fruits, the breweries of the State 346 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. had been turned into oatmeal mills and the distil- ^ leries into canning factories ; when legitimate I trade had everywhere expanded, and the only bnsi- I ness that had been ruined was the saloon business ; when the State had paid off its last cent of bonded indebtedness, and its bank deposits had increased I to exceed those of Illinois, both in number and in I amount ; when, next to Kansas, she ranked first I in the Union in the number of children, in propor- I tion to the population, attending school; when I criminal business and expenses had been reduced from thirty to seventy-five per cent, and the jails in many counties were for the first time entirely empty, and there were fewer tramps and paupers in the State than ever before ; when Governor Larrabee had but recently declared that the law was growing steadily in public favor, that prohi- bition was ‘‘beyond doubt the settled policy of Iowa,” and would he ratified, were it submitted to a vote of the people, by an overwhelming majority “of from sixty to eighty thousand,” — it was then that the party through whom these things had been wrought, a party which in the Presidential election the year before had received a plurality Alleged Failuees of Pkohibition. 347 of thirty-two thousand votes, was now, in the State election of 1889, defeated by a plurality of nearly seven thousand votes. The Republican party was defeated by a former member of that party, Hor- ace Boies, an opponent of prohibition, who had left his party when it first took up this question, I and now as the nominee of the Democratic party I lrew the liquor and anti-prohibition vote to his ide. After four years of inaction and repudia- ion, during his incumbency, when the law had leen put to an almost open shame, public senti- / ment had been sufficiently numbed to acquiesce in the enactment, by the legislature of 1894, of the Martin or “mulct” law, whereby saloons are per- mitted, or statedly “fined,” in cities and towns where a specified majority desire them. Thus did prohibition “fail” in Iowa. While this is all plain enough, still, because we have here a somewhat crucial instance, we will go into the matter a little more in detail. Strictly speaking, Iowa has never been under constitutional prohibition; yet practically the same conditions have prevailed, except that the virtual abrogation of prohibition by the enactment of the mulct law 348 A Century of Drink Reform. was accomplished by the legislature without the sanction of a popular vote. R'o sooner had the people, in 1882, declared for prohibition by a sub- stantial majority, when the Supreme Court, by majority decision, pronounced the vote unconsti- tutional on gTounds of a technicality, that hole of offense through which many a precious interest of society has been lost. Three words appeared in the text of the amendment as submitted to the people that were not found in the legislative jour- nal as kept by the clerk of the House. Though the substance of the law was not changed in the least, still the submission was declared irregular, and the vote null and void. These jots and tittles of the law mean more to the judicial than they do to the executive branch of our Government. The temperance people were determined, how- ever, not to lose the fruits of victory. A mass State convention of all the temperance elements was held, regardless of party, and the declaration was sent forth that the party in power would be held responsible for any failure to carry out the expressed desire of the large majority of the peo- ple on this question. In response to this senti- Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 349 ment the next legislature (Republican) passed a statutory prohibition law, which went into effect July 4, 1884. This came near undoing the party. There was an abundance of temperance sentiment behind prohibition in the State, but it was not all behind this particular party that was now charged to enforce it. The Republican party had a large majority, doubtless, that supported prohibition; but it also had an integral element that opposed it, and a house divided against itself can not stand — very long. Had the Republican party been the only party in the field, the better elements within it would doubtless have triumphed, and prohibition have been retained. But with another party anxious to get into the saddle, of almost equal strength, and ready to take any advantage of its opponent’s predicament, — a party to which its anti-prohibi- tion and malcontent elements may decamp, a straight out-and-out policy on this question could not but be hazardous. With the election of 1889 the calamity came, as we have seen. Had the tem- perance voters been united in the Republican party, or in any party, or under no party name. 350 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. this would not have happened. But they were busy arguing earnestly with one another over na- tional party questions, such as who was the greater I man, Jefferson or Lincoln, Andrew Jackson or I Grant. While they were deciding this, the liquor I interests decided what should be done with prohi- I bition. Brom this experience party leaders were to learn wisdom. When one is felled by an unex- pected blow, the first inquiry on recovering the senses is, whence came it? Being out of office, ( the next step with the politician is to get back in. This he does, never by enlightening the human mind and removing prejudice in appeal to the i . . I higher ideals of citizenship, but by taking a studied ^ advantage of these very weaknesses for personal or party ends. The course to be pursued now be- came plain. The party must rid itself of the in- cubus of prohibition. Whether the people through- out the State, if they could have expressed them- selves by non-partisan ballot on this question, would have still cast a majority for prohibition — ‘‘of from sixty to eighty thousand,” as Governor Larrabee had declared, — this was little to the Alleged Failgkes of Pkohibition. 351 point. The fact was, the Republican party had championed this issue, with all the hazard which that involved, and the people had not sustained it. Besides the party interests in the State, national party interests also demanded the abandoning of prohibition. The party in Iowa was anxious to push forward its most illustrious son for the honors of the Presidency, and with a party in his own State behind him, stoutly committed to prohibi- tion, his handicap in the nation at large would likely prove too considerable. Pursuant to new plans, therefore, a bill pro- viding for local option was introduced in the leg- islature, in 1892, a measure which, though it had the support of the party press, was defeated. A more definite step was taken the following year to abandon prohibition. The party at its State con- vention that year declared as follows : ‘‘Resolved, That prohibition is no test of Republicanism. That the General Assembly has given to the State a pro- hibitory law as strong as has ever been enacted by any government. That, like all criminal statutes, its retention, modification, or repeal, must be de- termined by the General Assembly, elected by and 352 A Century of Drink EEFORii. jin sympathy with the people, and to them is rele- f gated the subject, to take such action as they deem just and best in the matter ; to maintain the pres- ent law in those portions of the State where it is now or can be made efficient, and give to other lo- calities such methods of controlling ‘and regulat- ing the liquor traffic as will serve the cause of tem- perance and morality.” On this platform the Republican party again came into possession of its birthright — the State administration. In accordance with this position of the party platform, the mulct law was passed the following year, in 1894, and signed by the Republican governor. Under this policy the ele- ments that temporarily left the party have come back, and the party has recently carried its sixth consecutive election. It is significant of the change of political fortunes and favors, that the present incumbent of the executive office, Mr. A. B. Cummins, elected in 1901, and re-elected in 1903, should he the very one who in 1889 led the anti-prohibition faction out of the Republican party, and helped to defeat it. notwithstanding these known, or ascertainable Alleged Failures of Prohibition. 353 facts, there are those who have persistently at- tributed the defeat of prohibition in Iowa to the prohibition or “third” party. This minority party has indeed served as a convenient scapegoat for the sins of many. During those years when pro- hibition was really at stake in Iowa, the “third” party exerted no appreciable influence, casting only a scattering vote. Its largest vote was cast before the question had ever been generally thought of as an issue in State politics, namely in 1877, when the Prohibition party polled 10,545 votes. It was this considerable vote, indeed, together with the pressnre from the temperance elements within the Republican party, that first made prohibition an issue. When the Republican party in 1879 de- clared its willingness to submit the temperance question to the people, the “third” party vote fell to 3,258. In 1885, when the Republican party had actually taken up the issue, the “third” party vote fell to 1,405. In 1887, when the Repnblican party showed its good faith by renominating Gov- ernor Larrabee, only 309 ballots went to a separate “third” party ticket, from the entire State. In 1889, when the Republican defeat came, the 23 354 A Centuey of Dkink Refoem. “third” party vote aggregated 1,358, Inasmucli as the Republican party was beaten by a plurality of 6,523 in this election, it could not have won even if it had received the entire “third” party vote, assuming that this entire vote belonged to it of right. Again, in 1891, when the Republican party was still committed to prohibition, in spite of defection, only 915 voted an independent, or “third” party ticket. In 1893, however, when the Republican party definitely abandoned prohibi- tion, and the struggle was practically over, 10,349 votes were again cast for the Prohibition, or “third party. If now the 1,358 “third” party votes in 1889, and the 915 votes in 1891, defeated the Republican party in each case, why did not the 10,349 “third” party votes in 1893 also de- feat it ? Thus have the temperance people in many States asked for bread, and they have received — strong drink. They asked, but they asked amiss, and therefore received not. They had the correct principle, but their methods were bungling. The heart was right, but the head Avas not clear. In all these reversals of the policy of prohibi- Alleged Failukes of Pkohibition. 