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LEFT ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE 197 ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE Five States responded at once and the American Anti-Saloon League was or- ganized at Washington the following December 18, the Ohio and Washington Leagues being the other constituents. Dr. Howard H. Russell was chosen na- tional superintendent, and a weekly or- gan, the "American Issue," was estab- lished. With this as a starting point, the cause spread rapidly and State after State came in. The work began always with effort for local option, the motto of the League being "let's go a step at a time." It worked often in co-operation with other organizations — but always in the lead. It was frankly taken by the great Protestant religious bodies, and even by high dignitaries of the Roman Church, like Archbishop Ireland and Bishop Spaulding, as meaning business from the start. It was thus recognized at once as the factor of the prohibition movement in politics — a result-getter — and its strength increased daily. It be- gan with local option fights, gradually winning its local battles, till it was en- abled to launch a state-wide campaign. To the original "dry" column — Maine 1851, Kansas 1880, North Dakota 1889, it added Oklahoma 1907, Georgia 1908, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennes- see 1909, and fifteen other States up to the introduction of the Volstead act in 1918. It is not too much to say that the liberally financed, ably managed, and tireless campaign of the League contrib- uted almost wholly to the final promulga- tion of that resolution. From the beginning the Church stood squarely behind it. Dr. Francis Clark, the head of the Christian Endeavor movement, welcomed it at its formation in these words : "The League has a plat- form wide enough and strong enough for us all to get together on without its breaking doviTi." And so it has proven. The three great divisions of the work have been agitation, or field-work, legis- lation, and law enforcement. The chief feature of the field-work was an organ- ized corps of highly developed speakers for every State, kept constantly travel- ing, speaking in the churches and pub- lic auditoriums, whose activities were redoubled as elections approached. One of the taunts of its opponents is that "the League never sleeps." It was early enabled to establish a printing plant at Westville, O., costing $300,000, which for several years past has been turning out five tons of printed matter daily. The "American Issue," its weekly organ, with National and State editions, is printed there. Millions of leaflets and bulletins are also sent out annually. In the legis- lative work its lawyers have written most of the laws which have finally been passed on the liquor question. In very few instances indeed — so carefully have these been framed — has any judicial opinion been adverse to them. Its tri- umphant work before the war prepared the country for war-time prohibition; was indeed the great step toward that end. Adjustment would have been far more difficult, the situation indeed would in some instances have taken on a dan- gerous character, but that the whole country had hearkened to the voice, if they had not as an entire nation enlisted under the banners of the League. The League had helped the cause of prohibi- tion signally, and prohibition, so far as it has advanced, was a signal help to the nation in the war. Taking advantage of its tremendous opportunity, the League so greatly ac- celerated its efforts that by the time this country actually entered the war a favorable Congress was in session at Washington. National prohibition was a foregone conclusion, and the result came quickly. As to its general policy, the League has never claimed that local option by itself was conclusive. A local option vic- tory was always looked on as simply educational — a sample of the full ordier to be delivered later. The League has proclaimed itself from the first a fight- ing organization, which, starting with the smallest beginnings, has won its great battles through a succession of small vic- tories. Thorough organization and stren- uous action have been its leading char- acteristics since its formation. Its own statement of its aims declares: "The League is not another temperance society. It is not a rival of any organization, but, as its name implies, a league of or- ganizations. It is a clearing house for churches and temperance societies. Its primary function is not the creation of anti-saloon sentiment, but the direction of existing sentiment to receive imme- diate results. Its platform is succinctly stated as follows: "The League holds that the saloon question is something that can and must be solved, and that the only solution is no saloon. It has found that prohibition prohibits better than regulation regu- lates. It stands for the largest present repression and the speediest ultimate suppression of the beverage liquor traffic. It wastes no time trying to 'reform' the traffic, for an institution which outrages the divine law of love will never obey the police regulations of men. It has no permissive feature in its creed. It is op- posed to the license system as vicious in