Safety-First Temperance Facts and Thoughts for Temperance Sunday from the National Temperance Union Under the auspices of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America By ALBERT R. ROGERS Director NATIONAL TEMPERANCE UNION Philadelphia, Pa. FOREWORD HE Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, representing more than 17,500,000 com¬ municant members of thirty denominations, pre¬ sents, through its Commission on Temperance, plans for a nation-wide educational campaign to convince the individual of the economic value of total abstinence. The Commission will develop this work through the “NA¬ TIONAL TEMPERANCE UNION” without sectarian limitation or entrance into the political field. The plans have been pronounced eminently practical by leaders in the business and labor world and by other men of affairs. They have been approved by Protestants, Roman Catholics and Jews, who feel the need of united effort in this moral issue. AN OFFICIAL COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION ON TEMPERANCE OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA E are asking the ministers of our churches to co¬ operate with the NATIONAL TEMPERANCE UNION in bringing to the attention of their congre¬ gations this splendid work of the Commission on Temperance of the Federal Council with which your denomination is very actively associated, is outlined, is new and is the result of several years’ earnest work and after many meetings and consultations with varied interests. In view of the great importance of this comprehensive movement of the church at this crucial time, the Commission on Temperance looks for your active and earnest co-operation in presenting this work to your congregation at as early a date as possible. The thoughts prepared by Mr. Rogers have been gathered from many sources with the object in view that some of the ideas here presented may be useful to you in your Temperance Sunday Sermon. The Commission on Temperance, Rufus W. Miller, Chairman. SAFETY-FIRST ODAY we hear much of preparedness—preparedness for war, preparedness for peace, as for years we have preached preparedness for our heavenly home. Preparedness has a new name—it is called Safety-first—that does not mean self interest first, but prevention. The great leaders of the war that is sapping the life blood of the nations of Europe have learned won¬ derful lessons—costly lessons—awful lessons of what preparedness means. Not so much the lack of having on hand when needed, great ships, armies and munitions of war, but that King Alcohol must be conquered before they can get their men 100% efficient. It is rather late to lock the barn door when the horse is stolen. Safety first would have had the lock there, but as the lessons are taught in life, we profit by them. Russia has been fighting drink for years in ways of which we know little. The brain crazy making vodka was sapping all the life and efficiency of their men. Workmen were seldom able to work but a few days in a week and their small earnings went into this most terrible form of nerve killing alcohol that deadens the brain for days. Russia awoke at last by sheer necessity and the Czar’s ukase cut it off root and branch. A great cry of protest went up for it was bring¬ ing in millions of roubles in revenue a year, as it was a Government monopoly. Rut note the results. Finance Minister Bark at Petro- grad lately said, “The saving banks July 1, 1915, showed deposits of $900,000,000 above last year, which is almost the exact amount the treasury lost owing to the prohibition of Vodka.” A department similar to our Department of Commerce and Labor states, “the abolition of vodka has caused the greatest revolution in Russia’s history. Now in our industrial plants it is full time and effi¬ ciency, a thing never before known. Russia will never go back to 7 vodka.” In 1891 Dr. Peter Semyonivitch Alexyeef published a book entitled, “Why Do People Stupefy Themselves,” for which Tolstoy wrote the preface. Here was the real beginning of the greatest Tem¬ perance movement in history. From that date temperance societies multiplied in Russia and petitions went up to the Czar in cumulative numbers, but Russia finally took the stand that it did because it was driven to it. It was the recognition of the necessary economic side of temperance, and the Safety-First idea that startled the world when the ukase was given publicity. The most ardent temperance advo¬ cate never dreamed of such results in Russia. The Russian Minister of Finance lately stated, “In coal regions we have sent thirty per cent, of the male inhabitants to the war, and yet the output of work is not only what it was before, but greater by thirty per cent., because everybody is sober.” Shops that formerly shut down on Mondays because so few of the hands were sober enough to be present are now putting out more work than before the war decimated their staffs.” Think what a billion dollars in revenue from vodka meant to Russia, but Russia realized also that all the while the dollars of income were sapping her vitality. The so-called loss of the dollars in revenue has proved the country’s direct gain in efficiency and labor far be¬ yond the amount formerly received in revenue. Temperance means health, larger wages, better work, safer conditions and more wealth better distributed, which all goes to make happier homes. France was more autocratic when she prohibited absinthe. There had been no such appeal against the national curse of France as Rus¬ sia had seen. In both countries indeed, as all over Europe, the scien¬ tists and reformers have known that alcohol was a poison whatever its form, for the truth had been filtering through the public prints and recorded in many volumes. But it was not until France had been driven by war to face ruin or quit the drink that makes its men so inefficient, that she found it was absolutely necessary to forbid its sale or manufacture. It was the economic necessity that drove France to this act, that has proved such a beneficial thing to that country. France today is abstemious to a degree that no Frenchman