355 / tion, whether constitutional or statutory simply, / it should be borne in mind that with the exception I of Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont, I prohibition has never yet been repealed by the peo- ' pie themselves. The manner of repeal in Rhode Island has already been noted. In South Dakota, through the liberal use of money in the legislature by the brewing and liquor interests outside the State, the amendment was first resubmitted to the people, and by the colonization of large numbers of voters from across the State line, — a thing made possible under the loose registration laws of the State — a small majority was secured for repeal, in 1897. In Vermont, after fifty-one years of un- broken prohibition, with the surrounding States all making and selling liquor, and seeking to break down the law, in a popular referendum, in Feb- ruary, 1903, the people voted for local option by a majority of about 1,200 in a total vote of 60,000. Official collusion and party incapacity have I crippled prohibition laws ; legislatures, yielding to / corruption or to party expediency, have repealed them; governors have vetoed, courts have scruti- I nized and declared void, and our great Govern- c 356 A Centuey of Dkink Kefoem. ment, through it all, has spoken peace to the sa- loon ; but the honest sentiment of the people them- selves, as shown in the continued support they have given to prohibition with all its handicap, and as seen in the constantly growing area under local option — uneven though that contest is, — these, with many other incontestible proofs, show that conviction has never been so deep or widespread as it is to-day, that the dramshop and the entire commerce in strong drink must be suppressed. CHAPTER XI. The Lessons of Expekience: A Temperance Constituency. But will the people ever succeed in establish- ing prohibition, and do away with drinking en- tirely, do you think Omniscience alone could answer that. Predic- tion is hazardous, and may become fatuous. Xo man can say yes or no to this, of knowledge ; for we deal here not with an objective, demonstrable truth, but with that somewhat uncertain factor, human impulses and the human will. That man is better off, every way, without the use of strong drink, and that he ought therefore of reason not to drink, this is readily demonstrable. That society — man in the aggregate — would be better off, every way, without the trade of liquor-selling, this too can scarcely be seriously questioned. But to induce the tippling man actually to leave his cup ; to prevail upon the aggregation of men, with their 357 358 A Cejstttjey of Deink Rf-foem. I diverse prejudices and self-interests, actually to I address themselves to putting this offense out of J their way, — this is a somewhat different matter. Whether a man will say yes or no to this, will de- Iiend largely upon his philosophy and view-point of life. To say that these things will he accom- plished, resolves itself into a matter of faith in God and in human nature ; a faith, namely, that in the free field of self-government, whether per- sonal or political, individual or social, the better elements in man will in the long run predominate ; that he Avill both discern and do that which is right and good. To ridicule these things, therefore, as there are always those who do, clinching it with a lofty, laconic “l^ever!” as though they possessed some superior knowledge of the world and of men, indicates nothing superior whatever. It does not speak to the credit of anybody. The fact that in every State and commrmity of the nation the moral forces have repeatedly and with increasing energy thrown themselves into this great conflict, and have failed of complete success only, not so much from a lack of zeal and deter- mination as from a lack of clear knowledge, — the The Lessons oe Experience. 359 f fact that the temperance reformation over the coun- ; try at large lacks yet of being accomplished chiefly j because men have hitherto not been able to see I clearly how it could be done, or because they are I yet laboring under the delusion of gain,^ — -these j things point strongly to but one ultimate outcome. 3 ’ And when the temperance people see clearly that it can be done, and how; when the commercial citizen, Esau’s child, awakens to a knowledge of the fact that not only will a town and a State be able to meet its expenses without the saloon, but that when the vast wealth which is now worse than j wasted on liquor shall be turned aside to the build- ing of roads, and into the legitimate lines of trade, towns and communities will for the first time be- gin to enjoy real prosperity ; when the drinker be- gins to realize that a man will not die even if de- prived of his grog; and the drink-seller, increas- ingly aware that the Church, the school, and every wife and mother are against his business, and or- ganizations of labor, of industry and insurance, fraternal orders — everybody, even his own con- science, — when the drink-seller begins to see that there are abundant other occupations at which he 360 A Centuky of Drink Reform. may earn a living — an unquestioned, respectable living, and take kis place again in society, with his family, — then, then the end of the long conflict ■will have been brought near. The much-mentioned ‘‘failures” of prohibition throw a fl^ood of light upon the intricacies of this question. They are of more value than many theories. They are an indictment which falls where those who bring it forth have least foreseen. The liquor man who cries “failure” is hurling a boomerang that comes back to his o'wn law-defying, intimidating, corrupting self, who is at bottom the whole cause of such failure ; who is law-abiding only when the law is to his liking ; who aflB.rms the principle of majority rule so long as it permits him to inflict himself upon the community, but de- nies it when it says that such infliction shall cease. As long as the temperance people are in the mi- nority they must suffer him; when they have be- come a majority they must still suffer him. The temperance man, on the other hand, who speaks of failure, condemns the very method which he has advocated as ideal and sufficient to achieve the suppression of the drink trade. Moreover, he The Lessons of Expekience. 361 confesses to his own inconsistency. He went forth under the banner of non-partisanship to conquer, and abandoned that standard in the very crisis of the fight. He followed the non-partisan method only long enough to say that he wanted prohibi- tion ; all the rest was left in party hands. He was so zealous that the temperance question should not be made the football of party politics, yet it was his own hands that unwittingly rolled it into the party arena. Whatever neglect and abuse pro- hibition has suffered it has received there. I The situation then is this : party machinery defeating popular sentiment and popular will, either by not doing the work of enforcement well enough, or by doing it well enough and going to pieces. The drink question may have been safe enough in party hands fifty years ago, hut it is not so now. An entirely different condition con- fronts us. The liquor business, under the disci- pline of heavy taxation, has become solidly organ- ized, strong, keen, resourceful, and jealous for its preservation. Its sphere of operation is politics, and behind the party form of government it finds an impregnable bulwark. It has for many years 362 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. been tbe most active and dominant single factor in our political life. It is a force wbich every office- seeker bas felt, and every aspirant to office must reckon Avitk. To antagonize it openly means a heavy handicap for any man in the political race. This is true not only of the individual, but of the party as well, as every wise party leader knows. I Ethics is thus apt to be sacrificed to expediency, I personal honor to the itch for office. Experience in public life seems to corroborate the somewhat cynical reflection of the late Senator John J. In- galls, when he said of the relation of ethics to poli- tics, that the party that takes for its rule the Deca- I logue and the Sermon on the klount may retain, I after election, the approval of conscience, but that / the other side will get about everjAhing else. But, with reference to this question, it will be contended, is not the oi’^erwhelming temperance sentiment of the country entitled to respect ? It certainly is. It is not considerations of respect, however, that determine the policy of a political party. It is fear and hope rather, motives of pru- dence, Avhich govern party action. It is this mo- tive, vffien thrown into the scales of political wis- The Lessons of Expekience. 363 dom, that inclines the beam toward the interests of liquor. Thus, while our parties have a large tem- i perance constituency which they would like not to 1 offend, they have also a large liquor constituency I which they dare not offend. For if the party should take a strong and unequivocal stand on the side of temperance, its liquor element would quickly and without compunction leave it and de- feat it. If on the other hand, the party maintains conciliatory and friendly relations with the liquor /interests, its temperance element will still remain / with it, the party leaders focusing the mind upon [ other things ; and so, with the support of both, in a contest where all mention of the troublesome question is carefully avoided, the party wins. Con- sequently when a liquor man and a temperance man vote for the same party candidate, the former assured that his business will not be molested, and the latter believing and hoping that it will be, it is the latter who is usually disappointed. But it does not seem possible that the children of this world should be so much and constantly wiser than the children of light, you say. This ob- servation has at least the corroborative testimony 364 A Cesttuky of Dkink Refoem. of age. It should be said, however, that such ad- vantage in the instance of the drink struggle has not been gained in wholly open and honorable com- bat. It has been won by a subterfuge movement. Sin first deceives, then slays. Thus, while our political parties maintain a conciliatory policy toward the liquor vote, in order not to lose its sup- port, they would hardly have the effrontery to come before the temperance people and make ap- peal for their vote also, on the basis of this atti- || tude. It is by persuading the temperance vote that I this is of but small consequence either way just at [ this juncture, that temperance should not be mixed up with politics; that the urgent question calling for decision is, shall our commercial integrity he I preserved, our national honor vindicated, and na- j tional calamity he averted, — it is by diverting the mind to such absorbing counter interests that the party pilots, having made peace with the liquor in- terests, are able also to win the enthusiastic sup- port of the temperance vote, and steer clear of the breakers of revolt. Thus while the liquor voter knows no other issue in a political canvass until his own is safe. The Lessons oe Experience. 