May, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



TEMPERANCE 



395 



" AND GOD SAID^ LET US MAKE MAN IN OUIJ 

 IMAGE." 



Oar churches in Bradentown, Fhi., have 

 an excellent custom of holding' union tem- 

 ])eranee meefinys about once a month, and it 

 often fills our largest churches to overflow- 

 ing'. I was so much impressed with the 

 following' from one of our able attorneys, 

 Mr. G. P. Smythe, that I persuaded him to 

 give it to me. Please notice paiticularly 

 iiis concluding summing up. 



THORO PREPAREDNESS. 



We have recently heard a great deal about pre- 

 paredness. During the late national campaign the 

 various candidates for office were falling over each 

 other to get to the front seat on the preparedness 

 band-vragon. The candidates of the two old parties 

 spent much time and energy in telling the people how 

 important and necessary it is to be prepared for war. 

 Some outlined their plans for preparedness, includ- 

 ing universal military training, etc. Having con- 

 fidence in the wisdom and sincerity of these great 

 men, watchfully I. waited, with eager ear to the 

 ground, hoping to hear that some one would have 

 the foresight and moral courage to propose national 

 prohibition as a first step toward preparedness. But 

 I waited and listened in vain. The campaign is 

 over, the election has passed. We are still drawing 

 nearer the vortex of an awful war, and I haven't 

 yet heard either of the old particiS suggest prohibi- 

 tion as a means of preparedness. I insist we can 

 never have thoro preparedness without national pro- 

 liibition. Thoro preparedness can not precede pro- 

 hi))ition, but must follow it; and the sooner we 

 have prohibition, the sooner we shall be prepared 

 and the easier it will be. This is not merely a 

 theory, but the experience of some of the great na- 

 tions of Europe. 



The people of the LTnited States pay over two 

 I illion dollars a year for liquor. Investigation shows 

 that about three-fourths of all crime in this country 

 is caused by strong drink. To maintain courts and 

 prisons to try and punish these liquor-made criminals, 

 costs at least two billion more. To maintain the 

 inmates of almshouses, hospitals, and insane-asylums, 

 sent there because of drink, costs a billion more. 

 The lo^ss of health and efficiency to labor by those 

 who drink will run into the billions. From an 

 economic standpoint strong drink is costing this 

 country eight or ten billion dollars annually. We 

 do not know how to estimate in dollars and cents the 

 wasted tears of the innocent, the anguish of sleep 

 less nights, the hcirtaches of anxious mothers, the 

 blasted hopes and broken health of unhappy wives, 

 tlie pitiful wail of hunger, nor the cries of cold, 

 neglected children : yet these too are the natural 

 results of the liquor-traffic. 



Yes, give us national prohibition first, and, with 

 this ten billion dollars saved annually, the first year 

 we could put one thousand modern battle-ships on 

 the oceans, costing ten millions each, that could over 

 come all the navies of the world. The second year 

 we could build, arm, and equip a continuous chain 

 of forts around all the border of this great country. 

 The third year we could arm, equip, and furnisli 

 supplies to an army of ten million men — an army 

 made up from a sober, moral, healthy citizenship, 

 with a physical stamina for endurance and hardship, 

 worthy of all our best American traditions. With 

 such a navy and fortifications, and such an army, 

 we should surely be prepared for whatever eventu- 

 ality might come, and all provided by the savings of 

 three years caused by national prohibition. 



Not only should we be prepared to resist a 

 foreign foe, but in the prei)aration we shall have 

 overcome a more dangerous and deadly foe at home 

 than any that threatens us abroad. May the God of 

 nations save us from ourselves. We become very 

 much alarmed over the presence in this country of a 

 few unorganized hyphenated Americans who are 

 loyal to some foreign power ; but we ignore a power- 

 ful and well-organized enemy here in our very midst. 

 The kingdom of Alcohol, with the powerful and well- 

 organized forces of the liquor-traffic, wages relent- 

 less war on us day by day and year by year. It 

 ignores our laws, it works plots, conspiracies, and 

 treason. It violates every law of civilized warfare; 

 it stupefies the sensibilities of our people with jjoi- 

 sonous drugs; it murders sixty thousand of our 

 citizens every year, and at least that many more 

 are rendered mentally, physically, and morally de- 

 ficient. It makes more widows and orphans than 

 would the armies of any foreign foe. No prepared- 

 ness is. thoro that does not take into, account this 

 deadly foe within our own border. 



With a preparedness founded on national prohibi- 

 tion, we should not only be prepared for war, but, 

 what is better, we should be prepared for peace. 

 With a sober, healthy, vigorous citizenship we should 

 be prepared to vie with all the vicissitudes of life; 

 prepared to contend better with the ever increasing 

 cost of living; prepared to protect our homes against 

 the summer's sun and the winter's cold; prepared 

 to supplant poverty, misery, and woe in a million 

 .American homes with sunshine, peace, and joy ; pre- 

 pared to give to the mothers of this land sons worthy 

 of their sacrifice and love; prepared to send home 

 to the wives of this country sober, industrious, and 

 faithful husbands ; prepared to give to the fair 

 daughters of this land young men worthy of their 

 hand and heart; prepared to give to generations yet 

 unborn an inheritance of brain and brawn and soul, 

 that our children and our children's children may 

 lie true to form prescribed by Holy Writ, where it 

 was said by the Creator, " Let us make man in our 

 image." 



Yes, first give us national prohibition as the 

 foundation upon which to build all other plans for 

 national preparedness." 



" god's KINGDOM COMING." 



The following "summing up " by Di'. 

 Frank Crane we clip from the New York 

 Globe : 



PROHIBITION. 



It is quite probable that within a few years the 

 manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages will le 

 absolutely prohibited thruout the United States. 



The prohibition movement seems to be advancing 

 with grim momentum. A majority of the states of 

 the Union have prohibition laws. About 60, 000, ()()() 

 .\mericans live in dry territory. Eleven cities of 

 over 100,000 population have no licensed saloons. 

 .\mong these are Detroit and Seattle, with over 

 '300,000 population each. 



There are strong indications that congress will pro- 

 pose, for ratification by the states, a constitutional 

 prohibition amendment. Two years ago it voted '307 

 to 194 in favor of it. 



The movement appears to have got out of the hands 

 of the " evangelists," and to have assumed a far 

 more formidable aspect, because backed by scientists, 

 officials, business men, and practical people gener- 

 ally. 



Medical science has decided that alcohol is not a 

 stimulant, but simply liberates the lower by stupefy- 

 ing the higher powers of the brain. 