would have dared predict one year ago, not from sentiment, but from the economic advantage it means to the individual and the nation. The Kaiser has formally declared that beer drinking handicaps the efficiency of his soldiery. England today is making a strong stand for temperance. Great Britain frankly admits that she is tremendously handicapped in the war because of the hours dissipated by men when their country needs their best service in many ways, as well as the making of munitions to assure their national defence. Lloyd George has insisted “that of all the enemies England has to fight, alcohol is the most active and dangerous.” The motto of Europe’s military leaders appears to be, “Trust in God and keep your army dry.” America needs temperance even more than these foreign coun¬ tries. The revenues derived from the sale of alcohol when cut off will be a thousand times returned in the increased efficiency of its men, and the millions now spent for rum will be saved to its people. Our National Government has forbidden the rank and file of both our army and navy to use alcohol while on duty. The splendid work done by the temperance workers that seemed so hopeless for years is now commencing to get its reward. What a debt of gratitude America and the world owes to those men and women who, through all these years have stood firm and unmovable, working and praying for the cause. They are true heroes, fit to rank with the great patriots of our land, for they were working both for the freedom of souls from King Alcohol, and for the great prepared¬ ness for peace. They were the pioneers in Safety-First. Today a great wave of temperance is sweeping over our land. State after State takes the stand for Prohibition. The press is full of temperance stories and of the hue and cry the liquor interest is making as they see the “drys,” as they call them, win victory after victory. Temperance is recognized as never before in the home, in society, and in the great industrial world. “The man who drinks even moderately, is no longer wanted in any line of work. He is not a good risk for life insurance. He is not wanted in little or big business. He is frowned on in good society. The railroads and the factories will not employ the drinking man, if they know him. The man found drinking is discharged promptly. For successful work, the best results can be wrought by men who are abstainers, with level heads and sound bodies. The total abstainer is the man preferred in all walks of life.” The remarkable growth in public sentiment in favor of total ab¬ stinence means the conservation of human life, a lengthening of the average longevity, a reduction in accidents, and consequently a grad- 9 ual reduction in the death rate from alcoholism. The most eminent medical authorities condemn the use of liquors in any quantity as injurious to human life. So few realize the awful havoc King Alcohol is playing with human life. In a speech by Congressman Richmond P. Hobson, he says: “Alcohol, even in small quantities, attacks all the vital organs and the nervous system, the tissue and the blood. A large per¬ centage of premature deaths arising from disease are due to this cause. The attack on the blood lowers the efficiency of the white blood corpuscles to destroy the disease germs, exposing the drinker far more than the abstainer to the ravages of consumption, pneu¬ monia, typhoid, and other germ diseases. The records of insurance companies show that in the period from 25 to 45 the mortality of total abstainers is only a fraction of that of the average. This means that the bulk of deaths in young manhood are due to alcohol. “The records of the insurance companies show also that a man, starting at the age of 20 as a total abstainer, lives to the average age of 65, whereas, starting at the age of 20 as a moderate drinker, he dies at 51, losing 14 years, or a cutting down of nearly one-third of his days. “Starting at the age of 20 as a heavy drinker, a man dies at 35; a sheer loss of two-thirds of the span of his whole life. “We are dying at the rate of 1,000 per 61,000 of the population. Total abstainers in our midst are dying at the rate of 560 per 61,000 of the population, though living under the same conditions.” This means that alcohol actually kills directly and indirectly, from disease and the weakening of the constitution of men and women, over 700,000 of our citizens every year. When a great ship goes down and a thousand souls are lost the world stands aghast in horror, and tens of thousands of dollars are quickly pledged in relief. Again and again are we called upon for help in such mercy calls and how eagerly and gladly we respond. But when the call comes to help save our men and women, our boys and girls from this awful death and destruction of alcoholism—how hard it is to get willing response, except in driblets for this great safety-first principal. The loss of life through accidents caused by King Alcohol is appalling. The misery and unhappiness it causes is past all reckoning. Temperance, like any other general business movement, for it is essentially a good business movement, gathers to its ranks certain individuals who are invariably attracted to any forward movement having humanity or progressiveness as its battle cry, but there is so 10 much sympathy expressed and so little real work done by many who could and should help their fellowman and country in more tangible ways. Temperance as a Safety-first measure causes increased pro¬ duction far more important to the progress of mankind than the mobilation of armies and the efficiency of men for war; though to accomplish this the warring countries forbid liquor to their men. What a wonderful public recognition of the value of temperance. We see wealthy big-hearted men lay fabulous sums at the disposal of a world’s peace tribunal; and we see in what short space of time the martial strength of a continent may apparently forget the life conserving principles to which they have subscribed. But do we see any such enthusiasm and big-hearted generosity for the real stepping stone of Peace, which is Temperance. What