365 the temperance voter knows no drink issue until all others are safe. Thus whichever party wins, the liquor man lands on top. Thus all efforts to induce our political parties to give recognition to the temperance question in their platforms have been futile and vain. Thus while in every State, every county, city, and village where men have labored to be rid of the saloon, the very difficulties and failures of en- forcement have been so many formal appeals to the nation’s capital for relief, this question is waiting to-day, with its cumulative evidence, before this final court of adjudication, and by perpetual post- ponement is denied a hearing. The fact that there are two fairly balanced par- ties in the nation, who by virtue of their persistent championship of other issues have divided the tem- perance sentiment of the country between them, has enabled the liquor interests to maintain an effectual balance of power, between them on the drink question, l^either party will recognize this question, rid itself entirely of its liquor contingent and be willing to suffer defeat, if need be for a 366 A Centtjby of Deiftk Kefoe3i. season, until it shall have gathered to its standard the moral forces of the nation, and carried this re- form to its consummation. I The question must be taken out of the sphere I of partisan politics. The method which wrought \such majorities for prohibition in Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Rhode Island, and the Dakotas, and piled up so large a vote in a dozen other States, suggests to us the correct method of procedure. It is the I non-partisan method, as it has been named, with I this difference, that it shall now be consistently employed to the end. The crippling and partial failure of prohibition in these States has not been due to the non-partisan method, but to the aban- donment of that method the moment prohibition had been declared for. To carry out a public ( policy requires not alone the enactment of a law, but the faithful execution also of that law, imtil « its benefits shall have become so manifest and gen- 5 erally accepted that serious opposition to it will cease. Especially is this true of prohibition, which encounters difficulties unknown to other laws. Kow in these States the non-partisan method did not even extend to the framing of the law, still less The Lessons of Experience. 367 to its enforcement. All these things were left to regular party machinery, with such means and disposition as were found at hand. The non-par- tisan method went so far as to say, simply, that the people wanted such a law. But it did enable the people to find their voice on this question, and to speak so clearly as to be heard above the din of political strife. Herein lies the promise of this method. Only something more is necessary than going to the polls and recording a wish. To a self- governing people is given the privilege and power to carry this wish into effect. The same people, therefore, who in a momen- tary forgetfulness of party feeling have said that they wanted a prohibition law, must keep in their own hands also the actual framing of such a law, and themselves enforce it. Under our form of government this is done through chosen represent- atives. To this end all those who have cast their votes together, regardless of party, for prohibition, must also cast their ballots together for certain men of their own number — ^legislators — ^who will adequately enact this policy into law; and again cast their ballots together for certain other men 368 A Centuey oe Dkink: Refokm. of their O’wn number — executive o£S.cials — ^vbo will effectually carry this law into execution. This is not yet enough. These voters must for a time at least remain together — ^they must form a con- stituency — ^to uphold their representatives in ofB.ce, so that these latter, after having faithfully done their work, shall not be subtly dislodged from office by the enemy, but shall be retained in power until the storm and stress is over, and the law shall have become a part of the established policy of the com- monwealth. Portland, Maine, has recently offered a sug- gestive experiment in law enforcement. Maine has a strong, faultless prohibition law, but the executive officials to whom it has been entrnsted have not always been above suspicion. Rot a few of them here, as elsewhere, have been obsen^ed after their term of office to build large houses and to live comfortably ever afterwards. The temper- ance people of Cumberland County, in the fall of 1900, having become exercised over the condition of affairs, forgot their party affiliations for a mo- ment and united on Rev. Samuel F. Pearson, a Methodist mission worker in Portland, for the "The Lessons oe Expekience. 369 office of sheriff. He had avowed that if elected i he would enforce prohibition and bring every law- I breaker to justice; and the people believed him. I The records show that he kept his promise. Here I in Maine’s largest city, a short distance only from I the Hew Hampshire line where the manufacture I of liquor is made lawful, and from Massachusetts where both the making and selling of strong drink are a source of large revenue to the State, — in this seaport city and railroad center with such trans- portation facilities by land and water, here this determined man, with several doughty deputies, wrought such works that his name went out to the ends of the nation. Every ingenious or desperate device, such as is kno'wn only to criminals, was re- peatedly foiled, and the last persistent, boasting, defying law-breaker gave up the fight in despair. I The saloon closed up business in Portland, and in I Cumberland County ; the city gained in peace and I order, and according to the report of the mayor, I realized a considerable saving in its poor account. I The Pearson regime in Portland showed two I things: (1) what temperance voters can do when they get together to secure the right kind of man 24 370 A Centuey of Deink Eefoem. for office; and (2) wliat such man can do to gal- vanize a “dead” law into life, and make it a terror to the evil-doer and an instrument of blessing to the commimity. One thing only remained to be demonstrated, prevented by the sudden death of Mr. Pearson shortly before his tenn expired: would the temperance voters of Cumberland County have stood by Mr. Pearson in the next election ? I7o prohibition statute can be enforced perma- nently without a prohibition constituency. Herein is revealed the weakness of having the representa- tive of a party (a part) carry out what the people (a whole) have decreed. Ho party we have yet had has been able to furnish safe backing for an official to do his duty Avith respect to prohibition. Many an executive official, from governor and State’s attorney to town constable, has honestly tried to enforce such laws. Wise political man- agers shook their heads and warned them to relax their zeal, that he was hurting party interests and himself. Perhaps he gave heed, with the result we all know. Perhaps he did not, with the result that the morning after the next election he was found The Lessons of Expekience. 371 outside tlie battlement's— dead. His own party deserts him, or if it does cling to him both go down to defeat. There is but small encourage- ment for an official to do his full, toilsome duty when he knows that it will more than likely only cost him his place, and that his work will only be undone. Over and over again has this taken place, and the apparent apathy or recession in temper- ance interest in many communities is due to this circumstance more than to any other. The people have become weary in well-doing. They do not know what to do. Form a temperance constituency! Had the temperance people of Iowa, for in- stance, who in 1882 voted for prohibition by thirty thousand majority, stood together to elect men who were to enact suitable legislation, and men to enforce such legislation ; supporting in national campaigns such party candidates as they might severally choose, but knowing in each succeeding State election no issue but the suppression of the dramshop, stone deaf to every party name, appeal, or device to separate them, — had the temperance voters with their safe majority remained together 372 A Centuey of Deink Kefoem. on this issue and repeatedly returned to office those who had been faithful in the law’s enforcement, until men had forgotten their thirst, and a genera- tion grown up who had never known it, then there would have been no waning and loss of majorities, no Governor Boies, no mulct law, no “failure” of prohibition. Let us now apply these principles on a national scale, as we must. The cry of the campaign must be, On to Washington! With the rebel dislodged here, the Appomattox of this conflict will speedily follow, and the slave he set free. But how shall we get to Washington ? In the States the ques- tion was squarely submitted to the voters, and they had a fair chance at it. The temperance people made such a loud stir that the legislature heard and gave heed, and said, Here ’s the question ; vote on it. But how shall we get this question before the people of the nation for a vote ? There has been no lack of stir, of agitation and appeal. The Churches in particular, representing a voting strength of several million, and a moral strength of millions more, declare peremptorily at every eccle- siastical convention that the sanction of the drink 373 The LESgoNS oe Expeeience. traffic is a national infamy, and must not be toler- ated. Our national parties have been importuned that they declare in favor of submitting the drink question to the people, — a very reasonable request, as Senator Blair used to insist. The members of Congress have been labored with, and resolutions have been introduced into Congress proposing a prohibitory amendment to the Constitution, and submitting it to the people for a vote. It has all been in vain. The people must clearly take the initiative. It is not so difficult. From every pulpit and eccle- siastical convention — where sober truth is uttered, if anywhere — word has gone out that the disposal of this question is of more vital concern to the in- terests of the Christian Church and of humanity than is any other question within sight to-day. And the citizen, as he looks about him and sees things as they occur in his own community, and everywhere, will honestly respond deep in his own heart, “It is true; it is true; it is surely true,” ISTow, a thing so spoken must not be lightly for- gotten. It must not be forgotten when the vani- ties and allurements of the world would weave 374 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. about us their magic spell. WTien some political Simon Magus, with pageant of trumpetry and il- lumination, would work some charm upon the mul- titude with the mighty names of Jefferson, or Lin- coln, men must not childlike be carried away and forget this. Jefferson and Lincoln — ^great men — are dead. This that has been declared from pul- pit and in solemn assembly and in the ears of the people everywhere, by voice of mouth and of con- science, before the political pageant came in sight, must not he forgotten now, on election morning. Declarations, denunciations, resolutions, as an af- terthought when the voting has been done, have missed the time for action. The voter’s booth is the citizen’s confessional, where the sins of so- ciety must be openly recalled and confessed. Xot prayers, nor tears, nor declarations, but votes are the immediate agency that determines a public policy. Public servants are hopelessly deaf to all sound except as it is spoken through the ear- trumpet, the voter’s urn. On election morning then, at the hallot-box, the temperance voters must take the initiative. They must resolve, “We have declared this; we The Lessons of Expekience. 