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Show Interrupted every few minutes by outbursts of enthusiasm In the form of hand-clapping and cheering by an audience that rilled every scat and overflowed Into the nlBles of tho Or-phoum Or-phoum theater, Clarence Darrow, the noted Chicago attorney, defender of the laboring man and legal representative represent-ative of tho McNamara brothers, delivered de-livered nn address asnlnst prohibition prohibi-tion Inst evening. At all times upholding the wage corner, Attorney Darrow directed his satirical offort equally upon the rich and tho prohibitionist He arraigned capitalism nnd prohibition on the Judgment Judg-ment seat of flaming oloquence. Tho distinguished visitor devoted more attention at-tention to the personal liberty of tho individual as against tho human law of tho prohibitionist than he did to the physical effects of intoxicating liquor li-quor or the JuBtnesB or Injustice of wiping out a profitable business Noticeable throughout the address, Mr. Darrow made no defenso of liquor with regard to its supposed benefits, lather he doubted such an assertion and Intimated that Intoxicants might even he had for the Individual, But his point was the personal liberty with which the prohibitionist, bo asserts, as-serts, Is trying to tamper and ho regards re-gards personal liberty as a mo3t sac-red sac-red thing. The mooting last evening marked one of the most enthusiastic gatherings gather-ings of the "wet'' campaign Mr. Darrow apparently won the admiration admira-tion and approbation of a vast majority majori-ty of his listeners with every sentence. sen-tence. Every seat In tho theator was occupied when Attorney C. E. Boyd, acting as chairman of the meeting, Introduced the Chicago man as "ono of the greatest defenders of liberty in America." The speaker did not waste words lu getting Into the thick of his arguinont, declaring at tho outset that it was one thing to vote a town "dry" and another thing to vote the people "dry." He declared that If It were possible to vote tho people "dry" he would thon vole "dry." The speaker said that he didn't care what Kansas City or Pocatello said about It and he was not interested In Its eff.ects on business. There Is nothing In tho world worth so much as liberty, no matter what price Is paid for It, asserted as-serted the ottornoy. "Prohibitionists are sincere and honest, hut It takes more than sincerity sin-cerity and honesty to govern a country coun-try or a city properly it takes brains," continued the speaker. "I believe In local option in every inau doing his own local optioning. Wo mav eat too much but I'd rather die of "indigestion than have my ifood moasured out to mo. "I'm willing to leave tho prohibitionist prohibi-tionist dry I'm not fanatical I Just don't want him to make me "dry." And there are always a lot of Intolerant Intol-erant people who want to govern what what I eat and drink. DrunkonneBs Isn't a crime, It's Just an error of JudgmenL "Cattlo In an enclosure, securely fenced off, will be good-behaving animals ani-mals as long as food lasts but whon tho food Is gone they begin to Jump the fence. A prohibitionist would put another rail on top to keep them in but a wise man would give them BOino more food." Discoursing on the making of laws for the government or people, Mr. Darrow declared that lawyers were about the most unjust set of people In. the world and about the most Ignorant Ig-norant From this point he went Into In-to tho question of crime and gavo hla audience n very clear conception of crime with relation or rather Its lr-rolatlon lr-rolatlon to Intoxication. Continuing tho speaker said: "It Is a peculiar thing that every person In this world Is wise enough to govern the conduct of everyone else, yt no one Is wIbc enough to. govern Ill's own conduct. The right of self-preservation self-preservation Is Inherent lu everyone. It Is right for the state to suppress crime, but it Is not right for the state to say what you shall eat or drink or what you shall woar. I will admit tho right of the state to suppress crime, but I will deny the right of uio state to classify drinking of Intoxicants Intoxi-cants as a crime, or anywhere near that categorv. Do you mean to tell mo that drinking a glass of boor in equivalent to picking a pocket or cutting u. throat, or worse? Every man, under the theory of our government, gov-ernment, must bo free lo govern hiB own conduct in so far as that conduct docs not Interfere with tho rights and liberties or Lis fellow man. Ab I have the right to re free to chooso what I shall cat or wear, so also do I claim the right to be tree to choosa what I shnll drink, if 1 do not have the right tp choose that which I shall cat or wear or drink, where does our boaBted llborty come in? Mnn's Right of Freedom. "Tho Inherent right of man to ibrcatho Ib not more sacred than Is his inherent right to bo free to eat or drink that which he may chooso. But the prohibitionist tells mo that I am a criminal because forsooth I chooso to