132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ocean to the other and from the Gulf to Maine the 

 dry territory stretches, with only a break here and 

 there, where a wet or local-option state intervenes. 



The closing of so much territory to the liquor 

 business on New Year's day marked the culmination 

 of an exceptionally successful year for the drys. In- 

 to state after state they carried their fight on the 

 saloon, meeting their opponents in legislatures or 

 before the people, and usually worsting them. In 

 Ohio they met defeat when the dry amendment to 

 the constitution was rejected in November, but that 

 was one of the few reverses they met during the 

 year. 



And the fight of the drys will continue unabated 

 during 1916. 



Six states are to vote on complete prohibition be- 

 fore the year ends ; and a seventh, Florida, may put 

 the issue to the test. In addition to these contests 

 for statewide prohibition the drys will continue to 

 press their enemies' strongholds upon the issue of 

 local option. Four states remain which have so far 

 refused to enact laws establishing local option. In 

 Pennsylvania, the greatest of the four, not even the 

 campaign pledge of a popular governor and the 

 governor's later strenuous efforts to make the pledge 

 good, were sufficient to secure the enactment of such 

 a law. 



It is not impossible that, by the end of the new 

 year, half the states of the Union will have com- 

 pletely outlawed the traffic in intoxicants. Even 

 the possibility is significant of the trend of popular 

 thought on the problem of the saloon. 



After reading the above, it occurred to 

 me I had not, for some time, noticed any 

 " booze " advertisements in the Plain Deal- 

 er, and I have just searched over several 

 issues, and don't find one. For years past 

 I have been pained because not one of our 

 Cleveland dailies seemed to have the courage 

 to follow other great cities and announce 

 " No more whisky advertisements." May 

 God be praised if it is really true that our 

 leading daily has decided to take the lead. 



WHAT "booze" may DO 



The superintendent of our Sunday-school 

 recently told us about a young man of his 

 acquaintance who gave great promise, not 

 only of being a great scholar but of being 

 one who would likely be a blessing to his 

 age and nation. A member of our Bible 

 class told us further that he became an 

 expert civil engineer, and was employed by 

 the government to survey for miles along 

 the Atlantic coast, and, if I am correct, he 

 did a large and important work along the 

 coast of Florida. Well, this man, highly 

 connected, of such education and ability, got 

 to drinking, lost his position, and, in spite 

 of all his great circle of friends and rela- 

 tives could do, went down and down. 



Recently here in Bradentown, out on the 

 dock, we had a bad fire. A hotel built near 

 the boat-landing, on piles driven into the 

 water, was burned. You might thnk that, 

 with water below and on every side, it 

 would be an easy matter for the fire com- 

 pany. Not so. It was only by wading in 



the water that the firemen could work. Now 

 read the clipping below from our Braden- 

 town daily about this same expert civil 

 engineer. 



The body was burned beyond the possibility of 

 certain recognition aside from peculiarities of the 

 teeth, which were recognized. 



J. P. Petroutsa, proprietor of the hotel, stated 

 today that Gray was a roomer at the hotel, that he 

 occupied the room with an employe, who awakened 

 him just before the employe took the plunge to safe- 

 ty in the waters of Manatee River. 



It was reported his helper not only 

 " awakened him," but that he got him out 

 of bed, and he must have gone back again 

 into the burning building. This is nothing 

 so very strange. Do you recall what I said 

 about the boy who persisted on lying across 

 the track before the coming train? I will 

 tell you something more about that. In 

 taking him toward home we came to a 

 cattle-guard. I cautioned him, and tried to 

 help him get across safely. He struck me a 

 brutal blow, then tried to run across, slip- 

 ped down between the sharp-edged timbers, 

 and when I got him out the blood was 

 trickling down into both his shoes.* 



Away back in that good old book we are 

 told " It biteth like a serpent and stingeth 

 like an adder," and, again, " Yea, thou 

 shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst 

 of the sea, or as he that lieth on the top of 

 a mast." 



MICHIGAN PAPER TELLS WHAT RESULTS PROM 

 GETTING BID OF SALOONS. 



Benton Harbor, Mich., Dec. 1. — An editorial 

 recently appearing in the News-Palladium, of this 

 city, presents at once an emphatic statement of tihe 

 results of getting rid of the local saloon, and an 

 honest man's argument for the extension of those 

 benefits to the whole state. The paper says: 



" Our experience here in Berrien County should 

 convince every thoughtful and intelligent person that 

 the abolishment of the sale of liquor by law is the 

 best possible thing that can happen. Right here in 

 Benton Harbor we have noted the effect in the way 

 of a more orderly city, more happy homes, brighter- 

 faced children, and many more cheerful women ; and 

 not only this, but there are scores who, previous to 

 this important change, were scantily clad and poor- 

 ly fed, who now enjoy the necessities and many of 

 the luxuries of life. 



" If a single drunkard were saved, and one fam- 

 ily made happy, then the great reform would be 

 worth all that it has cost us. But when there are 

 scores of them, and when our streets are practically 

 cleared of drunkards, the number of prisoners in 

 our county jail reduced, and the expense of carrying 

 on criminal litigation in this county cut down to a 

 minimum, it would seem that all fair-minded people 

 would be convinced of the desirability of the blessed 

 state of affairs that we now enjoy; and it would 

 also seem that all unselfish people residing within 

 the borders of this county would be willing to work 

 with zeal and energy to bring about statewide pro- 

 hibition in order that every one within the borders 

 of Michigan may be as blessed as we are ourselves." 



* After this, when I supposed he had gone home, 

 I found him once more, lying across the railroad 

 track. 