375 believe it now; our action to-day shall not belie oiir word.” If the professional party retainer conies around and asks, “And all other issues must wait till this one is settled ?” they will reply, “This issue shall not wait until all others are set- tled.” If he insists that there are other questions that demand attention, they will insist that the agitation and labors of a hundred years have given the drink question a well-earned right of preced- ence. If temperance voters can agree on other questions, well and good ; but they must not disa- gree on this one question. In every assembly dis- trict and every congressional district they must get together. ISTo man must receive their vote on the basis of his party affiliations, but solely be- cause he stands squarely committed on the tem- perance question. Devotion to this principle must be the bond of union between them. Standing thus together in each congressional district, the temperance forces will insist that only such repre- sentatives are sent to Washington as are pledged to vote for the submission of a prohibitory amend- ment to the people. They will stand together in every State assembly and senatorial district, to 376 A Century of Drink Reform. send only men to the State legislature who will vote for a United States Senator that is likewise committed. When the senators and representa- tives in congress, so elected, have a two-thirds ma- jority, they will frame a prohibitory amendment to the Constitution and submit it to the legislatures of the several States. Here the temperance forces must have stood together, and from each district sent only such men to the legislature who will now be ready to vote favorably upon the amendment. When the amendment has been ratified by the legislatures in three-fourths of the States, it be- comes a part of the fundamental law of the land. It is a question whether Congress has not the power under the Constitution, without a specific amendment, to enact a general prohibitory law. It is true that hitherto the regulation, or disposal, of the drink traffic has been considered as belong- ing to the police function of the States. All powers not expressly delegated to Congress are re- served to the States and to the people ; and the power to suppress the liquor traffic has not been thus expressly delegated to Congress. However, it is a question whether this matter is not so far The Lessons of Expekience. 377 removed from having a merely local aspect, affect- ing as it does our national life and the whole peo- ple so vitally, and touching so closely the very func- tions of government itself, that, in the larger in- terpretation of the Constitution, it would not prop- erly come within the scope of Congressional action. If the United States Supreme Court, which inter- prets the Constitution both in its letter and spirit, has said that to sell intoxicating liquor is not an inherent right in a citizen either of a State or of the United States ; and if it is true, as the same court further declares, that the statistics of every State show a greater amount of crime and misery attributable to the use of the liquor obtained at these saloons than to any other one source; and that legislatures have no right to barter away the health and morals of a people, the people them- selves having no right to do it (L e., to vote it), — with this understanding of facts and this inter- pretation of the Constitution, it is a question in- deed whether every license or permissive law, which allows this trade to go on, should not itself be adjudged unconstitutional. It would seem that there could be little doubt that a government which 378 A Century of Drink Reform. was established “to insure domestic tranquillity, to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” has not already the implied constitutional power to suppress a public business so subversive of these ends. Over in Canada, in 1895, the Canadian Supreme Court declared that the power to sup- press the liquor trade in all its phases belongs ex- clusively to the Dominion, a decision that was af- firmed by the Imperial Privy Council, upon ap- peal, in 1896. The court held that all local option laws in the provinces were valid, however. If this is a question for national action in Canada, why not also in the United States ? The Federal Government does not now, as a matter of fact, respect the prerogative of the States to deal with this question ; for after a State has outlawed the liquor trade, the Government in the exercise of its interstate commerce control will still allow liquor to be shipped in, and will collect revenue from every illicit i^ender in the State, as the price of peace. If the State has sovereign au- thority over this particular form of industry, then Uncle Sam, whom we like to think of highly, be- The Lessons of Experience. 379 comes in this instance nothing less than a particeps criminis. The shrewd, wizened countenance, the half-closed eyes, the cigar — as our newspaper ar- tists conceive of him — these, in that case, become him well. And if the Government is not bound to respect the prohibition policy of a State, is it any more bound to respect the license policy of another State ? Has not a government which ex- ercises the prerogative to single out and tax a busi- ness heavily, and upon the non-payment of the tax, to suppress it, has it not also the power, under the same authority, to abate the business when it has manifestly become an intolerable nuisance? An amendment to the Constitution will, at any rate, remove any possibility of quibble, and will make prohibition not only judicially safe, but also rea- sonably safe against repeal. With the amendment secured by the means we have indicated, a great work yet remains. Suita- ble and adequate measures must be enacted by Congress to carry the provisions of the amend- ment into effect. This needs to be well done. For this purpose the temperance voters who stood to- gether on the amendment must still stand together 380 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. and see that the right men are kept in Congress for this work. The law now having been made, and well made we Avill say, the next matter to con- sider will be the executive force to carry it into effect. Here the temperance voters must stand to- gether in every voting precinct in the country and agree only upon such men, from President to con- stable, Avho are squarely committed to prohibition. Ho other issue or consideration must divide them. AVith the mighty Federal executive enginery now in the hands of the sworn friends of temperance, the prohibition policy will for the first time have what one might call a fair trial, as fair, for in- stance, as the financial policies of our Government have had. But the work is not yet done. Beware the ides of Hovember! In the tumult of the next election there will he some political knifing. The good citizen must not he unprepared. The tem- perance voters Avho have stood together so well may not yet separate and turn to other issues. They must noAv form a temperance constituency and stand back of the executive, and retain him, or one like him, in office. They must, as a temper- The Lessons oe Expekience, 381 ance constituency, stand back of the individual members of Congress and retain them, or those like them, in office, lest measures be passed weak- ening prohibition, or the entire question be again unexpectedly submitted to the people before the policy has been fairly tried. During these years the temperance forces must stand together solidly on this one issue. They must refuse to give recognition to any other question that might divide them. As the liquor interests have for many years been a political unit as touching their business, holding all other inter- ests as secondary, so the temperance interests must be a political unit as touching their business, hold- ing all other considerations as secondary. The contention that other questions are too important thus to wait upon this one, is little to the point, frequently as it is heard. It does not follow that all other questions would have to wait, that noth- ing would be done during these years but to sit by and watch the workings of the prohibition law. Congress does many things at a single sitting. It is not a question of doing only one thing when a hundred are to be done, but of doing a particular 382 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. thing — long postponed — first, then attending to other business equally well, perhaps better. A leg- islative body that can dispose of the drink ques- tion will be able to cope, with reasonable assur- ance, with other questions that properly come be- fore it. This is then the difference: when the temperance voter makes a party name the condi- tion of his ballot, the party may Avin and certain things be done, but it vdll not be the drink ques- tion that Avill he settled; when the temperance A^oter, on the other hand, makes the temperance principle the condition of his ballot, entirely dis- entangled from party influence, his candidate, too, Avill win; other things, too, Avill be done, and the drink question ivill be settled. On wholly prac- tical grounds, therefore, will the temperance forces be justified in standing solidly together and mak- ing the temperance principle instead of a party name the basis of union in political action. The country Avill hardly go to ruin. The good Lord takes care of us now ; He Avill not take less care of a people that seek first His righteousness. Such concerted, consistent action in every place, all over the nation by the friends of tern- The Lessors of Expebiehce. 383 perance everywhere, will require organization. This mass of voters must become a body, or it will go to pieces. Loyalty to one supreme principle must constitute its cohesive power. There, must be intercommunication, mutual information, mutual confidence. There must be faithful lead- ership and wise counsel. Eunds must be collected and properly applied. Literature must be pre- pared and distributed, and many forms of special- ized work must be done. Without organization on a temperance basis there can not be unity of action in securing temperance results. Then, after a period of thorough enforcement, secured and maintained by such methods, when the saloon, like a plague spot, shall have been wiped from every community ; when the vast sums now spent annually for liquor shall go into chan- nels of productive industry, — into flour and shoes and clothing, books and pictures and pianos, into good roads and good houses, into education, relig- ion and philanthropy, — and legitimate trade shall have everywhere expanded ; when every home shall be happier and every community a better place to live in; when a generation shall have 384: A Century of Drink Reform. grown up that has never known the hahit for liquor, nor the sight of a drunkard; when the storm of prejudice, of self-interest, and of appe- tite shall have subsided, — then the victory will be complete; then a reform more strongly contested, and more fraught with blessings for mankind than any other ever known, perhaps, will have been ac- complished. Thenceforth men will he as likely to propose a return to the saloon system, as they are likely to-day to propose a return to the days of chattel slavery. (III.) CHAPTER XIL The Prohibition Party Movement. To THIS political movement, built upon lines of a distinctive temperance constituency, and ad- dressing itself specifically to this one question, — an organized movement, which, while in all its his- tory it has never carried a State or Xational elec- tion, has