What Statesmen Say About Drink
THE HON. FRED N. DOW, OF MAINE: "Neither in Maine or elsewhere has the liquor interest ever respected a popular expression when this was hostile to its trade. It never will. Never in Maine or elsewhere has it obeyed a law or license that interfered with its profits." THE HON. JAMES G. BLAINE: "Intemperance has steadily decreased in the state since the first enactment of the prohibitory law, until now it can be said with truth that there is no equal number of people in the Anglo-Saxon world among whom so small an amount of intoxicating liquors is consumed as among the 650,000 inhabitants of Maine. The people of Maine are industrious and provident, and wise laws have aided them. They are sober, earnest, and thrifty." THE HON. ELBRIDGE GERRY: "It has been frequently observed that rum is injurious to the morals of the people. If I could have my wish, it would not be to diminish but to annihilate the use of it, both foreign and domestic, within the United States." JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN: "If I could destroy to-morrow the desire for strong drink in the people of England, what changes we should see! We should see our jails and workhouses empty. We should see more lives saved in twelve months than are consumed in a century of bitter and savage war." ABRAHAM LINCOLN: "Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by the total and final banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks, seems to me not now an open question. Three fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and I believe all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts." THE RIGHT HON. D. LLOYD-GEORGE, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER IN GREAT BRITAIN: "We have discovered that the liquor traffic in this country is a greater handicap to our trade, our commerce, and our industry than all the tariffs in the world put together." WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE: "I can not permit a question of mere revenue to be considered alongside of morals; but give me a sober population, not wasting their earnings in strong drink, and I will know where to get my revenue." THE HON. WILLIAM J. BRYAN: "Any unit, however small or large, should be permitted15to rid itself of the saloon or place restrictions upon the sale of liquor within the unit, the larger unit controlling the smaller whenever its influence for evil can no more be confined to the building in which it is conducted than can the odors of a slaughterhouse be confined to the block in which it is located."