468 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



In the presence of a large audience in Columbus, 

 Ohio, in November, 1913, Major Merwin said in 

 part: 



" Mr. Lincoln hesitated in regard to signing that 

 document, and said: 'I would rather lose my right 

 hand than to sign a document that shall perpetuate 

 the liquor traffic; but as soon as the exigencies pass, 

 I -P'ill turn my whole attention to the repeal of that 

 document,' and," said Major Merwin, " that was his 

 design; that is what he said to me the last time I 

 spoke to him, and he never would have signed it had 

 he not had the promise of the members of the Senate 

 and of the Judiciary Committees, and of the Military 

 Committee, that it should be repealed at once, after 

 the exigencies had passed." 



The exigencies that called the law into being pa.ss- 

 ed more than forty years ago, and during all these 

 years our government has been in guilty partnership 

 with this crime-breeding business 



In an important sense the government assumes 

 control and says : No man may sell liquor without 

 paying for the privilege, and no man may manufac- 

 ture liquor ■\\ithout paying a stipulated price per 

 gallon; and that there may be no cheating, the 

 government carries the keys to the bonded ware- 

 houses and keeps account of all stocks manufactur- 

 ed. It takes this liquor — blood money — not primarily 

 from the liquor-dealer, but — the greater part — from 

 the poor, who earn it by the sweat of their faces 

 and at the cost of shortened lives, diseased bodies, 

 impoverished and unhappy homes, and all the added 

 ills that overtake the victims of the drink habit. 



It is a shame and disgrace to the American re- 

 public. There is not the semblance of an excuse for 

 the continuation of this guilty partnership. When 

 this liquor revenue question was before the English 

 government some years ago, Hon. Wm. E. Gladstone, 

 "England's grand old man," said: "Gentlemen, you 

 need not give yourselves any trouble whatever about 

 revenue. The question of revenue must not stand 

 in the way of reform. Give me a sober population, 

 not wasting their earnings in strong drink, and I 

 will know where to obtain the revenue." 



Russia now furnishes the positive proof that Mr. 

 Gladstone was right — that revenue is increased by 

 eliminating the saloon. Here it is: 



London, Jan. 27, 1915. — A dispatch to Renter's 

 Telesram Company from Petrograd says that Mr. 

 Kharitonofi", controller of the Russian treasury, 

 speaking before the Duma Budget Committee to-day, 

 declared that, owing to the great increase in the 

 national savings due to prohibition, the extraordi- 

 nary outlay occasioned by the war as yet had caused 

 no great suffering in Russia. 



Please noti(5e that when it was proposed 

 to Abraham Lincoln to let the liquor-traffic, 

 for the time being, supply the needed reve- 

 nue for the war, he said, " I would rather 

 lose ray right hand than to sign a document 

 that will perpetuate the liquor-traffic." And 

 this is clearly explained and well under- 

 stood ; but I suppose his assassination pre- 

 vented his carrying it out as he certainly 

 would have done had he been permitted to 

 live. Now, here is where the guilt of our 

 nation comes in. Here is where Achun 

 shows himself. From the time of Lincoln 

 down to the present, no one has had the 

 courage to break away from this national 

 crime-breeding partnership. We men who 

 oast our \otcs are to blame — every one of 

 us. If we did not all know this we miijht 

 all have known of it if we had informed 



ourselves. Year after year the unholy alli- 

 ance has continued. No wonder the author 

 of this pamphlet says it has been a stand- 

 ing " shame and disgrace to the American 

 people." Had Lincoln lived, no doubt he 

 would have had the courage to issue an 

 " emancipation proclamation " against the 

 rum power, exactly as he did against human 

 slavery, and thus might have saved the 

 shame and disgrace that have been hanging- 

 over us for the past fifty years. Why did 

 not the kind Father give us another Abra- 

 ham Lincoln who was not afraid to face the 

 giant? and shall we not unite in praying- 

 God that another Lincoln may come, and 

 come speedily, to our rescue as a people and 

 as a nation"? 



When tlie present war broke out there 

 was trouble again. I believe I am not, as a 

 rule, laelring in faith ; but Satan kept 

 crowding it on to me, and asking, " Is there 

 really a God in Israel? If so, why does he 

 permit this terrible wholesale slaughter of 

 innocent people, including women and chil- 

 dren, to go on?" and the war had gone on 

 quite a spell before anybody even suggested 

 that the Achan at the bottom was the liquor- 

 traffic, and that Achan with his wedge of 

 gold, was the cause of the war, and that God 

 would permit the war to go on as he did in 

 old times until Achan would be pointed out 

 and held up to the light of day — yes, held 

 up to the scorn and indignation of every 

 God-fearing man, woman, and child. Like 

 Goliah, this giant had been parading befoi'e 

 the dignitaries of the whole wide world. He 

 kept saying, in the language of Boss Tweed, 

 of former years, " What are you going to 

 do about it ? " and we were all afraid. No 

 David appeared with his sling and pebble 

 from the brook to smite him between the 

 eyes. David said in his reply to the bragga- 

 docio, " Thou hast defied the armies of the 

 living God;" and the Anti-saloon League, 

 the W. C. T. U., the churches, the Sunday- 

 schools, the Endeavor Societies, the Salva- 

 tion Army, and good people the wide world 

 over, can back me up when I say this Goli- 

 ah, since the time of Lincoln, lias " defied 

 the armies of the living God." When we 

 tried to cut off his sales on Sunday he 

 grumbled and complained, and said we 

 could not do it, and we did not do it. We 

 passed laws, it is true; but this great Goliah 

 managed to put in jDolicemen who could not 

 see the open sales on Sunday, even though 

 there wei-e hundreds of them in our great 

 cities with hundreds and thousands of cus- 

 tomers. He managed to get in policemen 

 who favored his cause, and said, by way of 

 excuse, that " the people " did not want the 

 law enforced to the letter. Perhaps the 