resisted disintegration and survived de- feat — we shall devote our final chapter. But before entering upon a discussion of this movement, with a view to making it more intelli- gible, we must pause and understand clearly the philosophy and method of popular government, and the nature and function of a political party. A party, in the proper sense, is not a permanent, self-existing, self-perpetuating political body, co- extensive with the government, wfith a beginning only, but no end. It exists not for itself, but for the people, whose creature it is and whose interests it must serve. Its tenure of life is conditioned by 25 385 386 A Century of Drink EEFORii. the work it has been called into being to perform. Thus, the people and their interests are every- thing ; the party nothing. The people rule ; the party is the servant. The people are free — not bound by sect, creed, or party, bound only by the law of right. Statute laws they make or unmake, as the interests of the entire people may demand. Parties are formed or dissolved, according as the occasion for them may arise or cease. When in the exigency of time an important new issue is thrust forward, for instance, the citizens, after full and free discussion, unhampered, will arrange themselves about it according to their several con- victions, and through the electorate the majority conviction is carried into etfect of law. This con- certed action to carry out a specific governmental policy ; this standing together, if the policy awak- ens opposition, until it shall have been thoroughly established or tried — this is what properly consti- tutes a party and party action. The principle or issue comes logically first, therefore ; the party afterward. The issue should form the party, not the party the issue. As long as the issue remains at stake, its supporters must remain together as a The Pkohibition Party Movement. 387 party, disposing of such other matters of lesser im- portance as may in the meantime come within the province of governmental action. When the main issue is established, the work of the party is done, and it should be dissolved. That is to say, when the soul, which has lived and wrought, has gone, the body is dead, and must be allowed to return to its constituent elements, to enter new forms. This is nature’s method of renewal. In like manner the elements of a nation’s citizenship, when a given work has been done, should be again free and assimilable to vital new political principles, to en- ter new formations for new work. Thus will a nation’s life be kept both pure and progressive. Or as the issues on a field of battle will de- pend largely upon the mobility of the army, the commander forming and fe-forming, and dispos- ing his men as the situation and the changing movements of the enemy shall require, so in that succession of battles of a nation’s peace army, in which, with the weapons of a freeman’s ballot, in- justice, greed, and oppression are to be vanquished, the measure of success will depend largely upon the mobility of the citizen soldiery, in being able 388 A Cemtuky of Dklnk Refokm. to form and re-form with freedom and celerity, moving in attack now here, now there, as the enemy in various places and forms shall threaten. The general who leads this citizen host in ever new battle formation is known as the statesman. He is not a “politician he is not a “party man,” but a man of the people, serving them, and God. He does not push himself forward, seeking honors and office, but in the nation’s exigency he is drawn forth. And when his service to his country is done, like Cincinnatus of old, he returns to his plow. Herein lies the glory of free republican insti- tutions. The political initiative lies with the free people, and it is they as a whole, not a part or a party, that forms the political unit and the basis of civic loyalty. It was for such a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, that our forefathers fought and the ^Drave men in the days of Lincoln died. IVashington stood for it. History says of his election, that it was “by the whole people.” He bitterly lamented, with a vision that was prophetic, the slow hut sure forma- tion in his day of two distinct, integral, mutually The Pkohibitioh Paktt Movement. 389 hostile, permanent political bodies, the beginnings of the dual party system, that Scylla and Charyb- dis of popular government, between which many a precious interest of the people is lost. The national political formation known as the Prohibition party embodies the correct funda- mental conception of popular government. The principle came first. After decades of agitation and labor the issue was thrust forward, during the fifties, as the culmination of a great reformation. Prom the several States dealing with the question individually it was about to assume a national scope, when the menacing activity of the slave power suddenly threw into the foregroitnd another issue, which quickly drew to itself the suffrages of the people, formed a new political party, and wiped out the infamy of slavery forever. The Republican party had a proper birth. It was a great principle that brought it into being. The party wrought nobly and well — better than it knew. Beginning with opposing the further ex- tension of slavery simply, it ended with its entire destruction. With the war and the days of recon- struction over, its work was properly done. 390 A Centuey of DEiifK Eefoem. When the raging storm of Civil War was over, and the debris had been removed, and the dead bnried, the temperance question, which but yes- terday had been uppermost in men’s minds, and first on the program of reform, pressed forward again. It claimed precedence by right both of its own importance and of its maturity for action. Concerted action was in fact becoming urgent, for during the war the liquor interests had organized and entered politics, and had recently uttered ugly threats against the widespread temperance ac- tivity. It was no time to sit idly by and see the fruits of a great reform slip away. It was in such an exigency that the Prohibi- tion party movement took shape. A new work was at hand, a new principle seeking political em- bodiment. For has not every soiil or life princi- ple its ovm body, adapted to and representative of itself ? Because a group of persons think alike, and have acted together, upon one thing, it does not follow that they Avill also think alike and act together upon a different thing. Every signal re- form requires a re-forming of political constit- xiencies. Unless this is done, will not the work be The Pkohibitioh Pakty Movement, 391 greatly hampered and delayed, or made im- possible ? The political history of our land during the last thirty years, since the inception of this move- ment, shows, however, the anomalous fact that at no time during this period has the temperance contingent in our citizenship been sufficiently free to become assimilable to this one great central principle — this in face of the most widespread, continued, and solemn protestations of its primal urgency. The causes for this are not wholly obscure. When the great general said, “The war is over, let us have peace,” the bitter passions engendered in the conflict were by no means at once extin- guished. The vacant chair in homes all over the land was toe severe a reminder of the awful frat- ricidal strife. And the politician, too — God have mercy on his soul — -instead of seeking to cement the bonds of a broken national unity, had to make political capital out of the circumstance that there had been a rebellion. The sectionalism and party animosity thus accentuated and kept awakened did not prepare men’s minds for free united 392 A Century of Drink Reform. action on the question of temperance. It did serve, as a matter of fact, to fasten upon us that very spirit of party passion over which, like a stone of stumbling, the temperance cause has been griev- ously hurt. Later, when the wounds of battle were heal- ing over; when this ‘‘waving the bloody shirt” by the demogague was becoming less effectual and, failing to serve its purpose, ceased ; when men re- membered that there had been a temperance ques- tion, they said (not finding it on their party pro- gram), “But the people are not ready for this question.” To which it was replied, “Help us get them ready. How do you know they are not ready? Are you ready? and you? and you? Let us stand together then and see how strong we really are.” Then, a little later, as if recogniz- ing the necessity for a mass movement on this question, temperance men who wanted to retain their membership in an historical party and still in some way settle the drink question, said again, “It is a mistake to make this question a football of party politics; it can only be accomplished by non-partisan effort.” So the “Xational League for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic — Xon- The Peohibitiojst Party Movement. 393 Partisan and Non-Sectarian,” was called into be- ing — ‘Thrust forth by Providence,” to use the lan- guage of its chief founder. This, as we have seen, lived but a short time. To try to dislodge an enemy without making it a party matter, when the enemy is entrenched not so much behind the law simply, as behind the dual party system of making and administering the law — this was found to be inadequate and impracticable. But interest in the cause was waxing, and men could not be contented to leave it here. So still trying to settle this question without disarranging party lines — party ties since the war having become strong — it was said again, “The strength of the temperance sentiment is in the Republican party; that party shall take up the question.” Whereupon came the Anti-Saloon Republican movement, which we have also noted. This distinctively and avowedly partisan movement started out as sanguinely as did the preceding non-partisan movement. But the Republican party, as we have seen, hesitated, and then refused, to father the child, and after a last effort for its recognition, in the campaign of 1888, it died also. 394 A Centtjey of Deink Refoem. But tlie cause was not to rest even here. Men loved their party, it was true ; but they loved the cause of temperance also. The ' next, and most recent, movement was to embody some concessions on both sides. The temperance question was not to press itself peremptorily upon any party, for recognition as a party issue, on the one hand ; nor, on the other hand, were party ties to be so strong as to bind a man irrevocably to his party’s candi- date in every local election. That is, the move- ment was not to concern itself so much with na- tional platforms and policies, as it was to turn the scales in local contests, by throwing its influence to the candidate, among the two or more who stand a chance of being elected, who is most favorably disposed toward the temperance cause. This is the Rational Anti-Saloon League, a movement that began with the formation of the Ohio State Anti-Saloon League, at Oberlin, in 1893. On its political side the League fights the battles of tem- perance with the same weapons which the liquor power has so successfully used these many years; namely, the business-above-party, balance-of-power method. In this, however, the League lacks cer- The Pkohibitioh Party Movement. 