G LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



TEMPEMANCE [ 



The most dangeroun trust is the liquor trust. /£ 

 is u cumhinatinn of geld without God, cash without 

 character, silver without sold, and power without 

 principle. — REV. JAMES GORDON, D.D., AVinnipcg, in 

 Ohio Messenger. 



THE TRUTH ABOUT THE LIQUOR BUSINESS. 



Today, Oct. 22, there is such a pile of 

 leaflets and bulletins afloat, both for and 

 against the liquor-traflie, that it may trou- 

 ble many people to separate truth from 

 falsehood. Please bear in mind, friends," 

 that the wets have no object in view except 

 to gather in a little more money. Tliey liave 

 no interest in Ihe good of our nation and 

 m the matter of trying lo elevate poor weak 

 infirm humanity. In our effort to set the 

 people right, especially the people here in 

 Ohio, I want to make three extracts from 

 the American Issue; and please remember 

 that these extracts have the indorsement of 

 our schools, our churches, our railroad com- 

 panies, our manufactories, our farming 

 communities, and, in fact, all good and un- 

 selfish people not only here in America, but 

 I might almost say of the whole wide world. 

 Read this and ponder. 



win' OHIO LIQUOR MKN SAY NOTHING ABOUT THE 

 S4I.00K; SALOON SO BAD IT CANNOT BE DEFENDED. 



Not a wovd about xne saloon in any of the wet 

 literature or on any of tiio wet posters ! 



Did you know that ? 



Do you hear wet speakers mention the saloon or 

 attempt to defend it? 



You do not. 



"Why is it that the wets arp silent about the very 

 thin? they are fighting to maintain? 



V/hy do they talk about everything else, but so 

 far as literature and speeches are eon<_erned seem 

 ignorant of the existence of the saloon? 



Is there a reason for this silence? 



There is. 



The saloon is such a gigantic evil that its very 

 name is distasteful to the people, and this holds good 

 with many wets as well as with the drys. 



The more attention is directed to the saloon, the 

 more its ugly and unamerican character is revealed, 

 and the more dry votes will be cast. 



No class of men know this so well as the liquor 

 men. 



So there is a general understanding in the liquor 

 camp that the word " saloon " is not to be used. 



SOPHISTRIES OF OHIO LIQUOR MEN ANS'.VERKD tX A 

 FEW SENTENCES; THEIR STOCK CLAIMS, ASSUR 

 TIONS, AND r-RETENDED ARGUMENTS ARE FLIMSY 

 AND FALSE, AND ARE EASILY DISSIPATED BY FACTS 

 AND COMMON SENSE. 



The wet official argument against prohibitioii 

 ' speaks of Ohio liquor manufacturers " wiUi more 

 than 100,000 employees." 



Government figures give the total number of 

 employees of Ohio liquor manufacturers, includin;: 

 wage earners and male and female clerks, as 5517. 



Which is right? 



Paid wet advertisements and big wet posters say 

 that under prohibition Ohio property values " aggre- 

 gating $4f;o,000,000 v.ould bn thrown into the ?crap 

 heap." 



Government figures give the total capitalization of 

 all the breweries, distilleries, and wineries in the 

 state at $(J4, 4.50, 024, and this includes millions of 

 watered stock like the Hostcr-Columbus Associated 

 Breweries, which was incorporated at $12,000,000, 

 and paid taxes on a \aluation of a little more than 

 a million and a half. 



Which is right ? 



" Prohibition has not settled the liquor question 

 anywhere it has been tried," saj-s a wet advertise- 

 u'ent. 



■\Miat about the 19 states that now iiave prohibi- 

 tion? What one of them is even considering going 

 back into the wet column? What about Kansas, for 

 instance, which haa had prohibition for 35 years and 

 likes it- so well that hist fall the wet candidate for 

 Governoi polled only 6 per cent of the total vote, 

 while all political parties endorse the prohibition 

 policy? 



Is not prohibition the only policy that does s-ettle 

 the liquor question? 



" Prohibition would mean the loss of $15,000,000 

 in taxes to the state of Ohio and its political sab 

 divisions,'' says a wet advertisement. 



Not at all. Ohio plants which now manufacture 

 beer and whisky would, as in other states, be trans- 

 formed into packing-houses, ice-plants, milk-fact.or- 

 ies, and other productive institutions, employing- 

 more men and paying more taxes. 



" Prohibition would increase youi* taxes," says a 

 wet advertisement and the wet speakers. 



Figures of the United States Census Bureau show 

 that in prohibition states general property taxes col- 

 lected average .?10.12 per capita, while in licensed 

 states they average $16.98 per capita. 



Which will you believe — the unsupported claim of 

 the wets or the ofiicial figures of ihe government ? 



" Prohibition takes away from you every vestige 

 of personal rights." Quoted from a wet advertise- 

 ment. 



It does not. It takes away from the liquor-dealer 

 the right by sufferance of selling poison. The Unit- 

 ed States Supremo Court says he never had an in- 

 herent right to sell the stuff. It does not take away 

 the right to use, but to sell. You have the right 

 to eat rotten meat, but you do not have the right 

 to sell it. 



" Prohibition would deprive thousands of work- 

 ingmen of the livelihood for which (hey have fitted 

 themselves," says tlie official argument against pro- 

 liibition. 



A few hundred will cover the entire number of 

 brew-masters, rectifiers, etc., in Ohio who have 

 "fi tted themselves " for special work in the liqnor- 

 traflic. The driver of a brewery-wagon can drive 

 any other, kind of wagon; the maker of beer-kegs 

 ran do any kind of cooperage work; makers of beer- 

 bottles can make milk or any other kind of bottles. 



Remember, however, that the thousands of men in 

 Ohio who have lost their jobs through drink are 

 down and cut for good, unless prohibition comes to 

 their rescue. Prohibition will give these men an- 

 other chance. 



"The stale will suffer a financial panic if prohi 

 l>ition is adopted,'' says the wet argument against 

 prohibition. 



Bosh ! Who ever heard of a panic resulting from 

 stopping a waste of money? Instead of worse than 

 wasting the $110,000,000 now annually spent for 

 liquor in Ohio, spend that sum in lines of legitimate 

 trade; and instead of a panic there will follow :in 

 era of prosperity such as Ohio has never known. 



'• Ohio cannot affo)d to lose the $6,000,000 now 

 paid the state, county, and municipality in liquor- 

 license fees," say the wet-s. 



