Rum-Sellers in Convention at Louisville
Praise the Work of the Societies that
Fight King Alcohol.
The National Liquor Dealers' Association, in annual convention at
Louisville, Kentucky, early in June, issued a startling address to the
public. These men, who are frequently thought to have no stronger desire
than that every person drink more than is good for him, actually commend
the work of the various temperance societies and urge that intoxication
should be considered a crime. They say:
From time to time during the past seventy-five or one
hundred years waves of public sentiment antagonistic to the
manufacture and sale of wine and spirits and other alcoholic
beverages have passed over this country, leaving in their
train State, county, and municipal legislation of a more or
less drastic character--legislation entirely out of sympathy
with the spirit of American institutions; legislation that
was bound to fail in its purpose in practically every
instance, and this because the sentiment that compelled it
was a sentiment engendered by agitation, and totally unripe
for its enforcement.
Prohibitory Laws Evaded.
That prohibitory laws are all evaded is clearly shown by the
fact that notwithstanding the adoption of prohibition by a
number of States, and by innumerable counties, until at the
present time it is unlawful to sell wines or spirits in more
than one-half of the geographical limits of the United
States, the demand for such beverages has increased in
almost the same proportion as our population, from the
legitimate trade, and in an enormously greater proportion
from illicit distillers and retailers.
We shall not be so uncharitable as to contend that the
agitation from which this public sentiment originates owes
its persistent recurrence to mercenary motives on the part
of men who make merchandise of aroused emotions, because it
gives a pleasurable excitement to the women who tire of the
monotony of home; but, on the contrary, we shall be candid
in the admission that there is good and sufficient reason
for an arousing of public sentiment in this country, and we
confess a feeling of sympathy with the movements for the
uplifting of mankind and for the purification of society.
Favor White Ribbon Movement.
The White Ribbon movement, the Blue Ribbon movement, the
Prohibition movement, and the Anti-Saloon League movement
were, or are, protests upon the part of good men and women
against two of the greatest evils connected with our
civilization, and, unfortunately for us, connected with our
trade--we refer to drunkenness and to those saloons which
are conducted in a disreputable manner, or in such a way as
to demoralize rather than to elevate those who patronize
them--and we, the delegates to this convention of the wine
and spirit trade, desire to express in no uncertain tones
our entire sympathy with the efforts that have been or may
be put forth to exterminate the evils, and our willingness
to lend cooperation and assistance by every means in our
power.
We do not desire to deceive or to mislead, nor to be
misunderstood, and in all candor we declare our views to be
as follows:
We believe that wines and spirits are blessings _per se_,
intended by an All-wise Providence to bring health and
happiness to mankind.
We believe that the legitimate manufacture and sale of wines
and spirits is an honorable trade, and one that should be
respected by society and by the laws.
We believe that the saloon and cafe can, and should be, so
conducted that men would not hesitate to visit them
accompanied by their wives and children, and that the
atmosphere of such places should be beneficial to both mind
and body.
Intoxication Should Be Crime.
We believe that it should be made a crime for a man to
become intoxicated. We hold that no man has a right to
deliberately overthrow his reason and render himself a
dangerous factor in society, and, therefore, we would gladly
welcome the passage of laws providing severe penalties for
such offenses and a firm, rigid enforcement without regard
to wealth or influence of the offender.
For the evils to which we have referred prohibitory laws
have proved no remedy, and, even if they should be enforced,
we believe they are dangerous to liberty, but the
suggestions that we have offered are practicable, and have
proven to be remedies in most of the countries of
Continental Europe, where drunkenness is seldom in evidence,
and furthermore, we can apply such laws without giving
offense save to those who by common consent are deserving of
condemnation as having done that which mankind recognizes to
be wrong, and having thereby placed themselves without the
pale.
That the liquor dealers should take this position is not so surprising as
at first thought it seems. Economically, the best condition for the liquor
business is temperance.