AUGUST 1, 1916 



691 



TEMPERANCE 



HAVING niPORTANT OFFICES FILLED BY GOOD 

 MEN ; IMPORTANCE OF THE PRIMARIES. 



Perhaps one of the greatest troubles that 

 beset us as a nation is the fact that bad 

 men keeio getting into important otBces. 

 The temperance people sometimes take it 

 for granted that a man is on the dry side 

 and not only vote for him but work for him, 

 only to discover later that they have been 

 humbugged. Just now, here in Ohio, and 

 I presume in other states as well, people 

 are wanting you to vote for them. As a 

 rule, I personally do not believe very much 

 in voting for any man who goes about so- 

 liciting votes. Before I vote for any man 

 I want to know something about his past 

 record ; and on the wet-and-dry question, 

 unless a man can come right out before the 

 people and declare, without fear or favor, 

 that he is on the dry side, I would have 

 nothing to do with him. The Rural New- 

 Yorker says Avhen a man tells you or writes 

 3^ou that he " will take the matter into con- 

 sidei'ation," turn him down. This, of course, 

 refers principally to the temperance ques- 

 tion. The time when such moral questions 

 need " consideration " has gone b}'. That 

 is our greatest trouble — apathy and indif- 

 ference. The American Issue gives the fig- 

 ures to show what a shameful per cent of 

 professing Christians and church members 

 forget or ignore the importance of the pri- 

 maries. As a consequence, when election 

 time comes they are more or less helpless. 

 The liquor party, on the other hand, are 

 on the alert, aird fully alive to the impor- 

 tance of being on hand all the time. As a 

 result, when we come to count our votes 

 after election there is a widespread conster- 

 nation to understand how it is that there are 

 so few good people and so many bad people. 

 It isn't true that the bad outnumber the 

 good, but it is true that an alarming part 

 of our good and intelligent people get stu- 

 pid and indifferent when .they ought to be 

 wideawake and doing their best at the pri- 

 maries to head off the one who, " as a 

 roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom 

 he may devour." 



August 8 is primary day in Ohio. 



THE SAD CASE OF SEATTI-E^ WASH. ; ITS " DE- 

 PLORABLE CONDITION '■■' UNDER THE DRY 

 REGIME. 



Mr. E. H. Sargent, a Medina boy who 

 for several seasons had charge of our api- 

 ary, and who is now a prominent man at 

 Fort Casey, Wash., has just mailed us a 

 copy of the Sunday edition of the Seattle 



Times (28 pages), largely taken up by 

 telling of the blessing which has come to 

 Seattle since it has been voted dry. You 

 may have seen notices in various periodicals 

 (that is, periodicals that accept such no- 

 tices, even on their advertising pages) of 

 tlie " deplorable results of proliibition in 

 the great Northwest," " miles of empty 

 stores," etc. Well, now, this editor of the 

 Seattle Times was a wet man, and the Times 

 was a wet paper. But it is almost laugh- 

 able to see him turn around and own up 

 that he was wrong. We have space for 

 only a few of the headings found on the 

 6rst page. 



SIX MONTHS UNDER DRY LAW PROVES 

 FALSITY OF LIQUOR MEN'S CHARGES. 



SUICIDES AND MURDERS DECREASED BY HALF SINCE 



JANUARY 1 ; POLICE ARRESTS DUE TO LIQUOR 



VIRTUALLY CUT IN TWO, AND BUSINESS 



MEN REPORT TRADE GAINS. 



Well, we've had six months of prohibition, and I 

 can't find those miles of empty stores. 



On page 16 I find the following: 



The Times admits it was wrong when it said 

 during the campaign against prohibition that the 

 enforcement of the statute .would mean miles of 

 empty stores in Seattle, reduced bank clearings, re- 

 duced bank deposits, reduced rentals, reduced realty 

 values, and general business depression. Six months 

 ago the law went into effect. None of the dire 

 things prophesied for the first half of the year 1916 

 has occurred. On the contrary, Seattle has pros- 

 pered wonderfully. 



May God grant that more editors will 

 find themselves mistaken, and have the 

 grace and Christian courtesy to acknowl- 

 edge they were mistaken, as has the editor 

 in the above. 



BREWERS ADVERTISING FOR THE NAMES OF 

 BOYS, ETC. 



On page 422 I copied a letter from the 

 Ilollister Distilling Co. But the Manatee 

 River Journal, published at Bradentown, 

 Fla., " goes one better " on the advertise- 

 ment I gave. Here is the way they tell it : 



The following notice tells what's wanted by the 

 saloon: 



Wanted.- — One hundred boys for new customers. 

 Most of our old customers are rapidly dropping out. 

 Ten committed suicide last week. Twenty are in 

 jail, and eight are in the chain gang. Fifteen were 

 sent to the poorhouse. One was hanged. Three 

 were sent to the insane-asylum. Most of the rest 

 are not worth fooling with — they've got no money. 

 We are just obliged to have new customers — fresh 

 young blood — or we'll have to shut up shop. Don't 

 make any difference whose boy you are, we need 

 you. You will be welcome. If you once get started 

 with us we guarantee to hold you. Our goods are 

 sure. Come early — stay late. Opelika Saloons, 

 Proprietors. 



