if . jvT3CJ'",'ri"V?Wk
The Commoner
20
it-;
Mitional Prohibition of the Liquor Traffic
';
Speech of Hon. John G. Cooper,
of'OhiO, in tho houso of feprosonta
tlVed, Friday, February 0, 1917.
()
Miy Speaker, In the fall of 1914
there' came a message across the At
lantic that Europe was at war. To
tllta 'American peoplo It was like. a
bolt of lightning coming from the
clear' sky. But nevertheless It was
true; and from that day to this there
has bdon raging In Europe tho most
Inhuman, bloody war since the world'
bpgah. Millions of men Ijavo lost
their lives, entire countries hav
been torn asunder by shot and shell,
the life's blood of tho best young
manhood has clotted upon the bat
tle field, millions of widows and or
phans havo been left desolate, with
no father's hand to guide arid prO-
tect them. Words would fall mo
woro I to attempt to describe to you
the terrible suffering, misery, and
want that has been brought to the
people of these warring nations dur-
ing tho moro than two yeArsof this
torriblo struggle. "'
On that eventful day when, the
bugle sounded the call for men to
join the colors and go tc the front,
there was no hesitating. 'Braye1 men
loft their homes and fireside arid
answered the call by the millions.
m Why? They had heard tho chal-
lenge of a crisis, and that is the
message that is being broriglit to
the American people today; "The';
challenge of a crlBis." "' ' -'"'
The Great American Crisis
Tho great crisis -"which is. vfacing
the American peoplo. at thifc 'time is
how.mu,h longer are we going .?to
tolerate an institution that teietxt-r
Ing at the very heartstrings of o.ur
people and undermining: thV foun
dations of our governments I re
fer to the un-American licensed lir J
quor iraiuc. now mucn longer, will
the United States government fte ,q,
partner to this evil, which, ia the
greatest, enemy to,, the home,,, to the
church, to the schools, to , the state
and tho nation that we have tqd.ay.7
Yes, my fellow countrymen',,. thjs is
trio question that is facing the
American peoplo today. -But we
thank- God that the battle to drive
tbi. litfuoy ; traffic oiit of ciarid" i
well under way, and todaWiiour
hearts, rejoice as we see the feni?
perance torces Bi;eauiiy marching? ioit
ward iV this great light to the; final
"How much longer arc wo,
tho people of tho United
States, going fo jtolcrato an
institution which is eating at
tho Very heartstrings of the
people and undermining tho
foundations of our government?"
'.
victory, when we shall see the total
abolition of tho liquor traffic from
the United States of America.
That day is not very far away, for
I believe that when the year 1920
shall havo nassed thero will not be
a drop of intoxicating liquor legally
manufactured or sold in the United
States of 'Arilerida for' beverage pur
poses. Yes, my friends wo have
rearson to rejoice today for the' won
derful progress that the temperance
movement lias made .during the last
20 years'.' Over half the. states in
the union have eliminated old John
Barelycorn from within their bor
ders; 27 ,out of the 48 states have
entered the dry column; of the 2,543
counties in this , country there are'
only 355 in which liquor is sold J 85
per, cent of our country is dry area
and, 65 per cent of our people live
in dry territory. Today we can
travel from coast to coast without
$oing into a wet state; starting at
tho Atlantic coast in old Virginia
we. go south. into North. Carolina,
then west through, Tennessee, Ar
kansas, and Oklahoma, then . north
west through i Kansas, Nebraska,,
North Dakota; Montana, Idaho, and
Oregon to the -Pacific coast without
touching a wet state. And. so the
temperance forces have gone. stead
ily marching on, until tho prospect
for atipn-wiae . prohibition loolcs
brighter than, it ever did before.
. T,ho, next logical, step to progress
aniij the '.abolition of the, liquer.afcafTic
will be the submission .by congress to
the several states of an, amendment
to, the federa.1 constitution for na
tional prohibition, which when rati
fied by three-fourths of the states of
the Unton will prohibit the manu-j
tafiujej q.'nA tee; Jd.5 irijtica,tingli
Uor throughout theatTon;. N
Tliow iilciuor .Traffic Coi-rupts Politics
V TJheHiquor traffic cfuglit to be abol
ished from" the standpoint of clean
politics. Wherever the traffic exists
we have corruption in politics. To
carry out their corrupt practices the
HqUor business will resort to any
thing that Is unlawful. It will not
stop at' violating the laws of God and
man, there is no legislator it will
not bribe, and no voter it will not
buy if it can. It' has its powerful
lobbies at the doors and on the floors
of our legislative halls, hounding
our public officials night and day
trying to force them to enact laws
that will be for its benefit and in
the interest of tho corrupt business.
The last state-wide fight for pro
hibition in Texas gives us an exam
ple of what it will do in trying tp
corrupt voters. During this cam
paign In Texas the liquor . interests
poured into that state moro than
$1,000,000 in trying to buy up the
electorate. A fearless- attorney- gen
eral in this state was determined to
prosecute them. He seized the books
of one brewery, and the evidence
that ho found should make the blush
of shame come to every- American
citizen that believes in clean, honest
politics. . ..
