THE INEVITABLE STEP % REV. FRANK KINGDON LANSING, MIcffiGAN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE BIENNIAL CONVENTION OF THE ANTI-SALOON LEAGUE OF AMERICA WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 7, 1927 THE AMERICAN ISSUE PUBLISHING COMPANY WESTERVILLE. OHIO U. S, A. THE INEVITABLE STEP W E are continually being told that we are living in a new day, but it is not very often that we are told just what factors have made this new day. These factors are mainly three: the industrial revolution, the revolution in communications and the conse- quent growth of our cities. The industrial revolution has completely changed the whole fabric of our industrial and economic life. The revolution in communications has re- duced the whole world to a single neighbor- hood and so has pressed upon us with new force the whole problem of living together. The growth of our cities has shifted the equi- librium of our population from the rural to the urban centers and so has necessitated a redefining of the majority of our social con- ceptions. All together our society is more closely knit than ever and its problems are more intense and difficult as a result. In this complex society the political prob- lem of mankind is to combine the three ideals of economic efficiency, social justice and in- dividual liberty into a working social order. Our difficulty is magnified by the fact that while these three ideals are not mutually ex- clusive they are mutually difficult. Economic- efficiency is apt to carry a threat against so- cial \'alues when it puts production above- personality. Nor is it always easy to recon- cile Industrial efficiency with the conserva- tion of individual libert-y^ lit would be a [2 1 bold man, also, who would venture to set an exact boundary at which individual liberty ends and social obligations begin. Tn this discussion, however, after pointing out that these three problems are upon us I wish to confine myself to indicating how im- portant the prohibition of the liquor traffic is to the solving of each of them. The abol- ishing of the use of alcohol in the social body is an essential preparation for the solution of the political problem of mankind. Ady first point is that prohibition is essen- tial to economic efficiency. The stress on the necessity of economic ef- ficiency arises out of the fact that while our natural resources are being depleted our pop- ulation is steadily increasing. Modern science has given us new skill in destroying our re- sources and new skill in saving life. With less material and more people we have to de- velop greater efficiency. There are two fac- tors which must be safeguarded: we must use the raw material we have to the limit of its usefulness and we must get all that we con- sistently can out of the human material in- volved. Economic efficiency demands that physically and mentally man must be at his best. Our industrial organization also demands that the capital tied up in machinery shall be made to earn its way. This means that every machine must be worked as long as possible and must produce as much as possible. Thus economic efficiency demands that production shall be increased as much as is practicable. Incidentally the threat of machinery against human welfare will be wiped out if produc- tion can be speeded to the point where the working day is shortened. Already we have [ 3 ] reduced the laboring day from fourteen and twelve hours to ten and eight hours. The op- portunity for leisure, culture and self-expres- sion in the lives of the laboring classes will be increased in direct proportion to the in- crease of production. So we may say that economic efficiency looking toward a higher standard of living demands greater producr tion. An important and growing feature of our economic life is the larger and larger use of credit. Credit is no longer a matter between business organizations. We are developing a system where individuals as such are doing a large share of their buying on credit. One jewelry store in our city of eighty-five thou- sand has thirteen thousand customers on its books buying goods on credit. So much money is now tied up over the nation in this way that any threat against it might easily produce a financial panic. The bubble of credit, however, will not burst if confidence in the buying power and the honesty of the average consumer can be maintained. These three things, then, are tied up in the ideal of economic efficiency- — man-power, production and credit. The liquor traffic is a threat against economic safety because it weakens men through the poisonous effects of alcohol on body and mind. It stifles pro- duction because it keeps the worker away from his machine during the necessary period of recovery from a drunken orgy and also be- cause it increases the labor turn-over. It de- stroys credit because it shakes confidence in its victims and lessens consumption of other goods. Alcohol saps the economic life-blood of the community. Prohibition is a prereq- uisite of economic efficiency. [ 4 ] My second point is that prohibition is es- sential to social justice. The stress of our day on the necessity for social effectiveness arises out of the simple fact that men are being thrown together more than ever before. This means that we must develop a new technique for living together successfully. Our social organizations are assuming a new importance and our social obligations a new insistence. There are no isolated communities any more. None of us can wrap the cloak of isolation about us and be separate from our fellows, the course of events has thrown us together in one great community of interests. The citizen of the new day must be unselfish and enthusiastic in spirit, having a lively social conscience and and alert social intelligence. Social