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The Comm
oner
Prohibition Legislation
Abstract of address delivered by William
Jennings Bryan before the Anti-Saloon Leagiie
convention, Washington, D. C., Dec. 11, 1917.
Before taking up legislation relating to the
liquor question, . allow me to Bay,' by way of
preface that" every enemy of the saloon should
be a friend of woman suffrage-and should do
all in his power to secure the franchise for wo
man, for she is our greatest ally in the light
against alcohol- While some advocates of pro
hibition have not supported woman's suffrage
and while some of the advocates of woman's
suffrage hav6 not supported prohibition, the
vote on the two subjects is almost identical. At
least seventy-five per cent of all the men who
vote for one will vote for. the other, and the
per cent voting for both will in some places run
to eighty or ninety per cent. Therefore,, it is not
out of place at an Anti-Saloon League meeting
to urge the importance of an extension of suf
frage to women in every state, and by an amend
ment to the federal constitution. Woman's
suffrage haptens, prohibition, and prohibition
ought to make woman's suffrage more certain.
Congress will have before it three proposi
tions relating' to ,tlie liquor traffic:
(1) The brqadpning of the law against ad
vertising of intoxicating liquors.
(2) The suspension, during the war, of the
manufacture of beer.
(3) The submission of a prohibition amend
ment to the federal constitution.
Let me -spend a moment's time on the first
and second propos'tions bef jr taking up prohi
bition. It has recently been found that the law
passed at the last session is not broad enough
to prohibit vfheVadvertisement of be:r and wine
when the advertisement is of a general charac
ter without the mention of an. particular brand
of liquor, The law as it has been constru'd
leavei the door ppen for wholesale subsidizing
of the press, and advantage is already being
taken of thig construction. , The brewers have
entered upon an attempt to sUence the press of
the United tates by advertising contracts which
will be made with all the papers unscrupulous
enough to accept the kibe.
The Detroit Times of November 28th con
tained a letter written vby Mr. James Schemer
horn, editor and owner of the i.aper, decl'n"ng
to enter into the advertising contract proposed,
although three other prominent papers in De
troit have accepted the contract and published
the first instalment which is a defense of the
use of beer. The offer of &ve thousand lines of
advertising matter at the rtb-ular rate is a very
tempting offer, and the value of the advertising
to the brewers is not in the conversions they
expect to make, but in the silencing of the press,
wh ch Will have a pecuniary reason for not
Jl-eaking out against the tieer crusade. I ven
ture to suggest that a congress, which has in'
both houses a majority in favor of national
Prohibition, can hardly do less than broaden the
law prohibiting the publication of advertising
matter so as t- include anything, no matter
jvhat its character, that is paid for by liquor in
terests and intended to affect either the use of
mtox.cating liquors or legislation on the sub
ject. Second. The arguments in favor of the sus
pension of the manufacture of beer during the
war are conclusive.
The manufacturers of beer "have been in the
nauit of using about twice as much of ourfood
"ujtb as the distillers have been using in the
making of whisky. If we need all the food grains
rf tae taMef as we certainly shall dur'ng the
war, then if it is wise to .prohibit the conversion
m , , tuffB int0 whisky. and thus save one
mll is three t?mes as wjtse t0 Prohibit the
thh?i ture of bcer also and save the tlirQe"
aw ii order of th0 President reducing the
'touoiic content in beer to three par cent and
Ki by th,rty Ier cent th amount of grMn
rS ii breweriea can use, is a step "in the
bv" direction, but it does not'preclude ac'ion
turf PgiFess suspending entirely thr manufac
son wi Dn the contrary, it furnishes rea
wny congress should act. The President
hl80H'c ? om who were drawn Into
them.
was
d?terraedffrom & SE? 'V
that the enttVau by the fear
of beer would diSSf 7L , ?', tho mafactur
whisky, TwWch?hh.dnl!lk0ni t0 th U8e of
hand. But conirrw ia tw,0:year VW on
&!; wh,8ky ""
fore congress affecting the liquor traffic if it
were necessary to make a trade, the advocate,
legislation on all other phases of the liauor
pruoehibi?iofn: votcs ne. to -b-tUte
fnrTnLarglJment3,in favor oC Prohibition may,
for convenience, be divided into three class
viz., economic reasons, moral reasons and pat
riotic reasons.
