Gain That Is Loss

Pacific Press Publishing Association

FromSigns of the Times, Prohibition Special

Gain That Is Loss

BILLY SUNDAY says: "Some people say the government makes money out of the saloon revenue. Suppose you sold a butcher knife to a man, and he then turned around and ran it through your boy. How much would you make on the deal? For every dollar of revenue that the liquor interests pay into the treasury — stained with the blood of women and children — we have to go down into our pockets and pay out twenty dollars to support the products of the grogshops. What fools we are! We have to pay down twenty dollars for every one they give us. They are a generous crowd.

"Suppose you sold a man a box of matches, and he took one and set fire to your store. How much money would you make on the sale? We don't need the money from the saloon bad enough to snatch bread away from women and children. Read your tax receipts, and see what it costs you. You don't have to read it in the jails, penitentiaries, and insane asylums, but read it in your tax receipts. There isn't a town in America where the taxes are higher than where the saloons are, and everybody knows it."

When the saloons go, the money formerly spent for drink is used for food and clothing.