a wonderful opportunity there is here for a great endowment. What greater monument could any man leave than that through his wealth—this fair country could be emancipated from the ravages of King Alcohol. Millions of our industrial men’s lives and homes are at stake because they do not understand the detrimental effects of alcohol and the economic value of temperance. The need of a great educational campaign to expound the gospel of truth to the men and women of our industrial classes and the ever increasing foreign element in our factories, mines, railroads and shops, to teach them the economic value of temperance is the real need of the hour. There was held in Philadelphia, the middle of October of this year, the Safety First Congress, at which over a thousand delegates were present, each representing some large industrial organization or railroad of this country, brought together to discuss the best way to prevent accidents in their plants. They had two special thoughts in their deliberations—safety-first as a prevention of accidents, and safety-first as an investment that can be considered in terms of money, both to the employee and to the employer. One salient thing that all were interested in was temperance. It had been presented in many ways for many years, but the man behind the buzz saw, or the burring drill, or the miner in the deep damp tunnel, or the track¬ walker on the railroad, had not been reached in a way to show him his danger and the economic value to himself. The great influx of foreign element into our country, bringing with them their habits of both carelessness and the use of light 11 stimulants, has been largely the cause of the great number of acci¬ dents that made the Safety-first plan necessary in our great industrial plants. How to teach this class of men was the subject of many discussions. It is a serious problem that happily seems about to be solved, and that through a combination of the Church, with the in¬ dustrial, financial and labor leaders, the directors of the Safety-first and Welfare Departments of these industrial plants, and the active co-operation of the men themselves. The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, which represents 30 denominations, with 166,000 churches and over seven¬ teen and a half million members, through its Commission on Temper¬ ance, has been quietly working for some time to devise an educational plan of temperance to solve this weighty problem. These plans have just been completed and are today being presented to many of its churches. The work of the National Temperance Union, that has been formed by the Commission on Temperance, to carry out its plans, is to be a nation-wide educational movement to convince the individual of the economic value of total abstinence in the belief as stated in their slogan, “Total abstinence first, efficiency and safety follow.” It is not to be a political organization in any way, and though its seventeen and a half million members makes it the largest organiza¬ tion in the world, it will not undertake in any way to frame laws or enforce them, but will leave that work to other temperance organiza¬ tions which are working along that line. The Union’s work is to be exclusively educational. Some of the purposes of this great organiza¬ tion, which has its headquarters in Philadelphia, and which is now appealing to the church of the country for support in its unified tem¬ perance work may be of interest and fitting on this Temperance Sunday. The work is to be directed by a Committee of one hundred of the leading industrial, financial and labor leaders of this country. On this Committee are men whose names are prominent in the business world, men who are officers of the American Federation of Labor, men whose wise guidance will make this work, when backed by our Churches and its millions of members, the great success it deserves. The work of the N. T. U. is to be constructive and not over¬ lapping. It will seek new methods in temperance work that 12 have been only lightly touched on before, and in all cases to help other temperance organizations where possible. Only a few of the de¬ nominations have temperance organizations connected with their denominational work. First, the National Temperance Union must secure, through a research department in conjunction with existing foundations and societies, further instructive temperance information. To disseminate it to the best advantage is the biggest task. A most helpful information bureau that gives practical information regarding the economic side of temperance is being established, and is free to all who desire information along this line. The press of the country is opening its columns very freely to temperance information, but say so much that is sent is inaccurate that the N. T. U. is establishing an extensive Press Bureau to supply the public and religious press and temperance organiza¬ tions with additional reliable and economic temperance facts. The National Temperance Union recognizes the great need for Temperance to be taught among the industrial classes, for they are difficult to reach, and the Union is arranging traveling exhibits, which are being prepared with extreme care to present temperance from the health and economic side, so that they may be sent into the mines, mills, factories and railroads of this country for discussion and study among the men. This is the hardest class of people to reach, for it is largely composed of foreigners who do not even speak our language. From many interviews with the directors of the Safety-first and welfare departments of our large industrial plans, it is found that temperance is the first and most vital plank for their plan of pre¬ paredness for the elimination of accidents. Second. That the man¬ agers are exacting temperance among their men, both for the safety of the employee himself and the other employees, and because they require not only the best of their brain, but clear-headed men. Third. Not only do they lay off and discharge employees who insist on drink¬ ing, but in many factories, mines, and railroad, the