The -economic reasons show conclusively th.-t
the use of alcohol'c liquors, even in moderation,
lessen physical, mental and moral efficiency, im
pair productive power, shorten the life expect
ancy, and increase accidents and injuries, not
to speak of the acknowledged effect of alcohol
in producing cr'me, pauperism and insanity.
The moral reasons are also conclusive. The
saloon is the center of vice and sin. It is a
menace to the morals of a community Over
the doorway of the saloon' might well be wr.t
ten, "Leave hope beh'nd who enter here."
The saloon can not exist w'thout votes, Pnd
those who, by their votes, bring it into exMM e
or continue its 1 fe can not escape moral rrsp n
.sibility for the harm 't doe3. The citizen f a
community who votes for the license of sa'o rs
in his town is the moral partner of the 'iqu r
dealer, and must share w'th the saloon ke p r
moral responsibility for all the ev'l done by the
saloon which his vote helped to bring into ex
istence. And the responsibility of the legislator 's no
less than the responsibility of the Jdividual
voter. We haw. reached the crisis in the fig t
against the saloon. Twenty-nine state:, have
banished drinking places by constitutional pro
vision or by statute, and six states w'll vote up
cm the question next year. Other states 1 ke
Texas and Kentucky are trying to secure an op
portunity to vote. Now an opportunity is of
fered to make the nation saloonless This crn
be done by the adoption of an amendment to
the federal constitution. The semJe has already
passed the necessary resolution by a vote of
sixty-five to twenty-five more than three to one.
The vote is soon to be taken in the house. If two
thirds vote Yes, the question will, be submitted
to the states, and three-fourths of the states, by
affirmative act'on, can make the amendment a
part of our federal constitution. One vo'e n
the house may determine the question. The
man who votes no and thus throws his Influence
on the side f the continuation of the saloon
can not escape moral responsibilty if his vo'e
helps to defeat the submission of the amend
ment. But at this time the friends of the amendment
are able to add patriotic arguments to the econ
omic and moral arguments. The adaption rf
the amendment is the most effective way of sav
ing for food the grains tha might otherwise be
converted into alcoholic liquors. The abo'itlrn
of the liquor traffic will enable the nat'on to ufq
one hundred per cent of its man power both in
battle and in the field of industry. In this u
preme moment we need to have our men at th-.r
best whether they carry arms or produce fo d
and ammunition for our soldiers.
Prohibition will not only strengthen those who
flrlit and fall, but it wll save from demora liga
tion and for larger work at home those whose
liVLetameScPaaiieyour attention to an item of news
hnt IrTeared in the press recently. The New
York naner of Monday morning, the 3rd, car-
iSS and detailed accounts of the arrests
ried long and i ueiai ic gunday
that were adeat New uo described almost
nght before Conditio- were
"JbS1 cStl. a view to the ruin of
ni8 braZtttl n Ron ii II ,... .. . ..
belnc mad n .7: "i" ur.."0,0,
cause of nrnhmlmV0 i,ad no 'mPathy with the
Ule. hnvP rJ hlb,Uon- in other cltlct the author
'es have boon warned that army camnn wi.i
ttir mun t..nini . ..
nl,ft,iin. .. , wipui i vn comic uu
nhHo"CC k thc law8 made f0- the protection of
be moved unless
soldiers.