drink a glass of beer. "Why 1r It that the prohibitionist takes his stand' Why does he seek to llmll man's freedom and prevent him from taking a glass of liquor? Bocause. tho prohibitionist tolls us the drinking of Intoxicants fills the jails and penitentiaries, promotes poverty pov-erty and makes widows nnd orphans. "Lot ua consider the question. Are intoxicants responsible for the crlmo of the world? Should the fact that some man abuses the use of Intoxicants Intoxi-cants give grounds for the belief that no one else can use Intoxicants without with-out becoming a criminal? "Let me make this declaration: Crlmo has no moro connection with Intoxicating liquor than it has with tho change of the moon. There Is Just one clas3 that ever goes to jail. Nobody goes to Jail but tho poor, What 1b the use of a rich man going to Jail? Ho can go to tho hotel. A few rich, men may go to Jail, J ut these usually because they are not rich enough. There are only enough exceptions ex-ceptions to prove the rule. "All Ihe world over tho Jails and penitentiaries nro filled with the ' poor. Good lawyers must defend the poor and fees are necessarily small. . "Lot us recur to the charge that intoxicants make crime. Do you suppose sup-pose thaj; the poor arc .the only ones who drink? Do you presume that the poor consume all of the whiskey In the world? ' If not, why are 'all -of tho criminals In the world poor? Who Goes to Jail. "Let me repeat: Crlmo has no more connection with liquor -.than It has with thq chnngc of the' moon. Otir Jails arc filled first and last' .by tho poor bocause of the Industrial Injustice Injus-tice under which we live. You can't stop crime bj voting for prohibition. If It were as easy as that I would atop practicing lav nnd go to work. "But perhaps wo may foe told that liquor produces' crime In poor people and not In -c rich. It may he that the stomachs of the rich are so acclimated ac-climated to it that it doesn't send them to Jail. "Perhaps we have the prohib.tion-ists prohib.tion-ists because It Is easier to make a speech than it Is to study a question. I know, because 1 have tried both. Did you ever heur any prohibitionist toll you there Is more crime In tho winter than In the summer' No? Well, It is true, nevertheless. Docs it mean then that man's heart In more wicked In tho winter than In the sum-mor? sum-mor? No, It means that Jails aro electric lighted and steam heated and that the habitations of the poor are noL These men who seek the Jails In winter are not criminals, Thoy aro victims of social conditions. "Do thoy tell you that more people get religion In tho winter than In the summer? Do you over hear of a man getting religion In haying time? He's got something to do. Come with mo to the habitations of the poor, not tho abode of tho rich. Olvon a cold win-tor win-tor night, a red hot stove and an evangelist evan-gelist and you can't keop tho sinners ouL Thoy don't get religion; they just got warm. They are what we call winter Christians When spring comes they go about their business. In the winter time nion go to Jail, directly or Indirectly, to get warm. The rich man doesnt go to Jail. Ho packs 'his Saratoga trunks and goes to Cnllfronla or Florida to get warm. The poor man goes to Jalll. It's the poor man's winter resort Causes of Crime. "From the prohibitionist's argument you would think lhat no man ever cut another's throat except because he had drunk liquor. We have had thrqe proslden's who were assassinated. assassinat-ed. Not one was on account of liquor. Ono assassination grew out of the fierce hatred Occasioned by tbe civil war. Another resulted from political and economical conditions. The third was the result of political conditions, probably coupled with a deranged mind. The governors of Kentucky, Tennessee and Idaho have been the victims of assassins. It has not been charged that liquor was In ny way responsible for the death of any of those executives 1 cannot recall a famous murder case In which Intoxicants Intoxi-cants in any way figured In tho crime. "I will tell you what causes crime: Poverty Is the father and mother of crime. You can abolish crime in only one way and thnt Is by abolishing poverty. pov-erty. You could abolish almost all crime In a single generation if you could make every ono rich. But you can nover abolish crime whilo "you permit one corporation to have control con-trol of all of the oil that Is produced; a steel trust to control all of the Iron that Is produced, and a coal trust to control all of tho fuel we need to keep us warm, and at the same time to permit per-mit tho great mass of tho people to vie with ono another for the jobs these trusts control. "So long as a few Individuals control con-trol the land of tho country, the great machines of the country and the means whereby tho masses live we will have crime. To cuie crime we must go to the bottom of crime, to the cause of crime, and wo must abolish poverty we muBt change the Industrial Indus-trial system. "But our prohibitionist friends will say that