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The Commoner
VOL. 17, NO. 7
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ancy of tho user as measured by tho insurance
tables.
But, even If It could bo shown that tho imme
diate offect of tho alcohol contained in beer and
wlno was not perceptible, it would be unsafe to
permit their sale and use because alcohol pro
duces disease in both tho brain and the blood.
It creates an appetite which calls for more and
more and more.
Tho beer hall and tho wine room are the ves
tibules, so to speak, of tho whiskey shop. The
brewer and the wine maker are schoolmasters
they take tho beginner through the kindergarten
and tho lower grades, instructing him in tho
art of intoxication until ho Is ready to enter up
on tho career of tho drunkard and the tot.
But few of thoso who develop into whiskey
drinkers begin with that beverage; they com
mence with light wines and beer and then go
on from stronger drinks to drinks still stronger
ns the taste becomes fixed and the craving in
creases. For "this reason some argue that, in
stead of giving a preference to beer and wine,
it would even be safer to give the preference to
tho stronger drinks on tho theory that, while
they might more quickly kill off those already
addicted to tho liquor habit, they would not
bring in so many new recruits, But it is not w!se
to prefer either.; both should be put under the
ban for both are enemies to man's welfare and
progress.
If any one doubts the evil effects of beer and
wine upon tho individual let him vis't the sa
loons and inquire into the habits of those who
have not yet gone beyond these beverages. He
will find that even beer and wine benumb the
better nature and deaden the sensibilities. They
wean the father, the husband and the son away
from tho family nd iirs intore3ts as effectually as
tho stronger drinks. Even before the drinker be
gins to stagger and reel he becomes brutish, sel
fish and inconsiderate. His thirst for beer and
wine will have more influence over him than the
hunger of wife or child, and the"coarBe com
panionship of tho bar room will have more
charms for him than the holier environment of
ino. home.
If the champions of the beer saloon and the
wine room desire real information as to the
character of the beverages which they are trying
to protect let them submit the question to the
woYnen voters of tho country and get their
opinion as to the effect of these kinds of liquor
upon men. They will, find that the female menv
bers of. tho family have accurate knowledge and
very positive convictions as to the effect of beer
and wine drinking, as well as to the effect of
whiskey drinking.
But there is also a political objection to the
proposition that beer and wine be excepted from
the prohibited drinks. The brewers of tho
United States have, in recent years, been the
most corrupting influence in our nation, as
shown by investigations conducted in several
states. No one interested in the purifying of
politics .can, for a moment, think of showing fa
vor to so mercenary and consciousless a group.
The objections to the sale and use of beer and
wine are so weighty and so manifest that any
truco entered into would be short lived. To
prohibit the sale and use of whiskies and strong
er alcoholic drinks, while permitting the manu
facture and sale of beer and wine, would simply
postpone the real struggle and strengthen the
adversary for tho final fight. Tho brewers would
be encouraged by any consideration shown them
and would use the government's partiality as an
argument in favor of tho legitimacy of their
business, just as tho licensed saloon seeks to
cover its criminality with the cloak of legality.
Tho brewers corruption fund has grown from
year to year as tho temperance sentiment has
moro and more menaced the industry. The in
vestigation in Texas disclosed the systematic ef
forts of tho brewers to pollute tho. electorate.
Huge sums have been spent throughout the
country in the support of lobbies and in the sub
sidizing oC newspapers. In Pennsylvania the
brewers, by taking refuge behind the objection
that their testimony would incriminate them,
confessed that they would be proven criminals
if they revealed tho business methods shown by
their books.
Tho fight that the brewers have made against
-woman suffrage is another evidence of their de
termination to oppose anything and everything
calculated to lessen their profits. They libel
womanhood while they use the bar -room vote to
defeat laws proposed for the protection of tho
.home.
The country understands that the issue is in-
divlsable. When, a short time ago, congress en
acted a law prohibiting tho sale of intoxicating
liquors to any man in uniform, it did not at
tempt to draw any distinction between whiskey
and beer; such an attempt would have been met
With derision.
Tho states that have prohibited saloons can
not be inveigled into a return to beer and wine.
When, in 1914, the state of Colorado adopted
constitutional prohibition tho city of Denver
registered its protect against the change, but
after a year's experience under a prohibitory
law the city of Denver, by a substantial major
ity, rejected an amendment which proposed to
reinstate beer. Anyttction by the national con
gress which would seem to sanction the use of
beer and wine would make more difficult the
enforcement of '-he laws in the states, now num
bering mere than half of the union, which op
erate alike against all kind, of alcoholic drinks.
, The fight must go on; there can be no com
promise. Whiskey and beer will stand or fall
together; it is the alcohol in both that makes
them a menace to health, to home s.nd to all
that is highest and best in the nation. A di
vision of the temperance forces would be disas
trous. Any attempt to make a distinction be
tween beer and whiskey would drive away more
voters than it would draw to the cause.
Those who have entered upon the work of
making the United States saloonless will, there
fore, give no heed to the plea of the brewer and
the wine maker. The manufacturers of these
so-called milder beverages have, during all the
years past, cast in their lot with the distillers.
