The secretary of the American Temperance Board has requested me at this hour to give some reason why the church of Christ should give its enthusiastic and loyal support to the American Temperance Board.

      The first reason that I give is that the liquor traffic is big enough and

JAMES A. TATE.

bad enough to command the attention of a great religious body like this. Some twenty years ago the liquor traffic was more or less a country institution. In the cities, true, as to-day, but then it was scattered everywhere. The country saloon has practically disappeared. We understood the country saloon. We knew the name of the proprietor. And when John went downtown and got drunk and came home and tumbled in bed with his boots on, mother cried over him for a few minutes, then gave him some soda and milk, and then called her husband and said, "That groggery must be moved." We are now up against a more serious proposition, and that is the proposition of the city saloon. The city saloon is not so well understood by the people. We do not know the real proprietor. We do not know whom to hold responsible. The fact is that most of the city saloons to-day are owned and controlled and practically managed by the big brewers of the country. Now, the more beer you can sell, the larger profit you can make; so the same brewer will start another in the same block, another brewer in another block, and another in another, until saloons are practically dotted all over our cities under the management and control of the brewers. The bartender who seemingly owns the establishment finds at the end of the year that there is little money after expenses are paid to apply on the mortgage. So he opens up the back room for the gamblers. Now we are beginning to get the average city saloon: liquor and beer in front, gambling in the rear. Another year goes by and money is short [235] and the bartender says, "I must have more money to meet the bills," and then he opens up overhead the rooms for the strange woman. And now, my friends, we have the average city saloon under full blast--liquor and beer in front, gambling-room in the rear, and rooms for the strange woman overhead. And that is the city saloon and the liquor traffic in this day and generation.

      The next reason that I give is this, that we being a bible people, speaking where the Bible speaks and silent where the Bible is silent, we ought to know the position of the Book on this question, and then we are the people in my judgment to let the world at large know the position of God's word on the liquor traffic.

      And now I want to say in the discussion of this question from the standpoint of the Book that it does not take a thousand verses to indicate just what that Book means. That Book is a book that expresses itself sometimes very definitely. Listen: "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now, the whole policy of the Book must be in harmony with that great, fundamental principle of God's love. It locates the Book on that proposition. That is used by way of illustration.

      Now, you will notice, except in calling attention to the American Temperance Board, that I have not used the word "temperance" in my talk to the present time. I have no use for the word "temperance" with respect to the liquor traffic. I make this statement, that there is no such thing as temperance when it comes to the discussion of the liquor traffic. What is temperance? The popular opinion of temperance is the correct meaning of temperance. What is that? Moderation. Moderation. I read a leading editorial in one of the leading daily papers published in the South not long since when the liquor traffic was up for discussion. And it expresses the popular opinion of temperance to-day, that it is moderation, moderation. A little will not hurt. It is the abuse of it that constitutes the trouble. Now, I make the statement that there is no such thing as temperance connected with the liquor traffic. Now, I know this from observation, that there are some fellows after long experience and practice that can drink nearly a pint and still walk a chalk line. I know there are other fellows with not so much experience and practice that can not drink more than half a pint and still walk the chalk line. There are others that a gill will give their knees trouble, and there are others that one drink will cause the world seemingly to revolve from East to West and the Great Bear to play around the South Pole. You know that much. We all know that much about the liquor traffic. Now, the God that we love and worship knows more than we do. He knows that much and more. Now, here is something that I do not know. I do not know whether the speaker is a pint man or a half-pint man or a gill man, or whether just one drink would take my feet from under me. Positively, I do not know. God knows, but I do not. Now, then, let us see: The good Lord that loves us, he comes to me his child, and he says, "Mr. Tate, now liquor is sort o' treacherous. Move up to it slow and easy and cautiously and take a drink, and if you are still on your feet you are all right; and then take another, and if you are still on your feet you are all right. But remember that no drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God. Now, touch it again. If you are still on your feet you are safe." Do you tell me that the God I worship and the God you love would thus tempt his child to evil? It is not the Book. It is not the Book. "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." That is the Book. Now, the people who think that a man can take a drink and still not sin--he would have to have the Book made something like this for him. Listen: "Wine is a mocker"--well, take a little. "Strong drink is raging"--two drinks. "Whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise"--take three drinks. "Look not upon the wine when it is red"--shut your eyes when you drink it. "Woe to him that putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips and maketh him drunken"--you must use a pint cup instead. The man who believes that you can touch liquor and still be Christian and still not sin in the sight of God must have him a Book [236] made to order, because the divine Book is clear, very, very clear: "Look not upon the wine." And that means let it alone. "Be not with winebibbers." That means stay out of the crowd; don't be there; let it alone. There is no such thing as temperance connected with the liquor traffic. I have cut it out of my talks. I have cut it out of my speeches. I have cut it out of my life when it has anything to do with the liquor traffic. [Applause.] Let us get the question clearly before the world, and we will win the victory much quicker, much quicker.

