TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2784, 24 July 1907, Page 13

TEMPERANCE COLUMN.

• THE LATEST FROM AMERICA. ; :"|: "| In continuation o£ last week's notes, the 1 following- extracts make interesting read- ■ t ing: — ; • Testimonies in Favour of Prohibition. ! | The following testimonies in favour of I prohibition were read "by Dr Sheldon at 1 ; his reception In London: — ;] His Excellency E. "W. Hook, Governor, 1 j State of Kansas. — " Prohibition has been j the organic and statutory policy of this " J State for a. Quarter of a century, and I " j wish to supplement Dr Sheldon's message 1 J to the lovers of good government across the sea. with "the" assurance that it has been a 1 great «ucoess in this State, in spite of the ' adverse conditions under which' the experi- ■ ment has been tried and the bitter and ' persistent opposition of a powerful foe. 1 a Nowhere, perhaps, on earth dwell a million 1 * and a-half of people enjoying a greater ! • degree of material .prosperity. More than. 1 j one-half or -the entire- territory I United) States is now under the prohibitory > policy through local option, chiefly outside ' j the State of '.Kansas. Our example is • ; spreading jn, this ' country, and it is the • J wish of the writer, of .this letter that these ■ | words *>f his may help Dr Sheldon to spread i ', the good news to our common brotherhood i v everywhere he may go." | Mr W. R. Stubbs, late Speaker of the ' ! House, Kansas legislature. — " I wish to ] cay that, in my judgment, the practical results from this law in Kanses ai'e more . satisfactory and beneficial than any method I have ever known of handling the liquor ( traffic." | Mr William A. Johnston, Chief Justice of Supreme Court, Kansas.—" Since the sale of liquor as a beverage has been placed under the ban of the law drunkenness has 1 become rare, vice and crime have been

aye been

I substantially lessened, and the expense of • government greatly reduced. Earnings ■ which formerly were squandered for drink ' , are now expended for the education of chill dren, the comforts of the family, and the • improvement of the home." > I Editor of Topeka Daily Herald.—" To • doubt the wisdom of the prohibition policy, i of Kanees is to take issue with common • sense. On the last day of the year just closed, 84 out of 105 counties in the State t ' were without a single pauper, and 35 county : gaols, were absolutely empty. The people i ( throughout the State are nappy, prosperous, ■ . 'and contented." j Dr Sheldon himself 'said, when addressing a crowded meeting at Wolverhampton : — j "The work in which they were engaged i , was an effort to bring the world out of dark- ( ness into light. It was with this object in view that he came to tell* his simple story ; of prohibition in Kansas. One of the results ] of that act had been to put the liquor i .* trade out of four-fifths of the entire State. They had, however, yet to prevent liquor coming across their State from Missouri. A brewer in Kansas was a criminal. They , 'had no .distillery in _ the. State, and there were no brewers. In England he found they put "brewers into mayoral chairs. That would>be impossible in Kansas, as men who sold liquor were prohibited from holding any public office. One-eighth of the popula- . tion of America was black, and the white I man was afraid of the negro when he was jin liquor. Efforts were therefore being made to drive out liquor from among them. : He could prcduce 10,000 school teachers , from Kansas, and each believed in prohibition; also, the Governor of the State, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and editors of nearly all the newspapers— and they had 825 newspapers. Most of the business men in Kansas stood by their cause, and he did not know one of the 150 ministers in Kansas who touched a drop of , liquor." i The Experience of Maine.— The experience of Maine is exactly similar to that of Kansas. Recently, in reply to a statement that " prohibition was a failure " in Maine, the following facts and figures were published by Congressman Littkfield, of Maine: — "Maine has in her savings banks 95.22d0l for every inhabitant; Illinois has only 13.43d01 ; Kentucky, none; Ohio. 10.71 dol ; Pennsylvania 16.72d01 ; and while the population of Maine since 1850 has increased ! only 20 per cent., h«r valuation per capita ; has increased 252 per cent. From 1850 to i 1890 the percentage of paupers increased in Illinois 176 per cent. ; in Kentucky. 172 ; per cent. ; in Ohio, 138 per cent. ; while in , Maine the percentage of paupers has de- , creased 145 per cent. Massachusetts is a . local option State with license, as a rule, in her large cities. In 1898 she had 7554 , prisoners, or 33 for every 10.000 people ; while Maine had 841. or 13 for every . 10.000 people."— New York Defender, 9th May. 1907 . Dr Starr-Jordan. President Inland Stanford University. — Indirectly in his lecture on the "Call of the Twentieth Century." ' Dr Starr- Jordan. President of the Leland Stanford University. California, bears valuable testimony to the importance of absti- ■ nence from alcoholic drinks. In dealing j with the men whom the century does ndH \ want, he makes pointed reference to pubJicI house loafers. In describing the men who j are required for the special work of the j century, he pivos the foremost place to men of a sober mind. And by sober in this con- , nection ho means men who have not 1 poisoned tho fine tissues of the brain by indulgence in alcoholic drinks. Speakinsr, of cours-e, from the American standpoint. ■ ho refers to the practice 1 confirmation of . his views that is given by thf extent to , which men who use alcohol at all are being ; got rid of by merchants, raihvav companies, " and other employers of the hicrher prarlcs |of labour. Supposing, he sayp. that the evils of drinkintr may. in your opinion, be exaggerated by the ordinary temperance orator, that is no reason for ignoring what is now a plain fact, that alcohol is at war ' with all that mak«*s for the true progress of (be century. — Vanauard. Two Notable Soldiers. — General U. S. Grant learned by sad experience the dangers of drink, and for years before his death was ai abstainer. His son, General Frederick Dent Grant, recently roacV* a statement, and personally verified it, for the • Tntarior: — "Tell young men I do not drink a. drop of linuor; have not for 18 years. I am afraid to drink it. I tried to drink with extreme moderation, because I krew that alcohol is the worst poison; but T found it was an absolute impossibility to drink modcrarelv. Because moderate drinking is a practical impossibility, I be- , rame an absolute teetotaler — a crank, if 1 yon please. Ninety -five ocr cent, of the de- ! scrtions and acts of lawlessness in the arrnv are due to drink. If I had the greatest j appointive l-owers in the country, no man A would get even the smallest appointment j

from me unless he shoved proof of his absolute teetotalisni. As it is, of my own appointees, the member.* of my staff, not one of them touches s drop. They know better." — People's Friend, Tasmania, July. ISO 7. "* ' ■