SEPTEMBER 15, 1913 



663 



miracles in the way of cure. I hope it is 

 true that the coming generation will not be 

 as easily humbugged by such quacks and 

 absurdities. Educated men and women, 

 and educated girls and boys, at least the 



way they are being educated at the present 

 day, as a rule demand sensible reasons be- 

 fore they invest in something that pretends 

 to be scientific when it would not even bear 

 the scrutiny of good common sense. 



Temperance 



THOSE PICTURES ; OUR GOOD FRIEND DOOLITTLE 

 TALKS TO US ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP EXIST- 

 ING BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND 

 THE SALOONKEEPER. 



Dear Mr. Root: — By a strange coincidence I was 

 reading in the semi-weekly Free Press the internal- 

 revenue statistics for the fiscal year ending July 1, 

 1913, when the issue of Gleanings for August 1st 

 came. I picked out Gleanings from the other mail, 

 and read the editorials, Stray Straws, and then 

 turned to Our Homes and the Temperance depart- 

 ment, as is my custom. Those pictures took my eye 

 at once, and I said, "How true to life I" Then I 

 turned to the statistics in the Free Press (not a 

 temperance paper), and read these facts: "The peo- 

 ple of the United States consumed more whisky, 

 brandy, and beer, and smoked more cigarettes and 

 cigars than iu any previous period in the nation's 

 history. The returns show that the government re- 

 ceived from drinkers and smokers in taxes, $309,- 

 478,000 in the past year — an average of about 

 $1,000,000 for each working day in the year, or 

 $16,500,900 more than during the previous fiscal 

 year, which paid about half the government ex- 

 penses." Then I turned back to the pictures again, 

 when that saloon front riveted my gaze. I asked, 

 "Whose is that saloon?" and the only answer I 

 could find was, " The government's." The building, 

 bottles, liquors, and tobacco ma yor may not be the 

 saloon-keeper's, but the saloon belongs to the United 

 States government. Let the saloon-keeper try selling 

 those liquors without a permit from the government, 

 wliich is called a license, and see how quickly he 

 will " look out from behind the bars." So we have 

 this: $25.00 paid for a license establishes a govern- 

 ment saloon; $1.10 tax procures from the govern- 

 ment a gallon ot whiskey; $1.00 a barrel of beer; 

 this in addition to the cost of production of the 

 liquors. And none of that $309,478,000 could come 

 into the treasury of the government without some 

 one to sell these taxed and licensed articles. 



Now, Bro. Root, is it not plain that the saloon- 

 keeper is a necessity in the economy of these United 

 States if you and I are to have " half our govern- 

 ment expenses" paid? And is it not also plain that 

 the officials in whose hands this matter of tax and 

 license rests should seek out and urge men to sell, 

 buy a license, and pay the tax, that this revenue 

 may come to us and the rest of the people of this 

 United States? Your company would not hire a 

 man to sell honey unless he sought out customers 

 for that honey. And after the saloon-keeper has paid 

 his license and tax to the government, is he not 

 doing a legitimate business in branching and reach- 

 ing out that he may get his money back and some- 

 thing for a living? Should we not be willing that 

 he do this when he is so useful to us in paying half 

 of our government taxes? Seriously, Bro. Root, I do 

 not like to see that bright boy in these pictures 

 turned into "The Finished Product," but of late it 

 has looked a little out of place for you and me to be 

 " pounding " the saloon-keeper when, at the same 

 time, we are willingly or ignorantly receiving pay 

 to the half of our proportion of the government ex- 

 penses through the efforts of the saloon-keepers of 

 our land. If we are honest we must acknowledge 

 that the saloon-keeper fills a niche of no small im- 

 portance in the economy of the United States gov- 

 ernment^ Surely, from the statistics for this last 



fiscal year the revenue from our government saloons 

 almost overshadows that from the tariff and custom- 

 house. Are you equal to some plan to save the boy 

 without materially injuring the amount of revenue 

 we are receiving into the government treasury ? 

 Borodino, N. Y. G. M. Doolittle. 



Friend D., I have a plan — yes, and may 

 God be praised that there is a plan open 

 to us all. The plan is to teach our boys 

 and girls, our old men and women, to " seek 

 first the kingdom of God and his righteous- 

 ness," and then that " all things shall be 

 added unto you." Yes, those who administer 

 our government and our laws should be 

 taught that, if they will seek first God's 

 kingdom and his righteousness, plenty of 

 money for " revenue," and every thing else 

 will be surely forthcoming. 



ONE-THIRD OF THE SALOONS OF OHIO TO BE 

 PUT OUT OF BUSINESS. 



We clip the following from the Wheeling 

 Advance : 



" Law closes 3341 saloons in Ohio ; leaves 

 5144 still doing business." 



The above seems too good to be true; but 

 when they come to put on their spectacles 

 and find 5144 saloon-keepers of good moral 

 character I imagine there is going to be 

 more trouble yet, especially if the law is to 

 be strictly enforced, in big cities as well as 

 little ones, as our good Governor declares 

 it shall be enforced. See the following: 



SUNDAY CLOSING OP THE SALOONS IN OUR 

 LARGE OHIO CITIES. 



I am well aware that it is not a new 

 tlung for the breAvei-s and liquor party to 

 make great promises about the " cleaning 

 up" and " law enforcement " they are going 

 to inaugurate. Our readers will also recall 

 what I have said about the efforts of the 

 Baptist Brotherhood to enforce law in 

 Cleveland in regard to Sunday closing. 

 Now, once more please keep in mind that 

 the Governor of Ohio has favored a license 

 law. He thinks it will be a temperance 

 measure; and as he has been most severely 

 criticised on this account he comes out just 

 now in the Cleveland Plain Dealer as fol- 

 lows : 



" So soon as the State Liquor License Board an- 

 nounces the appointment of county licensing boards 

 I am going to call every county license commissioner 

 to Columbus and talk straight from the shoulder to 

 them," said the Govei-nor. 