When they knew-they .wero caught
for violating tho election laws they
came into court and paid $275,000
fines and $50,000 court costs. In
the books that the attorney" general
seized were some very interesting
letters. One of. these letters was
from Adolplmg .;Busch?' tho big
brewer from Si. Louis; and I- have
hero an extract from it in which he
says:.
immmniniirnii tMiiititmii
1 m THOUSANDS S& I
1 UPON THOUSANDS OF I
I HEALTHY BOY5 & GIRLS EAT I
I G ra p e - Nuts I
1 mo CREAM EVERY 1
1 : MORNING BECAUSE 1
j WISE NtOTHERS KNOW I
Hi r'Thefis a Reason" I
B '" ' .,n"",n-,l"?.-Al'l1-!H!:1. mum g . ;' -4fc
,. w-,WBIW
' "It may cost us million and even'
moire to win this fight, hut what of
it?;1 i win gfvp $100,000 v "extra Tiriff
iieueaaury. x mean ro say oy tne
above that everyone, interested in
the business should bo willing to
sacrifice ali' and everything lie pos
sesses to save our business from 'be
ing ruined 'by a fariatldal part of the
KWVl'JLUl
- K . ..' . .
Other Examples of CpifptionM , ,.
My friends, we do not'need'to go
as- far as Texas to find this corrupt
hand in politics. We have recently
heard from them in tho states of
Indiana and Pennsylvania. The dis
graceful record of liquor corruption
in Terre Haute is still fresh in the
minds of the people of our. country.
In this city the saloon was the meet
ing place of corrupt politicians,, and
they had a great system established
for collecting money to help win at
the elections.
An investigation was made .with
regard to the corrupt condition in
politics in this city, and as a result
16 men were sent to the Federal
prison at Port Leavenworth, Kans.
When these men were sentenced,
.the judge who presided at their
trials matte the statement that 90
per cent of the corruption in politics
in Terre Haute could be traced to .the
saioon.
Again,, in Pennsylvania Ave -see the
liquor people violating the corrupt
practices law, and out of thelu0 in
dictments made a short time ago for
vWtion of the election laws 70 of
those indicted were brewery officials.
Now, according to press reports they
?Tre rjlng t0 ve the Jaws of the
United States set aside, claiming they
are within their lawful rights when
they spend $3,000,000 to'' corrupt
politics in Pennsylvania. And at
this point I desire to insert In the
Record an article which appeared in
the daily newspapers1 On December
10, 1916: ' - ' ' l i:
"Brewers Uphold Use of Money in
I VOk- 17, NQ. 3.
hpT?111? Plea denies Na
S? ilht, t0 Curb Activities
'Money Their Only Language
. "Pittsburgh, Pa., Dec, i6
'Attacking the Federal corrunt
practices act as unconstitutional n "
torneys for 75 brewing cornorn'.
indicted for. the alleged nE"
of money in the conia?
paign of ID 14 today in tho iif ,"
to have the indictments set aside
D. P. Hibbard, of Philadelphia
in his argument, declared that con
gress had nd more right to abrideo
the rights of the defendants than H
had to abridge the right of freJ -speech
or a free press, as the cam
paign carried on by the brewing in
terests had been "educational, not
corrupting." ' 0l
'"George E. Shaw, of Pittsburgh
cited principles laid down by Alex
ander Hamilton in support of hi3
contention that the federal govern
ment had t no ..right whatever to reg-"
ulate elections, and in defining tho
word "money" as used in tho act
said: 'The only language through
which a corporation can spoak is
through spending money.'
Mr. Speaker, the liquor people
themselves, admit the corruption and
evil of their business, and to verify
this statement I quote from the ex
act words which appeared in an ed
itorial, in the. National Liquor Deal
ers' Journal of September 10, 1913,
which is as follows:
Editorial, National Liquor Deal
ers' Journal.
"To us there is tho handwritinc
on the wall, and its interpretation
spells, doom. Tho liquor business is
to. blame. It seems incapable of
learning any lesson of' advancement
or, any motive, but profit. To per-"
pet.uate itself,, it. has formed alliances
with the slums that repel all con
scientious and patriotic citizens. It
deliberately aids tho most orrupt
political powers, and backs with all
of .its resources the most unworthy
men, the most corrupt and recreant
Officials. It does not aid to tho puri
fication of municipal', state, or na
tional' administrations.
There are billions of property in
volved, and an Industry of great
employing power and tax-paying
ability; but when tho people decide
that the truth is being told about
tho alcoholic HquOr trade, the money
value will not count, for conscience
aroused puts the value of man above
all things."
Mr. Speaker, thip terrible indict
ment against the liquor traffic is not
the statement of tho temperance
orator, but the words of the editor
of tho National Liquor Dealers
Journal.
The Saloon is the Breeding Plnco for
Prostitution and Crime
' That the saloon is largely respon
sible for immorality aim n ua
tion was demonstrated by the re
port of the Chicago vice commis
sion on the social evil in Chicago.
On page 34 of the report the com
mission has the following to ' say
about prosCitution and the saloon:
"The commission has found in its
investigation that tho most da11
ous immoral influence and the mosi
Important financial influence, ou-
side of the business of ProsUtut?"
as carried on in houses, is tho c uib
orderly saloon. The propnetorj o
these places are using prosW'i1' es a
an adjunct to the'sale of beer ana
liquor, and are allowing them . i
onenly solicit for immorn ; purpc
inx their rear rooms. This is
in spite -of the constant statement J
the brewer and liquor dealers tua
re-
o