      Now, there is a temperance question all right and it is a big one, but it does not have a thing in the world to do with liquor, positively doesn't. Temperance? Why, temperance has to do with corn bread, and buttermilk, and turnip greens, and string beans, and onions, and tomatoes mixed in, and fried corn, and apple dumplings. That is the temperance question all right and it is a big one too. Yes, sir, it is a big one. And, friends, I am right certain that is what the apostle Paul had in mind when he spoke of temperance--moderation in is immoderation in that which is good--that which is good. And intemperance the bad don't come into it. Now, if the Christian Church and the preachers of the Christian Church, which is the great power for prohibition in the United States of America to-day, will drop temperance from their vocabulary, and will talk about rum and liquor and prohibition, we will win this fight for God sooner than in a half-hearted way. It is up to us, brethren, to educate the world on what the Book teaches.

      Now, the next reason that I give why the church of Christ should support the American Temperance Board is this: The highest court in this land ought to go on record on the license system of this country, and when you leave it to political parties and to other organizations in my judgment that court will be slower reaching it than if a great educational, religious body like the church of Christ through the American Temperance Board takes up the question to call the attention of the court to it. Now, when the attention of that court is called to it I believe that court will pronounce every law in every country under the sun that in any way upholds, sustains, protects, or lets live the liquor traffic, unconstitutional. Now, I am going to talk law for a few minutes as it pertains to the civil affairs of men. There are just two kinds of law in this country that have to do with public affairs. I refer to civil law that has to do with the affairs of men. Just two kinds. Written and unwritten. That is all. Another name for the same thing: Statutory, common. Another division of the same thing: Statutory law, constitutional law. Unwritten law, common law, constitutional law, are the same thing. Law made by man the other. Now, somebody says, "You get off right there; the Constitution of the United States is written; the constitution of Pennsylvania is written." I make this statement, that that instrument that I committed practically to memory as a schoolboy is really not constitutional law. It is simply a stronger form of statutory law. It was made by man. It can be changed by man. It is man-made. And I am here to say that if the Constitution of the United States of America or the constitution of Pennsylvania was the supreme law of the land we would not need the great, brainy courts that we have to-day to interpret constitutional law. You could refer your statutory law to some college professor or some country schoolteacher and he could lay down the act passed by the Legislature by the side of the constitution of Pennsylvania, and he could tell whether it was constitutional or not. What man has written, man can understand easily if he has done it sensibly. That is not constitutional law. What, then, is constitutional law? Constitutional law is the great fundamental principles of justice and right that were here before God said, "Let there be light, and there was light," and that will be here when Gabriel shall blow his trump and time shall be no more. Constitutional law? Get down just a little closer. The great State of Missouri has on its seal this, "The public good is the supreme law." Why didn't they put it, "The constitution of Missouri is the supreme law"? Because it is not. John Marshall, the greatest judge that the Supreme Court of United States ever had, said this in discussing [237] constitutional law, "The chief object of government is to protect the people in their wealth, in their peace, and in their morals." That is constitutional law from another viewpoint. Now listen: Constitutional law? It is the mind of the eternal God at work in the affairs of men. No constitutional law has ever been enacted. Our courts interpret constitutional law; they never enact. Never. Why, they say Daniel Webster was a great constitutional lawyer. Why? Because Daniel Webster had a massive brain, level-headed, cool and collected. He was able to look above and beneath and around and between the lines, and determine what was the mind of God in the affairs of men--absolute justice between man and man. And if the mind of God is not right, please tell me what is right in this universe. So it is the business of courts and judges and juries to determine the mind of God, that we may have proper government and justice administered as it ought to be administered in a great country like this. Now, then, in regard to the liquor traffic: There are just two ways of dealing with the liquor traffic, and to get that before you I shall take two States: One, Pennsylvania; that is, here. The other, Tennessee; that is, there. Pennsylvania--regulation; Tennessee--prohibition. There are just two ways of dealing with the liquor traffic. Pennsylvania, Tennessee; regulation, prohibition. Now, listen, there are some things that must be regulated. They can't be prohibited. There are some things that must be prohibited, they can't be regulated. Must not--to illustrate: I will say that a man comes into Pittsburg and he gets him one wife, two wives, three wives, four women, ten women, and he goes to the Legislature and he says, "I want to pay you fifty dollars apiece for the privilege." It can't be done. The Legislature won't grant the privilege. No civilized country on earth would do such a thing. Why not? The mind of God has given it, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." It won't regulate, Why? Bad all the time. Never in place. "Thou shalt not," and no court, judge, jury or Legislature from the time of that commandment has dared to defy public sentiment on that question. Now, I do not know where it is, but about Pittsburg there is a slaughter-house. I know where it is not. It is not next door to the post-office. It is not next door to the bank, not next door to the church. I can guess at its location. The slaughter-house may be some place down here near the river out of sight and away from the folks. Why? Slaughter-house; good all the time, but sometimes out of place. Regulated. And when they undertake to put the slaughter-house next to the post-office the authorities say, "Move out; you can't do it; you can run, but not here; get off yonder." It is regulated by law. You must regulate it; you can't prohibit a slaughter-house. You let the county court or the Legislature of Pennsylvania say, "No farmer in Pennsylvania shall ever kill another beef," and the next morning see 'em; they'll say, "Those fools up there will have to be shown that we know our business," and they will continue to kill them just the same. You can't prohibit a good thing. You must regulate it. The Pennsylvania Railroad starts down through town sixty miles an hour and the children come home and say, "Mamma, like to caught me." And the next day lickitycut sixty miles an hour, and the little boy says, "Train like to caught me, tore up my sled." Papa goes down to the mayor and they say, "Pennsylvania, slow down; you can't do it; six miles an hour fast enough to go through town." And it will slow down. Why? Railroad a good thing; sometimes out of place. Regulate it, but you can't prohibit a railroad. Some old fellow tried it when the first one started through Pennsylvania, and they condemned his land and took it from him and built the railroad. You can't prohibit a good thing. Constitutional law. You can regulate it. Illustration enough.