395 tain advantages possessed by the liquor power, with this further difference: the League exercises discrimination only in local or legislative contests, generally, still supporting in a national canvass parties that are committed to the policy of license and perpetuation, whereas if any party in its na- tional platform should pronounce for the prohibi- tion of the liquor traffic, the liquor power would throw its undivided influence against that party and defeat it. ^Notwithstanding the fact that the Anti-Saloon League is not itself a political temperance organ- ism, therefore, party Prohibitionists have gener- ally given it their sympathy, and not a few their active co-operation, on account of its work in the fields of agitation, and education, and law enforce- ment. As for the portion of temperance senti- ment in the land that has not been brought under the direction of the League, nor into the ranks of the Prohibition party, it has during these years confined itself to resolutions and editorials and public denunciations of the drink business, supple- menting it generally by voting no-license in local elections, when the question is up, where party 396 A Centuey of Deink Refoem. prejudices are not awakened nor party ties dis- turbed. The political leaders, who in the interests of self-preservation and party success have never ceased to declare that this is not a political issue, have successfully diverted the public mind, on the day of national election, to questions of commerce and finance. In this way it has come about that the great temperance principle has never yet received a suffi- ciently complete political embodiment to give it final and lasting success. Beginning with the year 1872, when James Black received 5,607 votes, mostly from Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, the Prohibition party vote in successive national campaigns has been as follows: In 1876, for Green Clay Smith, 9,737 ; in 1880, for Xeal Dow, 10,366; in 1884, for St. John, 150,626; in 1888, for Clinton B. Pisk, 249,907 ; in 1892, for John Bidwell, 279,191. Tip to this time the gain, if somewhat slow, was steady. However, at the na- tional convention in 1896, in Pittsburg, a division occurred over the question whether the party should adopt a “broad gauge” or a “narrow gauge” platform; that is, whether the party should take The Peohibition Pakty Movement. 397 a position upon general questions of finance that were engaging the attention of the country at that time, or whether the party should confine itself to the one great issue to which it was horn. When the majority sentiment expressed itself for the latter course, a number of delegates left the con- vention hall and nominated a separate ticket, with Mr. Charles E. Bentley, of Nebraska, at its head. They called themselves the National party. Re- ceiving only a small vote the party ceased to exist as a party after the campaign. This circumstance, together with the widespread, intense interest created during the campaign on the question of sound money, deflecting public interest from an issue so largely moral as the drink question, caused the vote of the Prohibition party nominee, Mr. Joshua Levering, for that year to fall to 132,- 009. In the election of 1900, Mr. John G. Wool- ley, after an aggressive canvass, polled 209,936 votes. Silas C. Swallow, in 1904, received 258,- 205 votes. The fact that this movement has not been more largely supported ; that it has ever remained so far from carrying a national election, this is 398 A Centuky of Dein^k Reform. a matter for the most earnest consideration by both those within, and those outside of the party move- ment. For let it be borne in mind, on the one hand, that this movement rests upon sound polit- ical philosophy, namely, that every signal new issue must gather to itself afresh an organized political constituency, or “party,” to carry it into effect, — a position not true in the abstract simply, but one which the temperance history — the rever- sions and “failures of prohibition” — since the Civil War has demonstrated with a cogency that can not be honestly evaded. On the other hand, it must not escape candid reflection that in practical politics reason and philosophy do not always find free course — have not so found in the instance of this reform; that while it may be true that had the temperance sentiment of the country united in this movement and made the temperance question the dominant issue in American politics, this qiies- tion would probably have been irrevocably settled, the fact is that temperance sentiment has not be- come thus united, the temperance question has not been made the dominant issue in American poli- tics, and the contest is not settled. The Pkohibitioh Pakty Movement. 399 So let us ask ourselves with all candor this question : Whatever may be one’s convictions as to the right and logical necessity of the Prohibi- tion party movement, what prospect has that party to-day of actually getting into power? For in matters of statecraft the ultimate criterion of con- duct must take into account not alone, Is it right and logical ? but also. What am I likely by such a course to achieve ? And since this movement has up to the present time come so far short of its goal, what, if anything, is there in the present political situation that would justify the citizen in allying himself with this party, when other is- sues of more or less importance, by other parties, are before the people, upon which there is a pros- pect of winning? Of all the obstacles that have been met with in the temperance reformation, none probably has been more stubborn and perplex- ing than this. What shall we say, then? It is here that the logic of events, after rough handling, has brought us. It was here that Gough came, after he had wrought in the cause for forty years, the most famed of the world’s temperance apostles. The 400 A Century of Drink Eeform. young man, John B. Finch, consecrated his match- less talents to this movement. Haddock fell here, a martyr. Generals Heal Dow and Clinton Fisk, intrepid warriors in every peace battle of God, led the fight here. Miss Frances Willard, with rich gifts consecrated to humanity, from deaf ears turned here for hope. These all died in the faith. Shall it be said that what men, after weary search, believed to be the way of hope — a way first pointed out by the supreme body of the world’s largest and most active temperance order — is now only the place of confusion and despair ? One can only say this : do not lightly give up logic ; by that sign man shall conquer. Logic is not an abstract thing from the hazy realm of meta- physics ; it is the form of omnipotence ! Every- where in society we find traces of its work. It is sometimes slow getting under way; but once it gets its momentum men will fly for their life! The pent-up indignation everywhere against the liquor business and against the infamy of its offi- cial sanction, this is the sure ground of promise. Out of these elements the cause will gather to it- self momentum, some day — before very long. We The Peohibitioh Party Movement. 401 must allow something yet for conscience and in- telligence. It may, or may not, be that men have not voted in accordance with their prayers, but it is their prayers, nevertheless, that speak their souls’ genuine desire; and if they shall continue to receive not they will learn some day that it is because they have been asking amiss. Prejudice, self-interest, party love — these may be strong, but they are not stronger than love of truth and honor and right. They of the Church who send mission- aries to the ends of the earth that they may teach idolatrous and fetich-worshiping peoples of the one true God who is spirit and truth, will not bow forever to the fetich of a party name in their own midst. But there is this to be said further, and finally : the inference that a citizen’s support of a party or party movement is justified only in the event of a probability of immediate majorities at the polls, can hardly be established as a valid general principle, and in this instance is not pertinent. There are two distinct stages before us before the goal of the temperance reform is reached. To elect a ticket is the second step only, the last thing 26 402 A Ces-tuey of Deink; Refoem. to be done. The first step — the longer and harder of the two — is to win recognition for this question as an issue in general politics; to get it squarely before the people for an honest vote ; to deliver the question from the eternal torment of local politics and make it national. That sermons, prayers, resolutions, petitions, appeals will not accomplish this has been thoroughly demonstrated. Only votes cast for this specific issue in sufficient num- bers will accomplish it. This does not require majorities. A respectable, united minority will do it. To accomplish this is the immediate pro- gram of the Prohibition party movement. Thus in the coming election, while it will re- quire something like six or seven million or more votes to elect a national ticket, to win recognition for the drink issue would require probably not more than a half million votes. Such a vote cast for this specific issue would give it sufficient prom- inence — would thrust it so plainly in sight in the political arena — that it would become impossible longer to ignore it. That the Prohibition party, which has never been more completely organized than noWj nor pushed its work more aggressively. The Prohibition Party Movement. 403 will yet succeed in this, — this does not seem to lie beyond the measure of belief. What will happen when this point has been reached no man may foresee. This much only is reasonably certain, that when the American peo- ple once grapple this question in close embrace, the saloon will be done for; it will be settled for good. The Prohibition party may gather into it- self the temperance elements of the nation, be- come itself the dominant party and carry the issue to a successful close. This would from now on become comparatively easy and rapid ; for there is law of gravitation for political bodies as there is for bodies terrestrial; namely, that attraction in- creases with the mass and with the nearness with which the object sought is at hand. With the op- position vote distributed among several parties such success might become possible without an ac- tual majority vote. The Republican party came into power in 1860, when it had polled only two- fifths of the total popular vote. Or there may be a new alignment of political parties, one of the larger parties perhaps taking up the question, for the sake of its own life, or 404 A Centuey of Dkink Refoem. when it shall offer success at the polls. Or, again, an entirely new party may emerge when the con- test shall become general. The Prohibition party movement, then, must find its justification in the necessity of the imme- diate political situation; in the conviction that enough men can be brought together to accomplish this essential first work, — men whom the Lo her el and the Lo there! of the professional party jug- gler at each quadrennial political pageant shall cease to allure and turn aside, absolutely unmoved by the prediction that the nation will perish if the other party is allowed to win; men who be- lieve that the powers that be, ordained as they are of God, should facilitate and further the work of God — that they should rise in the electorate above personalities and the sounding of party plaudits, above rates and schedules, to men, to the real interests of a people, the sobriety, health, and virtue of its citizenship, the purity and peace of its homes, the sacred maintenance of a sound civic conscience, — it is the conviction, we repeat, that out of America’s enfranchised citizenship a half million and more such men will yet stand together The Pkohibitioh Party Movement. 