Thus those states which still remain in the grip of the liquor interests will draw to themselves, in spite of every effort, general lawlessness and increased inefficiency. Progress will be effectually throttled. The very riffraff of society will float into their borders, to become a terrible and terrifying menace, and to make it all the more difficult to overcome the demon of drink in any future battles that may arise.
Thus those states which still remain in the grip of the liquor interests will draw to themselves, in spite of every effort, general lawlessness and increased inefficiency. Progress will be effectually throttled. The very riffraff of society will float into their borders, to become a terrible and terrifying menace, and to make it all the more difficult to overcome the demon of drink in any future battles that may arise.
THE states that have not yet established prohibition need to do so as quickly as possible, for self-protection, if for no higher motive. For as each section of the country goes "dry," the undesirable, vicious, crime-laden element, by the very law of its being, gravitates to the states where liquors are still freely dispensed.
The prostitutes, the thieves, and every kind and character of crooks will migrate in great marauding droves to the states where they can find their congenial and beloved "wide open" cities and towns.
Fathers and mothers who have young boys and girls upon whom their hearts and hopes are centered, will find it more and more difficult to keep them from the ruinous, crushing, degrading influences of the vices that accompany the licensed saloon and the general traffic in alcoholic liquors.
Will the states that are now in the fight for prohibition allow themselves to become the dumping ground for their more progressive sister states, which have engraved the doom of the liquor business on their legislative walls? This is a serious question for the voters in the six states that have this question before them this fall. Every sacred thing in home, in church, and in society is at stake. Duty can point in but one direction.
