No Compromise by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 9, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 15.

No Compromise.

By Editor

We do not see how any Christian who understands, or any true temperance man, can compromise on the question of the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors as beverages. The whole liquor traffic is an evil, or it is not. If it is an evil, then it ought to be prohibited. It is not an argument of any force to say that the law will be broken. Such an argument would lie with equal force against the prohibition of stealing, or rape, or gambling, or murder. Prostitution is wrong, and should be prohibited; but why not high-license a few houses, and so regulate it? Gambling is wrong, and should be prohibited; but why not high-license for revenue two or three select gambling dens, and thereby make it respectable? Murder is wrong, and should be prohibited; but why not license one or two shops in a town or city, to kill under certain regulations? If the drink traffic and its results are evil, every argument for license or regulation falls flat; no monetary consideration, no help, no government revenues, can compensate for the misery of every sort which follows in its path. Just as soon as one compromises to the regulation of the thing, it goes on, and the very licensing of a few "respectable" liquor-selling places makes it all the more potent for evil. If it takes one year, or one thousand years, or if the thing is never prohibited, the true temperance man will stand square on the prohibition question.