If poverty causes crime, then liquor causes poverty, so there you are. For centuries the cause of poverty has been the occnslon for study by the greatest minds of the world. Thoy have failed to find the solution, but the prohibitionists have found It in the liquor question. Thoy have discussed dis-cussed to the world the cause of poverty. pov-erty. Causes of Poverty. "Let me repeat a statement In other oth-er words that I made a few momonts ago. Intoxicating liquor has no more to do with poverty than It has with the chnngc of the moon. True, I've known people- to be poor because they drnnk too much. I've also known them to he poor because thoy ate too much, because they gavo too much to their lawyers, because thoy gave too much to the churches, because thoy ooug..t their wives sealskin coats, because be-cause they had too many children, and because they didn't have enough. "How does the prohibitionist flguro a man is poor because ho drinks? Ho follows a man with overalls and a shovel. lie smells beer. Ah, ha' The overalls and thp shovel because of the smell of beer. Ho passes the rich young man in the automobile at tho corner. He smellr. the champagno but mistakes it for t,"asolene. The poor man earus the champagne for the rich man but drinks Lcor. But intoxicants make "poverty. "Did you ever know a rich man to drink.? Of course noL Do Morgan and Schwab and Thaw drink' Of course not. Because drink produces poverty, and If they drank thon they would be poor. ,Thcrefore they do, not drink. "Do rich people drink? Of course .not, .'', il You have clubs In your city where the rich gather. There are fine clubB and hotols In Salt Iakc City and they havovbars( whore they servo high grndo liquors. I 1 ' ' Tho Palaces in San Francisco hns a fine drinking place There arc other mighty fine drinking places in the country. I know, because I hac been In them. I" will admit I have 3ecn poor people in those drinking plnces, but thoy were cleaning tho spltoons. Should Poor Eat Pie? "I know lhat the poor people waste their money, I've 6een them eat What business has a poor mnn to eat? It Is only the idle that can afford to oat. The poor can worjt. The poor man gets ?1.50 a day or perhaps $2 out here, Of this ho spends 25 cents a day for five beers. Tho prohibitionist prohibition-ist concern himself with what becomes be-comes of that quarter. What does ho do with the other $1.75? I've seen poor people eat pie. What buslncRR has a poor man eating pie? For tho same amount he could secure five tlmeB as much broad, which Is five times as nutritious. Plo produces dyspepsia; he has to work I've soen tho poor mnn drink tea or coffee. Ho would be hotter off without It. Coffee Cof-fee Is almost as bad as beer. Four hundred million dollars has been spent for tea and coffee In tho United States. It isn't worth it. "Boer doesn't do anyone any good. I've seen signs declaring that beer produced muscle and tissue. I don't believe it. I believe a fellow can live just as long, and probably longer. If he doesn't touch It. He might not have as much fun, but he could probably prob-ably live longer The only argument in "favor of beer Is that it tastes Rood going down. Tho prohibitionist says U doesn't taBte good, but I will sub-Tnlt sub-Tnlt that his taste Is color blind "The women gather at the church socials, do a bit of fancy work, ruin their neighbor's characters and drink tea. Tea Isn't good for them. It make6 them nervous, dyspeptic and gossipy. But II tastes good going down. "The prohibitionists tell you that rum kills you, but they don't tell you that eating kills more men than drinking. Now. In closing let me tell you this that poverty kills moro men than anything else In the world; that poverty shortens lives. "Did It ever occur to you that poor people live only CO per cent as long as rich people The lives of people who work Is six-tenths as long as those of people who don't. That Is not because of too much whisky, but bocautje of too much work. One-half of the children chil-dren In the tenement districts die before be-fore they are grown.' That Is not because be-cause of too much whisky, but because be-cause of not onough milk. Argument Dicsected. 'Prohibition arguments made In behalf be-half of the poor arc tho veriest humbug hum-bug When the prohibitionist sees the poor man dicTand his child fill a pauper's grave, because of industrial conditions, ho cries for prohibition. Two hundred thousand persons are killed or maimed annually in the railroads rail-roads and the factories of the land because capital will not procure safe machinery. Every life could be saved If proper restrictions were invoked. But the prohibitionists won't look at the victims of these industrial crimes. They only shout, "Rum. rum, rum." For prohibition they think more ihan for tho bread and the lives of the working man. "It Is a long, dnrk pathway lhat the human race has traveled. Through all of the agony and misery and blood the progress has been guided only by liberty We cannot guard that liberty too closely." |