They have been partners in a long career of law
lessness; the have made the bar room the bu
reau of information on crime; they have clus
tered about the saloon every form of vice and
sin. It is too late now for them to seek an ex
tension of life by promises to reform, or of sep
aration from their associates. The entire firm
of "Barleycorn, Gambrinus, and Bacchus" must
retire from business a dissolution of partner
ship is not sufficient.
W. J. BRYAN.
ITS GREATEST UTTERANCE
The following item appeared in the Louisville
Courier-Journal on July 4th:
"NOTICE
"Owing to the regulations of the federal gov
ernment in connection with the publication of
liouor advertisements the Couriers-Journal here
after will not accept any advertisements of this
character."
This is the Courier-Journal's greatest utter
ance. It is not as deep as a conviction ,or as
wide as a moral principle, "but it is enough."
It would have read better if it had said that the
advertisements would be excluded because alco
hol does injury, or out of deference to public
sentiment, now in a majority and increasing,
but even small concessions are gratefully re
ceived. No one can doubt the tremendous
sweep of prohibition when this prince of bour
bons among newspapers bows to the anti-advertising
law and leaves its readers without in
formation as to the relative merits of Kentucky's
famous brands, or where they can be secured.
COL. CALLAHAN'S NEW WORK
On another page will be found a clipping set
ting forth a new work to which Col. P. M. Calla
han has been called, namely, the superintending
of the army work of the Knights of Columbus.
This great organization, which is doing among
Catholics much the same work done by the Y.
M. C. A. among Protestants and the general
public, is co!lecting a million dollars for re
ligious weak among the soldiers in camp. It is
a worthy undertaking and no better man could
be found to supervise the work than Colonel
Callahan.
ANOTHER KING DETHRONED
On another page will be found a cartoon in
which the great artist McCutcheon presents the
fate that has overtaken whiskey. It is a bright
conception. Here's to McCutcheon, may he soon
have an opportunity to cartoon King Beer on
the Bier.
What Partnership
Means
The liquor lobb is insisting that the govern
ment can not afford to give up the revenue de
rived from the sale of liquor, it would i00k
like a government that can call for bids for a
two billion dollar loan and receive subscriptions
of three billions might be able to dispense with
the taxes collected on liquor. As it onl amounts
to a few dollars for each individual, the vnrr
can decide for himself whether he can afford tn
go into partnership with tho saloon in order n
avoid paying a few dollars more tax. The man
who helps to keep the saloon in existence must
share moral responsibility for what the saloon
does he is a partner without receiving any of
the financial profits.
What does the saloon do? It takes the hus
band away from the wife, leads him to violate
every vow he made at the marriage altar, and
causes her to die of a broken heart; it takes
the boy away from his mother, and makes him
forget the one who brought him into the world;
it takes the father away from his family, con
verts him into a brute and makes his children
flee when they hear his returning footfall. And
it takes the wife and mother, and the daughter
too, when it can. There is not a woman whose
virtue it would not sell not a man whose valor
it would not undermine. The saloon is the ally
of the white slave trade, and the first place the
police go when they are looking for a criminal.
It is society's putrid sore, pouring out sorrow
and sin and crime who desires to become a
partner of those who, knowing what the saloon
is and does, engage in the manufacture and sale
of intoxicating liquor? And yet we can not es
cape the responsibility of a partner if by our
votes we continue the existence of this menace
of the home, this most corrupting influence in
society and politics.
Now is the time to vote the saloon out of
every state and out of the nation.
W. J. BRYAN.
A NOBLE APPEAL
The appeal of the Russian peasantry, found
on another page, is noble and inspiring. Who
will say that men who can thus set forth their
aspirations are not fit tor gelf government'
MR. BRYAN SUPPORTS FOOD BILL
William Jennings Bryan, passing through
Washington June 21, gave out the following em
phatic statement in support of the administra
tion's food control bill:
"War is not a normal condition; it is ab
normal and requires extraordinary remedies.
The farmers are urged to increase the food
products and should be guaranteed against an
inadequate price; without such guarantee they
might be penalized for their patriotism. The
consumers, too, 'deserve protection from food
speculators. A government that can comman
deer the lives of its young men and call for tne
money of its older men should have power to
protect the whole people from the greed oi an
unpatriotic few. I am not afraid to trust uw
President with the powers which the fooa au
ministration bill proposes to confer. He acis m
the daylight and without a selfish interest.
president would abuse such a power.
Mr. Bryan is on his- way to Kentucky an"
other Mississippi valley states, where he J"
lecture at a number of chautauquas. Mr. Bryan
Chautauqua lectures are delivered in the
noon. In the evening of each day he will .m
at meetings arranged by the Democratic tor
ward League. ... nTU,eai
He is prefacing every address with apM
for the Red Cross and the Army and Navy i .
C. A., and is urging increased food vroto
as well as calling upon the people to I rJ"Jntly
money needed to carry on the war. " 'hwest
completed a lecture trip through the sou
from the Mississippi river to the Pacific coas
One of the officers of the Rotary Uib pro
poses a resolution honoring the est vaiu
during the year has performed the , mob
able public service. Why not? a
ternity would do this we would soon
national roll of honor that would inspire
deeds.
Mr. Bryan called on the ffJnZ
June 21str by appointment. " l"e ". tlie Rus
called on the Belgian commiscon anu
sian commission.