98 COMMISSION ON COUNTRY LIFE 



(b) THE QUESTION OF INTEMPERANCE. 



The liquor question has been emphasized to 

 the Commission in all parts of the country as 

 complicating the labor question. It seems to be 

 regarded as a burning country life problem. 

 Intemperance is largely the result of the barren- 

 ness of farm life, particularly of the lot of the 

 hired man. The Commission has made no 

 inquiry into intemperance as such, but it is 

 impressed, from the testimony that has ac- 

 cumulated, that drunkenness is often a very 

 serious menace to country life, and that the 

 saloon is an institution that must be banished 

 from at least all country districts and rural 

 towns if our agricultural, interests are to develop 

 to the extent to which they are capable. The 

 evil is specially damning in the South because it 

 seriously complicates the race problem. Certain 

 states have recently adopted prohibitory regula- 

 tions, but liquor is shipped into dry territory 

 from adjoining regions and the evil is thereby 

 often increased. Dry territories must rouse 

 themselves to self-preservation in the face of 

 this grave danger, and legislation must be 



