1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1451 



with areumentsthat the saloon taxes pay the poorhoiise bills, etc., 

 we wish to present the following facts for the especial considera- 

 tion of any who may be likely to be misled by the fallacy of 

 their arguments. There are not many public-spirited farmers 

 who would not far rather pay more taxes to get rid of saloons if 

 that were necessary. But it is not necessary. Instead, the ab- 

 sence of saloons and of the necessary means of controlling them 

 and the disorder that they create, and of relieving the distress that 

 they cause, has cut down the expense of every community that 

 has voted them out. Read this testimony: Newcomerstown, O., 

 reduced its tax rate 4.5 mills within three years after going dry. 

 Athens, O., reduced its rate 8 mills in one no-saloon year. East 

 Liverpool, O., 1.2 mills in one year. The mayor of Brunswick, 

 Ga., says: "The decrease in crime since the passage of our pro- 

 hibition act has been at least 80 per cent in this city." The 

 sheriff of Oklahoma Co., Okla., in which the capital city, Guth- 

 rie, is located, says: " Since the anti-saloon act took eflect, 60 

 per cent of the crime has ceased." In Knoxville, Tenn., as the 

 result of no saloons, the salaries of the public-school teachers 

 have been materially increased, and the school fund increased 

 from $63,000 to $106,000. Comparison of arrests for drunkenness 

 under "wet" and "dry" regimes are convincing. In Galesburg, 

 111., during June, 1907, with saloons, the arrests were 113; in 

 June, this year, no saloons, there were only 15. In Haverhill, 

 Mass., during "wet" May, 1<)07, there were 91 arrests; this year, 

 "dry," only 15. In Atlanta, Ga., during " wet " January last 

 year there were 341 arrests; this year, only 64. An East Liver- 

 pool, O., businessman wrote recently: "With 53 saloons we had 

 not enough money to feed prisoners or purchase new collars for 

 the east-end fire-station horses. With no saloons we have equip- 

 ped a new fire-station at the west end, furnished free text-books 

 in all our schools, and made provision for a purer water supply, 

 yet our tax rate for the ensuing year is lower." Remember that 

 the court and police and poverty-relief costs of saloons always 

 exceed the taxes brought in by them, to say nothing of the great- 

 er cost caused by the destruction of manhood, morals, thrift, and 

 industry. 



PERSONAL LIBERTY; THE AMERICAN FLAG, ETC. 



Diar Sir: — Being a regular subscriber to Gleanings, I should 

 like to make some suggestions in my way of thinking on some of 

 the topics in your temperance columns. As for myself, I do not 

 like them at all, and can't see any thing in them but a lot of 

 trash, and think that, when you issue a bee-journal, you should 

 stick to the bee industry alone, and give your readers what they 

 are paying for — a bee-journal and not a political or religious 

 magazine. I don't doubt that you are sincere in your convictions 

 on the subject, but that does not justify you in letting your pri- 

 vate opinions interfere with your business journal. 



I have to-day read your issue of Sept. 15, and in Our Homes 

 you quote a lot of sayings from other men, and therefore I think 

 that you indorse the same; for instance, a religion that leaves 

 the saloon undisturbed is not worthy to he called after the name 

 of Jesus Christ You don't seem to know, or have forgotten, that 

 Jesus was supposed to have made wine out of water; also another 

 one — that, no matter whether a man be rich or poor, white or 

 black, educated or not, he has the same chance and gets a square 

 deal in this glorious country of ours. Now, you don't believe 

 that yourself, do you.' Certainly not; then why do you print such 

 trash as that, and expect any man with only an excuse for a 

 brain, to read any thing like that? As for myself, you need not 

 think I am a drunkard; but I do take a glass may be once every 

 two weeks, and should object to any man taking my personal 

 liberty away from me and telling what to drink. Hoping you 

 will excuse my criticism I remain, Edward Fritzsche, 



Richmond, N. Y., Sept. 2. 



Thank you, friend F. , for your frank and hon- 

 est criticism. Yes, it is true that my temperance 

 and other talks come in a bee-journal; but if you 

 will look on page 1106 of the journal you allude 

 to you will find that we announce in every issue 

 that our journal is 



"devoted TO BEES, HONEY, AND HOME INTER- 

 ESTS. " 



In regard to this matter that has been so much 

 discussed for ages, about Christ turning water in- 

 to wine, I think the general decision has been 

 that Jesus never offered any intoxicating drink to 

 anybody. We have now what we call " wine " 

 in our own cellar; but it is the pure juice of 

 the grape, without any fermentation whatever, 

 and is what is sometimes called "communion 

 wine." 



In regard to keeping wine or beer in your own 

 home, and taking a glass say once in two weeks, 

 as you suggest, the Anti-saloon League (of which 



I am proud to say I am a charter member) has 

 never undertaken and does not undertake nomo 

 to dictate what you shall eat or drink in your 

 own home. We have nothing whatever to do 

 with that, although the brewers and saloon-keep- 

 ers have often brought the matter up as you do. 

 It is against the open saloon as it is now managed 

 that we wage war. The contrasts between towns 

 and cities where they are run with saloons and 

 without saloons, that are now being published, 

 with the facts and figures from all over our land, 

 is, I think, a sufficient reason why saloons should 

 be put out of business, just as you see has been 

 done by our victories of late. 



Last, but not least, you quote what that poor 

 foreigner who came to our own country says in 

 regard to the American flag. That was his state- 

 ment. It is our privilege, every one of us, to de- 

 cide whether the American flag does mean all that 

 or not; and I think you will agree with me that, 

 at least as long as you continue here in America, 

 the American flag should mean, " A square deal 

 to every one, no matter whether he is rich or poor, 

 black or white, educated or uneducated." If it 

 does not mean all that just now, will you not, 

 dear friend F. , make it your business to join 

 hands with the rest of us and make the " stars and 

 stripes" really mean just what that poor man said 

 they meant to him. May God bless and enlight- 

 en you and all others who feel as you do about 

 the work that is being done just now in the way 

 of banishing the saloons. 



Just a word in closing. While I have had 

 kind words in almost every mail for months past 

 in regard to my temperance talks, there have not 

 been half a dozen who have taken the position 

 that you do; and there was just one other person 

 who threw it into my teeth that the American 

 flag does not mean what I seemed to imply it 

 meant. This person lives in Canada. He said 

 that the statement that you have referred to in re- 

 gard to the American flag was a lie, and that I 

 knew and that Bishop Wilson knew it was a lie. 

 This brother did not sign his name to his letter, 

 and so I could not reply to it. But I happen to 

 know, however, that he is by no means a fair 

 representative of our Canadian brethren. 



HOW THE POPULAR MAGAZINES ARE GOING DRY. 



November 29 was the World's Temperance 

 Sunday, and among other good things in the 

 Sunday School Tunes for that date was an article 

 headed "How the Popular Magazines are Going 

 Dry. " It seems there are about 60 different mag- 

 azines published now in the United States; and 

 of these they give a list of 40 that declare boldly: 



We do not publish any advertising matter pertaining to intoxi- 

 cating liquors. This publication will not lend itself as the me- 

 dium to introduce into the family circle habits other than good. 



May the Lord be praised for the above decision. 

 Quite a number of the remaining 20 say they 

 have not yet made up their mind, or do not know 

 exactly where to draw the line, or something of 

 that kind. This list does not include the agri- 

 cultural or other class papers; but may the Lord 

 be praised again for the fact that our agricultural 

 and rural periodicals, nearly all if not quite all of 

 them, are taking a higher moral stand, if any 

 thing, than the magazines, and higher than a 

 good many of the religious periodicals. Now, if 