effective- ness must begin with socially minded indi- viduals. The simplest social structure is the home. It is the cornerstone of society itself, for with- out the home our social life could not stand. It is the pattern of society, for in spite of its weaknesses it is the most successful social group man has yet devised. It is the train- ing ground for our social virtues, for the atti- tudes we take out into the larger society are those we have built up in the home. The home is the strategic center of human rela- tions. The collection of homes makes the com- munity. Community loyalty and oride is the seed out of which grow the wider loyalties of life. The intensive cultivation of commu- nity spirit out of which grows community righteousness is essential to complete social effectiveness. This includes all community good works, including such matters as good [ 5 ] streets and buildings and the larger matters of justice in the dealing of man with man. When communities come together they form states and nations. The first safeguard of state and nation is integrity. Disintegra- tion begins when righteousness and clean citizenship go. If men are to live together successfully in national groups they must re- tain confidence in their governments. These four things, then, are included in the ideal of social effectiveness: socially-minded individuals, safeguarded homes, clean com- munities and national integrity. The liquor traffic is a social danger because it robs men of social conscience, it is the enemy of the home, its saloons are blots on the commu- nity and it corrupts politics and so destroys the confidence of citizens in their govern- ments. The trade in alcohol is not only un- social, it is anti-social. It is the most anti- social traffic we have ever had in human so- ciety. Prohibition is a prerequisite of social effectiveness. My third point is that prohibition is es- sential to individual liberty. No ideal is dearer to those who share the .\nglo-Saxon tradition than that of individ- ual liberty. It is a privilege we have long sought from Runnymede in 1216 to the pres- ent day. The greatest names of our history are the names of those who have given them- selves most sacrificially to the cause of hu- man liberty. This ideal is a precious heritage and we canot afford to let it go. It is particularly important that we empha- size it in these days of ours, for back of it lies the great truth of the supremacy of hu- man values above all other values. The wel- fare of man outweighs the profits of indus- [ 6 ] try and is the true motive for society. De- mocracy is the expression of this ideal in governmental form. If we are to safeguard the passion for liberty, government must be not only of and for but by the people. The successful working of any democracy demands the keeping alive of the attitude of tolerance. Democracy is government by de- bate and tolerance is the expression of our faith in the inherent power of truth to vindi- cate itself. Fanaticism which would choke off freedom of utterance is an enemy of de- mocracy. We cannot live together success- fully if we do not recognize and respect dif- ferences of opinion and allow them utterance. Along with tolerance must go a recogni- tion of the profound contribution which can be made to the world only through individ- uals as individuals. We need in our day, which works so much in masses of men, a new appreciation of the importance of the in- dividual. A man’s greatest contribution to society comes not when he is most conven- tionalized but when he is most himself. Strangely enough the ideal of individual liberty has been seized on by the enemies of prohibition in the name of the greatest foe individual liberty ever had. The liquor traf- fic always has been -and is today the outstand- ing enemy of liberty. In the old days of the Bourbons when there was any sign of in- cipient rebellion the autocrat made his foun- tains run wine, and when the people were drunk the rebellion subsided. Alcohol was the favorite weapon of the autocrat and by It he kept his people subject. In our Ameri- can life liquor was the favorite tool of the political boss who established his headquar- ters in the saloon and held his cohorts in line [ 7 ] by giving them booze. The use of the argu- ment for individual liberty to bolster up the cause of liquor betrays a cynical disregard of the facts of history. The ideal of individual lilicrty demands true democracy in government, a spirit of tolerance and appreciation of individuality. The liquor traffic is the sworn foe of democ- racy, for it has never shown itself amenable to any kind of legal control but has always sought to capture the machinerj^ of govern- ment for its own use. In our own day it shows itself to be the enemy of tolerance for the wet crowd are so fanatical that they will not allow even the Constitution of the United States to stand in the way of their own self- satisfaction. They like to call the prohibi- tion forces fanatics, but we ha\-c no fanaticism which can compare with theirs, for they are w'illing to undermine the whole structure of law and order to satisfy a single desire and to maintain a particular idea. Liquor also de- feats individuality because it muddies a man’s mind, prevents clear thinking and destroj-s self-control. Alcohol is the sworn foe of in- dividual expression and development. Prohi- bition is a prerequisite of individual liberty. Prohibition is not a sudden vagary of thought, it is an inevitable step. It came be- cause it was time for it tb come in the devel- opment of society. It is essential in our mod- ern world to the solution of the political problem of mankind. We have many oppo- nents, but prohibition cannot fail because it is backed by the course of events. PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.