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Show POTWTAM BY fflIP ' PAL1M(G-Mg MCTMOT1 MMATlEi Scholarly Presentation Upset Fallacies Knocked Out By Facts Theoretical Virtue vs. Character It in I SALT LAKE CITY "DRUNK AND DRESSED UP?" On Sunday last in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Right The third step in Bishop Spalding's argument'w&s- tionTseldom become drunkards.-The amy of physical and ' - Reverend F. S Spalding, Bishop of the Episcopal diocese That in case of the passage of a prohibition law, it would mental wrecks, of which the temperance orators prate so of Utah, delivered an argument in behalf of the cause of be only the liquor interests who would establish "blind much, is recruited from the children of total abstainers the "drys" in this campaign. Bishop Spalding is a man tigers" and defy the law. the children who have never been trained to use their of scholarly attainments, ability and experience and it ' . N I k V judgment. may reasonably be presumed that his exposition repre- Liquor Interests INOt LaWDrcaKCn Again, Bishop Spalding declared that those who "sin- sents the best that the Anti-Liquor League has to put Another fallacy! A statement not borne out by the cerely believe" that their personal liberty gives them tha forth in urging the voters of Salt Lake City and Utah to records of any state or section that has been voted "dry!" right to drink as they please, are mistaken. - ' vote "Against Sale" on the 27th of June. In these states and sections the men who defy the law and K. n. , ' - . i. tt . ..... ' sell liquor are men who would never be given a license to No H'S tO DcbflUCh Himself "air But Misinformed conduct a legally regulated saloon in any community. That depends solely upon the construction you place To the credit of Bishop Spalding be it said that his Next, Bishop Spalding declared: That laws grow out upon the words "as they please." It is true that no man argument was eminently fair and unimpassioned, from of customs and institutions and are essential to the pres- has a "right," in the moral sense of the word, to debauch his viewpoint. He did not call names, he did not denounce, ervation-of liberty. himself and neglect his wife and family, but there are well nor indulge in invective or silly sarcasm, as have many of . - defined and long accepted laws to cover cases of this kind, the speakers who have espoused the "dry" cause. No . IS It Klght Or Wrong f It is equally true that no man, no combination of men, doubt, to use his own phrase, he "sincerely believed" all Quite true as an abstract principle, but in no wise possesses the "right," in the same sense of the term, to ' the statements he made and all the conclusions he reached. applicable to the case in point! The question as to whether deprive any man of the use of a drink from which he de- Let us examine his argument and determine to what ex- the law is right or wrong lies at the root of the whole mat- rives both benefit and pleasure. tent it is applicable to the issues at stake in this cam- ter. And it needs no "law from On High" or on the stat- Next, Bishop Spalding declares that a city, like an in- paign. . ute books to tell man what is right and what is wrong dividual, can get drunk and imagine it is prosperous, when T n common sense and conscience do that. it is not. , Temperance VS. Prohibition Out of "customs and institutions" have grown many I If I k Ct D Bishop Spalding's first statement was to the effect laws that were palpably wrong and unjust. There was a IS Mil Lake Llty UriinK. that everyone believes in temperance and the only ques- time in England when there were seventeen offenses This is a fine figure of speech and sounds well, but tion at issue is how best to attain it. against the law that were punishable by death, as, for in- that is the extent of it. Construed logically, it can have . . And from this he illogically deduced the conclusion stance, the killing by a peasant of a rabbit on the game but one meaning, and that is that the men who govern the that prohibition is a good thing. preserve of the noble who owned the land. There was a city and mold its public opinion are drunkards who ar It is admitted that most sober minded, well balanced time in the history of America when a severe penalty was not in their right minds. Do you believe it? men and women believe in temperance, but to anyone imposed for smoking within a mile of any residence, for The next stage of Bishop Spalding's argument is the with capacity to think it is apparent that there is as wide building a fire in a church, for taking the name of God in statement that modern science has proved conclusively a gulf between temperance and prohibition, as there is Vain. Many other illustrations of foolish and clearly evil that the use of alcohol, even in the smallest quantities, is between temperance and the abuse of any food or drink. iaw8 might be cited, but these are sufficient to demon- detrimental to the human system. The very meaning of the word "temperance" is "modera- onstrate that the efficacy and justness of a law lies in the M M r4 N t Ah fa tion" it cannot be otherwise construed. How unfair to fundamental principle, "Is it right?" . Master MinOS HOC ADSiamerS base a prohibition argument upon the self-evident declar- " The best answer to this broad and unqualified asser ation that temperance is approved by all. - Influence of Environment tion is the record of history, which is conclusive of the As the next step in his argument the Bishop pointed Next, the Bishop said: Environment exerts ninety- - fact that A GREAT MAJORITY OF THE MEN WHO out that the liquor interest is impersonal, like a corpora- nine per cent of the influences which form character. HAVE MOLDED THE IDEAS OF THE WORLD, WHO . tion, and hence could be reached only through legislation. There are few scientists and psychologists who would HAVE ACCOMPLISHED ITS UPLIFT, HAVE NOT f c it aSree with that statement. If it is true, how will you ac- BEEN TOTAL ABSTAINERS. It is no argument to an- A od I -evident railacy count for the infinitely varied product of humanity pro- swer: "They would have been better without alcohol," This is a self evident fallacy in the conclusion reached. duced under the same environment? But if, for the sake for the man who thinks cannot but reply: "Why do not The speaker cited Rockefeller and Carnegie as being the of argument, you admit the statement to be true, it is an the total abstainers accomplish as much as the moderate personification of the oil and steel trusts. But consider: argument in favor of the properly regulated saloon, as an drinkers?" Would the assassination of either in any way destroy environment of law abiding citizens is better for the un- Finally, says the Bishop, the record shows that pro either of these gigantic combinations of capital? formed minds than an environment of lawbreakers. hibition DOES prohibit. NOW, CONSIDER THE FACTS. Statistics prove ' . . . that the consumption of liquor in the United states has Temptation and Character Refuted by Criminal Statistics more than kept pace with the increase in population, in Bishop Spalding's argument that children should This needs only one answer. The record in "dry" spite of the vast area that has been voted "dry." Mani- not be unduly exposed to temptation, is true in the ab- states shows no less consumption of liquor, no less drunk- festly, then, the only way to spoil the business of the stract, but as applied to.the prohibition question is based enness and no more moral uplift than in the "wet" states, liquor interests is by educating and training people so upon the utterly false premise that the mere taking of a And this record is drawn, not from the opinion of a bishop, that they will not demand liquor, and not through so- drink is wrong in the act itself. It is well known that the ' who never entered a saloon, but from the criminal statis- called prohibitive legislative enactments. children of fathers and mothers, who use liquor in modera- tics of arrests and offenses against the law I WHAT DO YOU THINK Of THE SOUNDNESS OF THE BISHOP'S VIEWS? Manufacturers and Business Men's Association of Utah 908-11 BOSTON BUILDING V - , , -J) - - I . II.- I ' , |