GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



November, 1918 



iiiii' the past winter, is along the same line. 

 Let us now get back to Goliath, and to 

 David with his sling and the pebble he 

 picked out of the brook. One morning 

 Ernest informed me that Howard Russell 

 had called a meeting in Oberlin, Ohio, 

 (May 24, 1893) to discuss his project in 

 starting what he called the " Anti- Saloon 

 League," and suggested that I go over on 

 my wheel and report. Of course during all 

 these years I had been red-hot on temper- 

 ance as usual. It was a small meeting so 

 far as numbers were concerned, but there 

 were present some of the best men, not 

 only in Oberlin but in Ohio. Mr. Russell 

 outlined his plan, which was to unite all 

 friends of temperance. It was to be non- 

 sectarian, non-denominational, and its pur- 

 pose Avas to wage war against the liquor 

 traffic. As an illustration along the possi- 

 bilities of law enforcement he had, during 

 the previous winter, been engaged as pastor 

 in one of the leading churches in Berea, 

 Ohio. There were, perhaps, half a dozen 

 saloons in Berea at the time. Like all oth- 

 er saloons they sold to everybody, boys in- 

 cluded, without any regard to law or gospel 

 either. AYell, during the winter Russell 

 got a number of boys to go to the saloons 

 and buy liquors. Each bottle was labeled 

 with the date, name of the purchaser, and 

 name of the saloon-keeper. When he had 

 a bushel basketful of such labeled bottles 

 the saloon-keepers were called up before 

 the mayor. When they saw that basket of 

 bottles they realized they were " caught, 

 red-handed" in the violation of law; and 

 even the saloon-keepers' attorneys owned 

 up they were whipped : If I remember 

 correctly they said to Mr. Russel, "'What 

 do you want us to do?" He told them he 

 wanted them to quit the business, and add- 

 ed that he would dron legal proceedings 

 if they would do so. Now, my impression 

 is they anit, and that Berea went dry. This 

 was to illustrate the possibilities along the 

 line of law enforcement, if you go about 

 it right. After the meeting an old gentle- 

 man by the name of E. W. Metcalf came 

 to me and said something as follows: 



" Mr. Root, nobody knows the outcome 

 of what has been started here today. It 

 promises deliverance from this great giant 

 that has been cursing our nation like an 

 octopus for centuries past. Now, this un- 

 dertaking, like evei'v other great revolution 

 for righteousness and godliness, needs mnn- 

 r]i. They should haA'e one thousand dol- 

 lars to start with. Nothing less will enable 

 it to get on its feet. I will give half if you 

 will give the other half." 



I explained to my good friend that I 



agreed with bim ; but as our business had 

 been turned over to my son and son-in-law 

 I could not make any agreement until I 

 consulted the boys. 



" All right," he said; " and I will go with 

 you and we will talk it over." 



He made a visit to Medina, and, some- 

 what to my surprise, the boys, knowing' 

 Howard Russell, agreed to it. Let me tell 

 you right here, friends, that 25 years ago 

 five hundred dollars was not hanging on 

 every bush as it is now; and it was quite a 

 task for us to scrape up that amount then. 

 During the past 25 years the Anti-Saloon 

 League has had its victories and its defeats 

 — for a time mostly defeats. I remember 

 that at one of the meetings when Mr. Rus- 

 sell had outlined the work we had to do he 

 said something like this: 



" Friends, the outlook now is quite hope- 

 ful — more so than at any time during the 

 years past. But if we are beaten again, we 

 must not become discouraged nor must we 

 stop a minute." 



Then he outlined what was to be done in 

 case of defeat. By the way, friends, I 

 spoke a little back about the wets claiming 

 that every man has his jirice. At that big 

 national convention at Oberlin on May 24. 

 1918, when some three or four hundi-ed 

 jieople were pi-esent, Wayne B. Wheeler, 

 wlio had been with the orgam'zat'on almost 

 as long as Mr. Russell, made the remark 

 that he had been recently offered the sum 

 of ten thousand dollars to let up in his 

 ])rosecution of lawbreakers. He told the 

 liquor men that ten million dollars, even 

 if they could scrape up that much, would 

 be no temptation; and they have found a 

 good many times just of late that the say- 

 ing that every man has his price is not true. 

 May God be praised, that it is not trne dur- 

 ing these war times! 



When I started wheel-riding, as I have 

 told you, somebody said, jokingly, that I 

 had " run away from my own funeral rid- 

 ing on a wheel." Well, friends, I have kept 

 away from that funeral until I am 78 years 

 of age; and I am pi'aying that the Lord 

 may let me live still a little longer. I want 

 to live to be on hand and present at another 

 funeral — that of John Baileycorn ; and 

 may it be his funeral not onlv in the Unit- 

 ed States but in the whole wide world. And 

 if this comes to pass as the result or the 

 outcome of this awful war, it will save 

 more lives in the future than have been 

 lost by the war, and contribute to human 

 hap]iiness more than anybody can compre- 

 hend. And wlien this funeral comes to 

 pass, then I shall be ready to say in the 

 language of our concluding text, " Lord, 