th oroin A8t ?ath.UC 8t0ry COm0B frni aCrOM
minr ,n An Amcr,C1-' y who went to fight
conrtn, m ?0Untry,B flaK ln Fran- a boon
Uary H an,d hun "" American m!l
or J?vl?5r,t,p' f? wH "Pon, and murdor
1J f0VP" year old French g'rl. The Kovorn
Snn" ttWaan!nKt0 las approved of hl exoou-
nmW Ti CXUS0 thC boy gaVC Waa that he WW
na L n ll?fl?cnci of ,lfuor- What supremo
pathos In h s fate! He goes to do a patr'ofs
lum ,Hl8 h,i8 ,,f0 "Pn th0 Eaows as a
pena ty for a crimo committed while he was
drunk! And, yot, thc man who for monty fur
n shed him the lquor that fired ha blood Is al
loved to continue the Infamous business of man
ufacturing criminals! Ih it not timo to lay tho
hand of thc law Upofn tho man hfjher up?
There are two arguments that ought to work
pow, rfully in favor of subm'sslon of the prohi
bition amendment.
1. Nearly, 'f not all, tho members of tho
house who are themselves opposod to prohibi
tion, were n favor of the ref . rendum when tho
District of Columb'a bill was passed. And they
were in favor of It in spite of tho fact that thoro
is no mach'nery in tho dlstr'ct for tho taking
of a vote, In spite of thr fact that othor ques
tions, no matter of what magnitude, are not sub
mitted to the voters of th. dlstr ct. Surely thoso
who were anxious to give the peoplo of tho dis
trict a chance to vote on the saloon quest'on
can not refuse to givo to th states of the nallon
an opportunity to vote upon tho const tutlon.il
amendnient. Every amendment wh ch has been
adopted Is a precedent. What i-xcus: can a man
give for voting agiinst the submission of the
prohibition amendment after having voted for a
referendum on saloons 'n the d strict?
But above and b.yoml all other arguments ot
a patriot'c character is the argument that tho
submission of this amendment will help us to
win the war, not only by increasing the cJli
e'ency of both citizens and soldiers, but because
it will declare to the world our faith In the dem
ocracy wh'ch we are trying to extend by the wnr.
The essence of democracy Is the right of tho
people to rule, a right upon wh'ch the Pres
d nt has placed emphas's 'n his eloquent appeal
to the German people. IT WILL STRENGTHEN
US IN OUR FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY ELSE
WHERE TO RECOGNIZE THE CLAIMS OF
- DEMOCRACY HERE. More than a million men
in uniform tand ready to give their lives tor
the promotion of democracy in Germany and
Ausjrla, and he people in thc Un'tnl Stat"s have
already subscribed more than five billion dollars
to support thc government In its fight for dem
ocracy. In tho light of what we arc doing
abroadhow can any member of congrrss oppose
a resolnt'on so thoroughly In harmony wHh the
democrats spirt: cf our country and i f the ago
as the resolutior which subm'ts to the states of
the Union the question of making thc salpon an
outlaw In the land?
Democracy nrans the r'ght of thc peop'e to
rule and that rule Is generally the rule "f a ma
ior'ty But in this case, wo ask not that a ma
jority shall have the right to drci-'e the liquor
question but that the majority shall have that
right when it is supported not by one-half of
the states of the Union or by two-thirds of the
states of the Un'on but by THREE-FOURTHS
OF ALL THE STATES.
The hour has struck for the na'ion to act.
Every reason that can move a human mind or
heart can be summoned to the aid of this cauie
in which the home and the highest Interests of
our country and humanity are p'U d -giin t the
hreweries, the distilleries, and the saloons.
Over a hundred Nebraska farmers petitioned
fhP state railway commission the other day ask
ing l al l" securing cars with which to carry
thlir 600.000 bushels of wheat to market Th:y
have held this wheat for weeks, but the r re
nulsts for cars were denied by the railroad. This
s in cresting in view of the fact that it was only
1 few weeks ago that big business was accusing
the farmers of holding the'r wheat bscause of
dissatisfaction over the government price guar-anty.