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"If revolutions are to be measured by the great amount of good they do, and the small amount of harm they do, then the overthrow of the liquor traffic will be the greatest revolution in the history of the world."-ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

K

PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX

TILDEN FOUNDATIONS

THE SALOON

(Argument made in the present (1914) campaign against the Saloon.)

Some kind words as to former addresses:

"I heard Judge William H. Wallace's great argument against the saloon (made in St. Louis in 1908), which should be heard in every part of Missouri. I consider him one of the ablest men in Missouri or of America. I wish that Judge Wallace could speak in every State of our Republic."-Dr. W. B. Palmore (Editor St. Louis Christian Advocate.)

"I heard Judge William H. Wallace in the Hall of Representatives at Jefferson City, on the liquor question in answer to the millionaires and brewers of St. Louis. His address was a masterpiece of eloquence, law and logic, absolutely overwhelming and unanswerable. I was the greatest lecture I ever heard on the subject. Judge Wallace is one of the greatest Christian statesmen in America."-Dr. Ray Palmer (formerly pastor First Baptist Church, Jefferson City, Mo.)

Note: The argument which follows cost the speaker far more labor and research than either the one referred to by Dr. Palmore or the one referred to by Dr. Palmer. In fact it has been his purpose to have the present address represent succinctly the net result of the labor of five years devoted largely to good government and the temperance cause. His aim has been to make it helpful to busy persons without leisure for extended research as well as to those desiring to write an article or deliver an address against the liquor traffic. It answers questions continually being asked him through the mails and otherwise. It is believed that it states the law correctly, gives sound arguments against the saloon and makes reply to all the sophistries resorted to by the advocates of intoxicating liquor. The statistics are not wearisome and yet it is believed are all that are necessary. The figures with reference

to the revenue from liquor in Missouri and the tremendous expense of the saloon to the people have not been merely estimated or guessed at. They have been obtained by a long and painstaking examination of public records and documents, aided by the experience of the speaker as a lawyer and an officer. They are accurate. It is believed they can be found collated no where else. Hoping that an address that has cost extended and careful labor may prove useful and helpful, it is herewith printed and submitted to the kind consideration of the public.

Ladies and Gentlemen:

THE ARGUMENT.

HE maintenance or overthrow of the saloon presents the greatest problem in the history of the Republic. It is a greater problem than that of the tariff or the currency or even that of slavery. Its revenue, on the one hand, is so tremendous, and its waste on the other hand is so much more tremendous, that it overtops all other questions in economics. It goes to the very life of our institutions, for orderly liberty is involved in the issue. In public morals no other problem has ever approached it in importance. Upon its proper solution is largely dependent the perpetuity of the home, the basis of our civilization. Crime is feasting and fattening more and more as the problem remains in abeyance. The Sabbath, God's first institution on earth, hangs in the balance. The provisions of our constitutions and the decisions of our courts, declaring the God of the Bible to be the God of America, are being constantly assailed by the advocates of intoxicating liquor. What our fathers regarded as most sacred and holy, and as such committed to our keeping, will be deeply affected by the outcome.

The magnitude of this problem becomes further apparent when we pause to consider the stupendous proportions to which the saloon has grown and the powerful hold it has secured upon the appetites and habits of thousands of our people. It is true the temperance forces have made marvelous progress in the past few years, but the use of intoxicating liquor is still a colossal evil, and much remains to be done. As showing the magnitude of the problem, your attention is invited to the following figures: There are in the United States 216,144 persons licensed to retail liquor. This does not include, of course, illicit sellers of liquor, of whom no record can be kept. These, it is believed, would swell the number of liquor sellers to 250,000, which is the usual figure at which statisticians place our retailers of intoxicants. The number of gallons of liquor consumed in 1913 was 2,223,420,461. The per capita consumption was 22.68 gallons. Of this 1.50 gallons was spirits (whiskey), .56 gallons was wine and 20.62 gallons was beer. In 1840 the per capita consumption of spirits was 2.52 gallons as against 1.50 gallons in 1913. In 1840 the per

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"We believe the teachings of science, experience and the Golden Rule combine to testify against the traffic in alcoholic liquors as a drink, and that the homes of America, which are the citadels of patriotism, purity and happiness, have no enemy so relentless as the American saloon."-FRANCES E. WILLARD.

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