405 upon a platform that calls for the national sup- pression of the trade in strong drink — -which reaches all these interests more widely than any measure that governments have thus far yet em- ployed or proposed, — that must constitute the hope and the justification for the organized prohibition movement, which shall clear a way out of this wil- derness and ambush warfare into the open, where the struggle will be fought to a finish. APPENDED NOTES TO SECOND EDITION. On Lincoln, pp. 91, 92. There are persons living to-day who took the temperance pledge at the hands of Abraham Lin- coln. The form of the pledge which he used was drawn up hy himself, and read as follows : ‘ 'Whereas, the use of intoxicating liquors as a bev- erage is productive of pauperism, degradation, and crime, and believing it is our duty to discourage that which produces more evil than good, we there- fore pledge ourselves to abstain from the use of intoxicating liquors as a beverage.” The historic facts and incidents connected with! this pledge have recently been fully investigated, and upon the first suggestion of Dr. Louis Albert Banks, because of its personal associations and interest, this pledge is now being used to start another nation-wide pledge-signing movement and personal total abstinence crusade. The plan is to work largely through the Churches and Sunday- schools of the land ; those who sign the pledge becoming thereby members of the Lincoln Legion. 407 408 Appended Notes. When the tide of prohibition swept over the land in the fifties, Lincoln became deeply inter- ested in this new phase of the temperance reform. The man is living to-day — Major J. B, Merwin, of St. Louis — with whom Lincoln made a campaign speaking tour through the State of Illinois, in advocacy of a prohibitory law. Mr. Merwin had come West by invitation, to speak in the old State House in Springfield, setting forth the nature and workings of the “Maine” law. Mr. Lincoln, who was present, was loudly called for at the close of the meeting, and in response he arose and made a characteristic short address, forceful and eloquent, on the mission of law. Mr. Merwin became Lin- coln’s guest, and the entire night was spent in a discussion of the “Maine” law, — of the meaning and design of all law. The next morning Lincoln proposed that they communicate with Richard Yates, of Jacksonville, who was at that time the head of the Sons of Temperance in that State. The latter invited them to come at once to Jackson- ville, and hold a meeting. It was then that Lin- coln and Merwin entered upon their canvass of the State. It was to Major Merwin, later, that Lin- coln on the day of his assassination said: “After reconstruction, the next great question will be the overthrow of the liquor-traffic.” Appended Notes. 409 On High License, pp. 256-258. There has been a marked disposition manifest recently to force up the license fee of the saloon- keeper, — this not so much as a confessed temper- ance measure, as it is a form of expression of the indignation of the public mind against this busi- ness. Two notable recent instances are the case of the City of Chicago, where the license was raised from $500 to $1,000 ; and the State of Ohio, where, by legislative enactment, the fee or “tax” was raised from $350 to $1,000 — ^both in the early spring of 1906. On the Dispensaet System, pp. 261 , 262 . An interesting legal contention has arisen under the operation of the Dispensary system. From the time that the Dispensary Act went into effect, the United States revenue collector for the district of South Carolina has required the State dispensary commissioner and each county dis- penser to pay the Federal liquor tax of $100 a year, as a wholesale liquor dealer ; and each local dispenser to pay $25, as a retail liquor dealer. Several years ago the State of South Carolina brought suit against the United States, in the Federal Court of Claims, for the recovery of the money thus paid. The contention put forth was 410 Appended Xotes. that the Dispensary system is not a commercial enterprise, but a police measure; and that the Fed- eral Government has no constitutional power to impose a tax upon the administrative agencies of a State. The decision of the Federal Court of Claims, rendered February 29, 1904, was adverse to the State’s contention. ‘‘The commercial char- acter of the State’s undertaking is stamped unmis- takably on the system,” it says. “The statute establishing it authorized a profit of 50 per cent, and contemplated large profits, directing the man- ner in which they should be utilized and distrib- uted. As a matter of fact, the system has been a great commercial success, and has yielded large profits. . . . The great question in this case is whether the United States can impose an excise tax upon a State when the State carries on a com- merical business for profit, a business which in the hands of any other person or body corporate will be subject to the termo and conditions of the Fed- eral revenue law.” The case was appealed to the United States Supreme Court, where a decision was rendered December 2, 1905, affirming the verdict of the lower court. This fixes the legal status of State grog shops in the United States, as at present con- ducted. Appended Notes. 411 On the Committee oe Fifty, p. 293. This body, which was organized in 1893, with Hon. Seth Low as president, and Professor Francis G. Peabody as secretary, is composed for the most part of men who have held themselves more or less aloof from the organized temperance movement, and yet recognize that the urgency of the situation requires that something he done. The scope of the work mapped out was to be strictly limited. It was not to preach or moralize, but to ascertain and collect all accessible facts bearing upon the liquor problem, ^‘in the hope of securing a body of facts which may serve as a basis for intelligent public and private action ... to secure for the evi- dence thus accumulated a measure of confidence on the part of the community which is not ac- corded to personal statements.” At one of the early meetings of this body, four subcommittees were appointed, to consider respectively the physi- ological, the legislative, the economic, and the eth- ical aspects of the drink question; these subcom- mittees being under the chairmanship, respect- ively, of Dr. J. S. Billings, President Charles W. Eliot, Professor Henry W. Famam, and Colonel Jacob L. Greene. The following volumes have been issued, prepared by these subcommittees, with the help in each case, generally, of a number of 412 ApPEIsTDED Xotes. investigators : The Physiological Aspects of the Liquor Problem, 2 volrunes; The Liquor Problem in its Legislative Aspects; The Economic Aspects of the Liquor Problem; Substitutes for the Saloon, by Raymond Calkins. The results of this series of investigations have been summarized, for popu- lar use, in a small volume, entitled The Liquor Problem. These investigations, conducted at private ex- pense, form a collection of facts of considerable value. Many of the facts are not new, but stated by so conservative a body, their value is rather en- hanced. There is a proper appreciation of the magnitude of the drink problem. “Xo one can doubt,” the physiological subcommittee, through its chairman, goes on to say, “that the abuse of alcohol constitutes a threat to our civilization, and that the history of mankind would have been very differently recorded had it been possible to elimi- nate all the crime, misery, and disease directly or indirectly traceable to alcoholic excess.” The report makes clear that the injury done by strong drink is not due to the adulterants used in cheap liqiior, as is often supposed, but to the ethyl alco- hol it contains. “The injurious impurities and by-products of alcoholic drinks may be excluded altogether as a cause of alcoholism,” it concludes. The part played by alcohol in the processes of Appended Notes. 413 nutrition is fairly stated. ^'Wtile alcohol in mod- erate quantities may act as a fuel food, in large quantities, and for some persons even in small quantities, it acts as a poison.” The lowered power of resistance to disease, and the diseases actually induced by excessive and continued drink- ing, are pointed out. As to the staying power im- puted to alcoholic liquors, “even their moderate use just before or during physical or mental work usually diminishes the total amount of work done.” And again, “Alcohol gives no persistent increase of muscular power. It is well understood by all who control large bodies of men engaged in physical labor that alcohol and effective work are incompatible.” While all this is said, and while we are told that alcoholic liquors are not needed by young and healthy persons, and are dangerous to them in so far as they tend to create a habit, and that “in gen- eral, the habitual use of alcoholic drinks is unde- sirable” — still, on the other hand, there is an in- sistent denial, almost belligerent, that “the drink- ing of one or two glasses of beer or wine by a grown-up person is very dangerous.” The com- mittee inclines to the view that there may be an average minimum “permissible quantity” of al- cohol that can be used daily by the adult without producing bad results, especially if used only at 414 Appended Notes. meal time, or with the last meal of the day. In this connection appears the animus of the com- mittee, or specifically of Professors H. P. Bow- ditch and C. P. Hodge, toward a certain “well- known powerful total abstinence society,” because this society has interested itself in getting the sub- ject introduced into our schools, and has seen to it that text-books are used that “accord with ex- treme total abstinence views.” The activity of the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, with its total abstinence principles, seems an oSense to these gentlemen, who enter not in themselves and would hinder those who are entering in. These strictures seem especially untimely just now, when Germany is introducing into her schools almost the identical course of instruction in scientific temperance that we have here, and the medical profession in Great Britain has, by an overwhelm- ing petition, requested the educational authorities in the United Kingdom to introduce similar courses there; when the Hinister of Public In- struction in Hungary has just addressed a ringing official circular to the inspectors of elementary and high schools, asking them to see to it that children are instructed and warned on this subject, and to exhort teachers “to neglect no opportunity for forming temperance societies;” when all Prance is being placarded with posters, signed by her lead- Appended Notes. 