man who even has a taint of liquor on his breath is at first reprimanded, on the second offense laid off for a day or more, and finally, if persisted in, dis¬ charged. As an incentive to total abstinence, it is the man who has merit and who is a total abstainer who is advanced.” At the Safety-First Congress, many of the delegates were inter- 13 * viewed, and there was not one but who agreed that temperance is the keystone of the arch of the Safety-first work. The great dimin¬ ishing of accidents during the last year is largely due to the increase of temperance among the men. The American men are recognizing the advantages of temperance as well as their employers, and that the hardest man to convince is the foreigner, who has little education and who has been brought up at home on beer and light wines. The foreigners do not understand the terrible havoc that alcohol makes in their systems and how quickly it makes them inefficient, especially in this country where they get the very worst of alcohol. One of the principal works of the N. T. U. is to reach the in¬ coming emigrant and the uneducated foreign element, and to help educate them to the perils of drink, showing them in their own lan¬ guage, in words that they can grasp and understand, and in striking- pictures, the detrimental effects of drink from the physical and the economic side. The managers of the industrial plants say, “We can not bring into our plants anything that smacks of politics.” * That is the reason this great work of the united church was organized, so as not to take up the question of temperance laws or the enforcing of them, but leaving that to the other temperance societies, whose special aim it is. This work is a truly educational one, necessarily so, in order to reach the men and women of these industrial classes that others do not seem to be able to reach. Another department of work that the National Temperance Union is planning, is to encourage the teaching of temperance in our public, parochial and private schools. To Mary IT. Hunt, of the W. C. T. U., is due very largely the credit of the great temperance wave that is sweeping this country, for she was the pioneer of this great work in the schools, and through her efforts many States enacted laws that compelled the teaching of the detrimental effects of alcohol on the human system. At first the liquor interests paid no attention to this teaching, little dreaming that the lessons taught the children in the schools would one day sweep their traffic out of the way, but after a while they awoke to the truth of the old saying—“Bring up a child in the way it should go and it will not depart therefrom.” How¬ ever, the good work done during the first ten years could not be ef¬ faced, and those boys and girls are now the men and women who are helping carry the burden of the nation, and they are helping to make 14 up the strong army that is sweeping rum and the misery and the inefficiency it brings in its wake out of many of our states. The laws, which now cover all the states, while not forgotten, are not being enforced in many places. Where the W. C. T. U. or other agencies are carrying on this educational work in the schools, the Union will help them and co-operate in securing proper text¬ books to be used, that are up to date. Where this work is not being done, the Union will endeavor to secure the co-operation of the school authorities and teachers. They will not do this by trying to enforce laws, but by convincing the school authorities of the economic value to the child, and the great advantage it will mean to its City, State and Country. The work of the Union is to be co-operative and to work with existing temperance organizations wherever possible, and where the work is not being presented to carry it on themselves. The Union’s plans call for the maintenance of a lecture bureau, the giving of educational welfare expositions in co-operation with other temperance and welfare societies, which will show the under¬ lying causes of poverty, crime and domestic unhappiness is largely the results of intemperance, and will also show the beneficial economic results secured through temperance. Other plans call for a great advertising campaign through the press, and by especially produced Photo Plays. Special stress is to be laid on the importance of temperance as an economic issue in connection with civic celebrations on the Fourth of July. Many tem¬ perance campaigns are to be carried out by union rallies in the churches, throughout the entire land, especially in the men’s bible classes, presenting the economic value of total abstinence as a prac¬ tical solution of the problem. Business efficiency, industrial economy, the fundamental princi¬ pals of thrift, clean manhood, pure womanhood, and good citizenship demand that we Americans take “Booze” as it is called, by the throat and strangle it, as a Safety-first prevention for the economic interest of our country, and as the strongest plank in our preparedness for peace. This official work of the Churches of Christ in America is indeed a wonderful undertaking, a clear-cut, sane presentation of the great issue of the hour, and one that surely deserves the support of the church, and every member thereof whose interest in temperance is measured beyond just sympathy. 15 NATIONAL TEMPERANCE UNION MANAGEMENT FEDERAL COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN AMERICA PROF. SHAILER MATHEWS, President REV. CHARLES S. MACFARLAND, General Secretary NATIONAL TEMPERANCE UNION ORGANIZING COMMITTEE OF DIRECTION RUFUS W. MILLER, D.D., Chairman, Philadelphia, Pa. HON. JOSHUA LEVERING, Vice-Chairman, Baltimore, Md. CHARLES SCANLON, M. A., Gen’l Secretary, First Nat'l Bank Bldg., Pittsburgh. JOHN WALTON, Treasurer, Philadelphia, Pa. SAMUEL ZANE BATTEN, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa. E. C. DINWIDDIE, Washington, D. C. HON. ALONZO E. WILSON, Chicago, III. HEADQUARTERS, Stock Exchange Bldg., 1411 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pa. Bell Telephone, Spruce 4705 ALBERT R. ROGERS, Director. J. JARDEN GUENTHER, Associate Secretary.