DANGER TO MORALS. 239 



many of the people. Neither can prohibitionists nor 

 moral-suasionists anywhere permit, without heartfelt 

 regret, the continuous change of conditions which tend 

 to nourish proclivities towards the drinking habit, and 

 to see those who are engaged in this trade the rulers of 

 the land. 



It was to some a startling statement, recently made 

 by a prominent clergyman, that, unless a substitute be 

 found, the liquor saloon supplies an absolute necessity in 

 our great cities such as New York, with their " hundreds 

 of thousands of homeless boarding-house and lodging- 

 house population." ' This condition has assumed gigan- 

 tic proportions, apparently unnoticed. But now we must 

 ask : As matters are drifting, will a substitute be found ? 

 Every new day sees a larger proportion of American 

 people than hitherto, of the boarding- and lodging-house 

 stamp. It follows, that we are rapidly increasing the 

 proportion of our citizens to whom the beer saloon or a 

 substitute is a necessity. The country of small farmers 

 such as has been the pride of America in the past, requires 

 nothing of the kind. To such the beer saloon, instead of 

 being a necessity, is always a curse when established. 



But, whether the sale of intoxicants for the purpose of 

 being used as a beverage should be prohibited or limited 

 by law, or its control be left to the influences of moral 

 forces, there is no question as to the imperative necessity 

 for the human family to avoid, by all means, that condi- 

 tion which must constantly increase their chances to be 

 the victims of this increasing peril. 



Another most serious phase of the question of the 

 drift from the old farms to other occupations in the 

 towns and cities — the dispersion of the old families from 



' The Rev. Dr. Bacon. 