      Where does the liquor traffic fall? Is it bad all the time, never in place, or is it a good thing sometimes out of place? It can't be both. The liquor traffic in constitutional law can't be Pennsylvania and Tennessee at the same time. It is an impossibility, when justice and truth and the mind of God are to be considered. Preachers know that. Church-members know it. Saloon-keepers, brewers and drunkards--all of us know about the saloon; all of us know it is bad all [238] the time, never in place. Why, the president of the Model License League knows about the saloon. He knows it is bad all the time, never in place. He never told me so, but I have read his writings to the public, and from his writings I know he knows it is bad all the time. Why, he says something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen: Let us run a saloon according to the plan of the Model License League, and we promise you upon honor that we will never sell a drop of liquor to a minor." Now, let us take the grocery merchant. Suppose the grocer should say to the public, "Ladies and Gentlemen: Let us run a grocery store according to the plan of the Model License Grocery League, and we promise you upon honor we will never sell a 'pertater' to a minor." Why, you say, that is ridiculous. Certainly. And what makes you smile at the groceryman? What is the difference? The president of the Model License League knows it is bad all the time and never in place. And the "pertater" man knows it is good all the time, but sometimes too much of it out of place. Now, brethren, constitutional law. What is the mind of God with regard to liquor? God has this to say himself: "Drink no wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, that it may be a statute forever throughout your generations, that ye may put a difference between holy and unholy, between clean and unclean." That is God locating liquor. "Holy and unholy; clean and unclean."

      A DELEGATE: What about a little wine for the stomach's sake?

      MR. TATE: That is a minor proposition. I am discussing liquor. I know liquor is condemned in the Book of God. I know that. And whether it is medicine or not I do not know. It may be and it may not. I don't know, but I do know that God's word condemns liquor. And I fight it as an evil condemned in God's Book, and God's Book does not take both sides of any moral proposition. There may be two kinds of wine, but I know positively the kind that makes people drunk was not approved in the divine Book. I will face the world on that at any time and on any occasion. I have read the Book. I sure did. Liquor is evil and must be prohibited. Can't be regulated. I close with this passage from the apostle Paul. Listen: He says: Adultery; bad all the time. Never in place. Fornication; bad all the time. Never in place. Lasciviousness; bad all the time. Never in place. Drunkenness; they hat do these things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Bad all the time. Never in place. Prohibition is the only policy for dealing with the rum traffic. And the highest court in the United States of America, in my judgment, will so declare when an opportunity is given. I thank you.

[CCR 235-239]