415 ing scientific men, warning the people against the ravages of alcohol. We repeat, the strictures by the Committee of Fifty on the subject of scientific temperance instruction come at an inopportune time. The legislative subcommittee points out that “the commonest issue over which contentions about local self-government have arisen has been the liquor issue;” discusses with considerable fullness the various methods of restriction or suppression that are at the present time employed in our land ; points out the resultant activity of the liquor in- terests in politics ; affirms that prohibition “has failed to subdue the drinking passion, which will forever prompt resistance to all restrictive legis- lation;” and that “whether it (prohibition) has or has not reduced the consumption of intoxicants and diminished drunkenness is a matter of opin- ion, and opinions differ widely;” concluding with the statement that “it can not be positively af- firmed that any one kind of legislation has been more successful than another in promoting real temperance.” It must be confessed that the liquor forces have a clearer view of things, and more definite convictions, than this; and it is probably fortu- nate that temperance people generally have like- wise reached more definite conclusions. 416 Appended Xotes. The report of the economic subcommittee gives valuable data as to the magnitude of the liquor interests, the relation of liquor to poverty and crime, and the economic forces working for and against the consumption of liquor. The investi- gations concerning substitutes for the saloon reveal the fact that the saloon ministers to the craving for companionship as well as to the craving for liquor. The function of the saloon as a social center is pointed out, albeit that function is not a disinter- ested one. The desideratum in the reform, there- fore, is to make liquor-selling “as prosaic as any retail grocery business, and a saloon as devoid of social attractions as a drygoods store.” The cardi- nal principle in such legislation, Mr. Calkins finds in the removal of the element of profit from the sale of liquor, and while he sees not a few things to condemn in the South Carolina law, where the motive of gain is still in a measure present, since the profits are applied on the tax rate, he finds the nearest approach to the ideal in the Xorwegian or Company system, “which may be said to contain, the essence of scientific modern liquor legislation.” While South Carolina is struggling at this very hour to throw’ off entirely the system of State con- trol, still it can not be denied that this method of dealing with the drink evil is finding favor in the minds of not a few at the present day. Yet it is Appended Notes. 417 but an eddy in tlie resistless, onward-moving tide of the reform. Compelled by the logic of fact and experience, men will evermore strive, not so much to make liquor-selling “prosaic,” as to make it, for beverage purposes, unlawful. They will strive, not so much to remove tables and chairs and pic- tures from in front of the public bar, as to remove the bottle from the shelf behind it. In fine, the work of the Committee of Fifty is a work of large usefulness in its limited sphere, but only in that sphere. We must not expect too much from it. Accepting its statements of basic facts and conditions, we shall be compelled to do our own thinking, to adduce from them ourselves sound principles of personal and political conduct. These reports will serve as a ballast and corrective to extreme views and forms of statement into which temperance advocates are likely to fall : and the temperance advocate, of all advocates, can afford to be moderate — ^his case is strong enough. But when we look for clear light in the way of definite measures of relief, these investigations offer us none. There is no clear analysis of the factors that enter into the problem, no compre- hensive philosophy of the reform, no clear induc- tion from fact to principle, no scheme of salvation, even tentative. We are not led to hope, even, that there is salvation — are expressly told, in fact, 27 418 Appended Notes. that the work will be ‘‘always being done ; always unfinished.” Difficulty and doubt are suggested on every hand. In the meantime the battle is being hotly con- tested at the front. The lines are fiung far out into the distance on either side. Veterans of many campaigns are to-day standing shoulder to shoul- der, unflinchingly facing the foe. They waver not for an instant, hut press forward. The gleam of victory is in their countenance. Already their standard has been planted far up the heights ; while marching swiftly by, to lend support, is the chivalry of American youth. He who aspires to the honor of standard-bearer must not be found here! INDEX Page Abstinence, early embodied in reform 52 Correct personal princi- ple 279 Alcohol, first effects of. . .298 American Temperance So- ciety formed 52 Report of progress 71 Merged in American Temperance Union ... 83 American Temperance Un- ion 83 Superseded by National Temperance Society and Publication-house. .225 American Tract Society. 48, 60 Anti-canteen law 243 Anti-saloon League, Na- tional 276, 394 Anti-saloon Republican Movement 271 Appleton, Gen. James, on license laws 122 Army, spirit ration abol- ished 72 Atwater, Prof. W. O.. ex- periments with alcohol. 292 Beecher, Rev. Lyman, pio- neer in reform 35 His report on temperance at General Association of Connecticut 42 His six sermons 49 Benezet, Anthony, forerun- ner of reform 33 Bible wines controversy... 86 Black, James ...224, 253, 396 Blair, Henry W. .268, 274, 294 Page Blue Ribbon Movement. .. .232 Brewers’ Association, The U. S 179, 162, 249, 250 Cadets of Temperance 93 Cass, General Lewis, pro- moter of temperance . 72, 73 Catholic Total Abstinence Union 227 Chapin, Rev. Calvin, early advocate 56 Cheever, Rev. Geo. B., “Deacon Gile.s’ Distil- lery” 69 Church (Episcopal) Tem- perance Society 229 College Presidents in early reform 63 Committee of Fifty 293 Congregational Churches take up Question 42 Congressional Temperance Society 73, 96 Constitutional prohibition. State 263 National, labored for.... 266 Convention, National Tem- perance, first 74 Second 76, 83 World’s first 97 Second 126 Crusade, The Woman’s. .. .234 “Deacon Amos Giles’ Dis- tillery” 69 Delavan, Edward C 85, 97 Democratic Party, attitude on temperance ...271, 336 Dispensary System 258 Dorchester, Rev. Daniel... 270 419 420 Index. Page Dow, Neal, brings in era of prohibition 107, 116, 126, 396 Drink. See Liquor. Edwards, Rev. Justin, mas- ter organizer of early reform ..48, 67, 73, 82, 83 Episcopal Church Temper- ance Society 229 Europe, temperance reform introduced from Amer- ica 65, 85 Fifty, Committee of 293 Finch, John B. ...95, 235, 400 Fisk, Gen. Clinton B. .272, 396 Fisk, Rev. Wilbur, early temperance leader in Methodism 62 Foster, Mrs. J. Ellen. 245, 270 Garrison, Wm. Lloyd, early temperance editor 57 Germany, effects of beer drinking in 290 Leaders in temperance. . 298 Good Templars, Independ- ent Order of 94 Gothenburg System 259 Gough, John B. ..100, 272, 399 Griffin, Albert, leader Anti- saloon Republican Movement 273 Haddock, Rev. Geo. C., murdered 184 Hastings, Samuel D 95 Hawkins, John H. W., leader of Washlngto- nianism 89 Hepburn-Dolliver Bill, in- terstate commerce in liquor 320 Hewit, Rev. Nathaniel. Luther of early reform 56, SI High License policy in- augurated 236 Hitchcock, Prof. Edward. . 61 Humphrey, Rev. Heman, powerful early advo- cate 38, 63. 68 Hunt, Rev. Thomas P., temperance lecturer. . . 98 Page Internal Revenue. Bureau of, created 139 International Anti-alcoholic Congress 291 Interstate commerce, as af- fecting prohibition 319 Iowa, case of prohibition in 345, 354 Jewett, Dr. Charles, tem- perance lecturer ..98. 226 Judicial Decisions. See Su- preme Court. Kittredge, Jonathan, ad- dress on temperance. 55 Law and Order Leagues, organized 254 Lewis, Dr. Dio. relation to woman’s crusade 235 Lincoln, Abraham, work in temperance 90 Liquor, amount annually expended for 211 Capital Invested in pro- duction of 157 Consumption of ....157, 159 Organization of — inter- ests 179. 182 Taxation of. by Federal Government 140, 165 Dnder expansion 170 Litchfield. agreement among farmers in county 34r Local option, early in oper- ation 119 Handicap of 317 Ethics of 323 Loyal Temperance Legion. .242 Marsh. Rev. John. “Put- nam and the Wolf. 61, 76 Secretary American Tem- perance Union ....84, 131 Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of In- tenr.perance 45 Mathew, Father Theobald, Irish apostle of tem- perance in America. . .101 Methodist Church first takes up question 40 Index. 421 Page Moreau. N. T., Temperance Society 37 Murphy, Francis, Blue Rib- bon Movement 232 Mussey, Prof. R. D., ad- dress on temperance. . . 60 National Anti-saloon League 276 National League for the Suppression of Liquor Traffic 269 National Philanthropist, first temperance news- paper 57 National Temperance con- vention, first 44 Second 76, 83 National Temperance So- ciety and Publication- house 225 Navy, grog banished from. 91 Nott, Ellphalet, powerful early advocate 63 Orders, Fraternal Temper- ance 92f, 226 “Original Package" Deci- sion 319 Pearson, Rev. Samuel F., Sheriff of Portland .... 36S Pepper, Dr. William, on al- cohol 294 Porter, Rev. Ebenezer. ser- mon on intemperance.. 37 Presbyterian Church ap- points committee on temperance 39 Prohibition, logical culmi- nation of reform. .107, 122 Correct public policy .... 299 Enacted: Maine. .. .Ill, 124 Minnesota. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Ver- mont 125 Michigan 126 Connecticut 127 New York 128 New Hampshire 129 Delaware, Nebraska. In- diana 130 Page Prohibition— (Constitutional) Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Rhode Is- land. North Dakota, South Dakota 265 Party, organized 253. 269, 271, 385ff Repeals of. Delaware, Nebraska, Indiana, Rhode Island. Massa- chusetts, Connecticut. Michigan 243 South Dakota 262 Vermont, New Hamp- shire 306, 355 Rechabltes, Independent Order of 92 Red Ribbon Movement .... 232 Reform Clubs. The 230 Republican party, attitude on temperance 271, 275, 336, 338 Reynolds, Dr. Henry A., Reform Clubs 231 Royal Templars of Temper- ance 226 Rush, Dr. Benjamin, origi- nator of temperance reformation 22 His “Inquiry" 25-31 At Presbyterian General Assembly 39 Sargent, Lucius, Temper- ance Tales 68 Science and alcohol 292 Scientific temperance in- struction in schools. .. 243 Sewall, Dr., charts of hu- man stomach 97 Slavery Reform, its relation to temperance reform. 132 Smith, Gerrit. .; 118, 253 Sons of Temperance 93 Stearns, J. N.. secretary National Temperance Society 225 St. John. John P 272, 396 Stuart, Prof. Moses, Prize Essay 61 Sunday-schools introduce temperance lessons. .. .243 422 Imdex, Page Supreme Court. U. S., de- cisions bearing on drink question 119. 183, 319 Temperance Societies, first crude efforts 36 Taxation. See Liquor. Teetotalism introduced into reform 76 In Europe 81 Temperance Taies, Sargent. 68 Templars of Honor and Temperance 94 Page Thompson, Mrs. Eliza J., leader of Woman’s Crusade 235 Washingtonian movement.. 87 Willard, Miss Frances 239, 246, 269, 400 Wilson, Henry W., opposes Federal tax on liquor. .141 Woman’s Christian Tem- perance Union. .. .238, 247 Woman’s Crusade, The.... 234 ‘ in-' ;, ' ■■ ' '•; ■' . fy- ' ] : " -■ >;;,x : ' ' ' "’ ' '' %' ■ ...V- ' ."'W '■A S' ' jA* ■ '. , -r . '■ ■r ■•'-■- ! ’h-'* ;. r,- ■ . ■,«*•'' ■' .•**- --r s' r '^. ft* 1 .> 4 V D006823500 ■ 178 F296 ■ v- ■ . % - — ^ 372fi -•