PERILS. — INTEMPERANCE. 133 



said : " Unity is necessary, and we must form an organi- 

 zation that not only controls a capital of two hundred 

 million dollars, but which also commands thousands of 

 votes, politically, through which our legislators will dis- 

 cern our power." At the Chicago Congress, the brewers 

 resolved : ' ' That we consider it absolutely necessary that 

 our organization should exist in every state and county." 

 The following resolution was passed by the Liquor Dealers 

 and Manufacturers" Association of Illinois, in 1881 : ''Re- 

 solved, That the maintenance and perfection of our pres- 

 ent State Association is absolutely necessary for the 

 proper protection of our business interests ; that the new 

 Board of Trustees spare neither trouble nor expense to 

 properly organize every senatorial district in the state, 

 so that, by the time of the next election of members of 

 the General Assembly, the business men engaged in the 

 liquor trade may be thoroughly organized and disci- 

 plined." The liquor trade boasts that in New York City 

 alone it controls 40,000 votes. That the saloons are the 

 great centers of political activity is evident from the fact 

 that out of 1,003 primary and other poUtical meetings 

 held in New York during the year preceding the Novem- 

 ber election of 1884, 683 were held in saloons and 86 were 

 held next door to saloons, while only 283 were held apart 

 from them.i These saloons and their keepers are con- 

 trolled by a few strong men. In 1888, of the saloons in 

 New York City, 4,710 were subject to chattel mortgages, 

 which aggregated ^4.059,578 in value. Aw overwhelming 

 proportion of these mortgages were held by brewers, one 

 firm holding upwards of 200, and another 600; which 

 being interpreted means that two firms controlled up- 

 wards of 800 centers of political influence in New York. 2 

 Let us now look at some of the methods of the Liquor 

 Power. The brewers favor boycotting. The following 

 resolution was passed at their seventh congress: ''Re- 

 solved, That we find it necessary, in a business point of 



' Robert Graham, Secretaiy of Church Temperance Society. 

 ^ Chattel Mortgages on Saloon Fixtures by Robert Graham. 



