NOVEMBER 15. 1913 



831 



Xemperance 



MORE WHISKY CONSUMED THAX EVER BEFORE 

 — IS IT TRUE? 



We clip the following from the Union 

 Signal : 



BIG SURPLUS OF WHISKY MAY CAUSE DISTILLERIES 

 TO CLOSE. 



The question of whether it may not be wise for the 

 distilleries all over the country to close down during 

 1914 because of overproduction and large stock on 

 hand in their warehouses is being raised by several 

 distilling firms of Kentucky, according to the Chicago 

 Tribune. These men assert that the overproduction 

 was so great during the fiscal years 1911, 1912, and 

 1913, that a "panic" in the whisky business wil) 

 result in 1914 if something is not done to prevent 

 it. One Kentucky distiller recently told the corres- 

 pondent of the Tribune, " There was such a nation- 

 wide overproduction of distilled spirits during the 

 fiscal years of 1911, 1912, and 1913, with 1914 

 starting off with the biggest deluge of all, that the 

 trade of the country is justly alarmed. Propositions 

 are being launched to curtail production, even to the 

 extent of closing down distillery operations. Each of 

 these years in turn has broken all previous produc- 

 tion records in the history of the industry. As a 

 result, there remains in the bonded warehouses of 

 the United States, after a complete deduction of all 

 withdrawals, a gigantic net total of 274,648,260 

 gallons." 



All of which is in perfect accord with the explana- 

 tion that has been given by the temperance people 

 of the increasing consumption by the people of the 

 United States of alcoholic liquors. 



I am assured from several sources that 

 the statistics given us, claiming the eon- 

 sumption of whisky is constantly on the in- 

 crease, emanated from a statistician in the 

 employ of the government, who neglected 

 to tell us that his figures represented the 

 amount of liquors in bonded warehouses, 

 and not the amount that had been already 

 consumed by our American people. 



HALF A MILLION DEPRIVED OF THE MEANS 

 OF A LIVELIHOOD ( ?) 



Percy Andreas says that, if prohibition should 

 prevail, five hundred thousand people would be de- 

 prived of a means of livelihood. Well, if prohibition 

 shall prevail, about five hundred million people will 

 have a far better way of living. Let that principle 

 rule that gives the best to the most. 



In Elijah's time, the messenger had to look seven 

 times before he saw a cloud in the sky, and then it 

 was " no larger than a man's hand," yet Ahab, the 

 politician, had " to get in out of the rain." To-day, 

 here and there on the political horizon, clouds are 

 appearing. May they mean the abundant rain and 

 " reign " of pure water. 



In Nehemiah we read: "And I looked, and rose 

 up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and 

 to the rest of the people : ' Be nof ye afraid of them ; 

 remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and 

 fight for your brethren, your sons and your daugh- 

 ters, your wives and your houses.' " Get into the 

 fight. Minnie J. Ellet. 



It has been said that a prophet is not 

 without honor save in his own country. 

 Well, our good friend who writes the above 

 in the Akron Beacon is not exactly a 

 prophet, but she bids fair to become a 



prophetess: and I think, too, if she keeps 

 on with such assertions as the above she 

 will eventually receive honor in her own 

 neighborhood and community. Amen to 

 Minnie .J. Ellet. 



THE GREAT WAVE OF CRIME IN BIRillNGHAM, 

 ALABAMA. 



We clip the following from the Birming- 

 ham Ledger. It is from a traveling drum- 

 mer who seems to be familiar with the cir- 

 cumstances. 



Just think of 315 homicides in Jefferson County 

 last year I Is the reason given by your coroner the 

 prime reason for this slaughter? I think not. 



I have visited Birmingham for three years without 

 the open saloon, and have seen her for a year with 

 the open saloon spreading its frightful influence over 

 that city until her people are becoming alarmed at 

 the wave of crime and evil sweeping their fair city. 



"\^Tiat else can the people of Jefferson County ex- 

 pect as a result of these places of vice and shame? 

 Do they not go hand in hand with crime and mur- 

 der ? 



What class of your citizens carry pistols and lurk 

 in the dark to strike down their unsuspecting vic- 

 tims ? Certainly it is not your sober, industrious, 

 peaceable, law-abiding (citizens. 



JS'o, the pistol-toter frequents the saloon and houses 

 of prostitution, and, while inflamed with whisky, is 

 seeking trouble, and is prepared for it, and is a 

 natural product of the saloon. To my mind the open 

 saloon which the voters of Jefferson County have 

 allowed to exist in their midst is responsible for this 

 wave of crime sweeping over your city, and the re- 

 sponsibility is upon the shoulders of the voters of 

 your county. 



Should I want to move to Alabama to rear my 

 children I certainly would not want to bring them 

 to a city (much as I admire that city) where life is 

 so cheap and virtue is regarded too loosely. I hope 

 to see a moral wave begin to spread over your fair 

 city which will sweep these festering places of evil 

 and crime out of their midst, and then with the 

 cause removed you can see some of the effects re- 

 moved, and your city and county officials will not 

 have to explain to the people the reasons for such 

 conditions as now exist. A Drummer. 



THE TEMPERANCE WORK IN NEW ORLEANS. 



When our gTeat city dailies begin to lend 

 their influence to the cause of temperance, 

 something is going to happen. The clip- 

 ping below from the New Orleans Item, 

 taken from Congi-essman Hobson's speech- 

 es, is only a small part of half a dozen 

 columns of similar matter : 



Meat with strychnine placed along the streets will 

 kill the dogs. No terrible examples will have any 

 effect. The fact of the poisoned meat being placed 

 on the street is the cause of the destruction. When 

 this seductive poison, alcohol, is placed along the 

 streets in saloons, men will take it. The fact of its 

 being on the street is the real cause of its being 

 taken. Irrespective of the question of the responsi- 

 bility for its existence, the saloon is fundamentally 

 an assassin. 



When the true nature of alcohol becomes better 

 understood, no community will longer tolerate these 

 assassins who take their stand on the corners and 



