1168 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



or partly so; but I can not give up that I 

 am entirely wrong. I agree with the W. C. 

 T. U. resolution quoted in the above extract. 

 I think it is a shame and an outrage that our 

 story-writers should help the saloon, espe- 

 cially when there is such a terrible conflict 

 going on in regard to the rum business all 

 over the world. 



One of the speakers at one of the Anti- 

 saloon meetings threw a banner across the 

 stage with the heading, ' ' A barrel of whis- 

 ky or a bushel of Bibles." He said that, 

 at a recent meeting of the Liquor League, 

 one of the speakers told us to bring on our 

 Bibles, as big a stack as we pleased, and he 

 said he would beat us all out of sight with 

 a barrel of whisky. I am exceedingly obliged 

 to him. I have several times wished that 

 the whole world could read some of the liq- 

 uor papers— the Wine and Spirit Neivs, for 

 instance. I wish the people who declare the 

 Anti-saloon League does not amount to any 

 thing would read these liquor publications. 

 Evidence furnished by the enemy would 

 probably be credited. The question that 

 lies before us, dear friends, is, when boiled 

 down, Which will come out ahead— the Bi- 

 bles or the whisky-barrel? 



During one of the sessions in Columbus it 

 was my pleasure to meet and get pretty 

 well acquainted with Miss Lucy Page Gas- 

 ton. Many of our readers will recognize 

 her as having charge of the department of 

 the W. C. T. U. work in a crusade against 

 cigarettes. Several States in the Union 

 have passed laws that I believe are well en- 

 forced against both the manufacture and sale 

 of cigarettes; and from the expression given 

 through our papers and everywhere else, we 

 would suppose almost every man. woman, 

 and child, with the exception of the cigar- 

 makers, and venders and users of the same, 

 would vote against cigarettes. Miss Gaston 

 told me that the protest seemed to be so 

 great and universal she supposed there would 

 be no question about getting a prohibitory 

 law. As soon as the crusade was well under 

 way, however, the manufacturers of cigar- 

 ettes declared that the proposed law should 

 not be passed, even if it cost them a great 

 sum of money— I think it was something 

 like $100,000. They would spend this enor- 

 mous sum of money rather than see their 

 lucrative business cut off, even though that 

 business involved the making of idiots and 

 imbeciles of our schoolboys. And yet these 

 same magazine articles indorse cigarettes. 

 They tell us of fine ladies who make their 

 gentlemen friends presents of cigarette- 

 holders, etc. 



If you will read the current papers you 

 will see the brewers are getting to be great- 

 ly worried. The Anti-saloon League all 

 through the United States is making wet 

 territory dry at such a rapid rate the brew- 

 ers are feeling it keenly; and they are leav- 

 ing no stone unturned, not only in holding 

 their own, but to hunt up new territory. 



At the Anti-saloon League congress we 

 had a delegate from the Indian Territory. 

 He begged our indulgence, at the opening 



of his talk, if he spent a little time in giv- 

 ing a sketch of what the Indians are doing 

 in the way of civilization. He said we would 

 see the application a little later on if we 

 were patient. Then he told us about the 

 good farmers among the Indians, of the 

 merchants, manufacturers to some extent, 

 of their schools and churches, periodicals, 

 and of their wealth. I suppose you all 

 know that, up to the present time, there 

 have been very stringent laws against sell- 

 ing intoxicants to Indians. When I was in 

 Arizona I asked my brother ivhy they were 

 so very emphatic about prohibition among 

 the Indians. He explained it was because 

 they were only partly civilized. When an 

 Indian is drunk he is a savage again, or per- 

 haps a maniac. He is on the war-path and 

 on the war-dance with a whoop and a yell. 

 He kills without care or regard, not only 

 enemies, if he has any, but his own family 

 as well. An Indian, when drunk, is a ma- 

 niac—a mad man. By the way, it seems a 

 little funny it has never occurred to our 

 law-givers and law-makers that there are 

 quite a few ivkite people who are not much 

 better off. Well, this delegate from the In- 

 dian Territory told us the brewers had their 

 eye on these Indian villages and cities. A 

 petition is now before Congress to permit 

 them to introduce beer among the Indians. 

 What excuse do they give for such a peti- 

 tion? Well, it is something like this: They 

 say the Indians are now sufficiently civilized 

 so they are able to judge for themselves, 

 like white men (?) as to when they have 

 had enough to drink, or as to whether they 

 ought to drink at all. They would thus el- 

 evate the savages to a position of dignity, 

 where they will be able to rule themselves 

 instead of being subjects of legislation, etc. 

 Now, this delegate actually plead and beg- 

 ged that great convention to pass resolu- 

 tions and send personal protests to Con- 

 gress, urging that no such petition be grant- 

 ed; and he gave us a picture of what would 

 surely happen were beer-saloons allowed in 

 the Indian Territory. He said there was no 

 doubt the brewers would reap a rich harvest; 

 for the Indians, after they once get started, 

 would spend every thing and sell every thing 

 for drink.* 



Now, then, friends, again, which is to rule 

 in this nation of ours— a "bushel of Bibles" 

 or a " barrel of whisky"? When it comes 

 to voting on the manufacture and sale of 

 cigarettes, are respected, educated Chris- 

 tian people to decide the matter, or is the 

 $100,000 belonging to the makers of cigar- 

 ettes to decide in regard to our laws? Miss 

 Lucy Page Gaston, when she told me her 

 disappointments and defeats in her line of 



* Since the above was in type I see by the dailies that 

 the brewers are putting up buildings all .through the 

 Indian Territory, where, they tell the people, beer is to 

 be sold as soon as this matter comes before Congress; 

 or, in other words, they are going to open up beer-sell- 

 ing among the Indians unless the people make too much 

 fuss about it, as they did about the canteen in the army, 

 for illustration. Now, friends, we want not only the 

 prayers of Christian people, but we want such a loud 

 protest that it will be heard and felt to the very ends of 

 the nation. 



