A MANIFESTO.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1259, 14 October 1911, Page 6

A MANIFESTO.

y » . 5" THE LIBERTY DEFENCE LEAGUE.

? MODERATE MEN AND WOMEN „■ WARNED.

Tho Liberty Defence League was forme s to defend ilie peoples' rights and libertie t —religious, social, and personal—agains 0 the tyrannical encroachments of tlios _ who in tiio sacred name of God and rc 1 Upon would destroy these liberties, j Tho Prohibitionists claim that theirs i a just and a righteous cause,' This is however, a fictitious claim, as Trill bi j shown, and a pkarasaieal • trick to catcl the weak and deceive tho unwary, niu } is as mean as it is unworthy of all hones men and women. Many, indeed most, truly religious per ; sons, and certainly all lovers of temper j ance—which is moderation, not total ab stinence—license, not No-License—temper ance, not prohibition—are opposed to com • pulsory teetotalism; and it is to opposi > this illiberal and tyrannical politico-quasi ' religious procedure that sane men am > women have banded themselves togethci to work strenuously for the overthrow oJ this ill-bogotten species of terrorism. : • Tho moderate men and women, who us< t alcoholic beverages without abusing them ; aro..to. bo degraded to the level of the L weaklings who are incapable of self-con , trol. The Prohibitionists aro eager foi the power to compel all moderate men and women to do without wino or beei or spirits. Paul says: "Let no man judge you in meat or in drink/' but the prohibition ministers —which term is synonymous with the in temperate extremist clergymen —are working upon the women and the weak of their congregations to inducc them to judge their neighbours and deprive them, even of the same church, oi the right to make or purchase alcoholic beverages. This is not only a violation of a Scriptural injunction, but a form of trickery that is alike mean and despicable. It is degrading tho pulpit, tho profession of religion and religion itself. It is alone in his religious fervour that the "unspeakable" Turk stands among tho nations as conspicuous for similar conduct. " ". "A WELLINGTON DIVINE." "A Wellington divine," sixteen years ago. (July 12, 1595) said that alcohol was not a poison, although thero was much cheap science talked by prohibitionists on that point, "for if it wero a poison," ho added, "there would bo no sacrifice in abstaining from it." This same "Wellington divine," writing on Octobcr 3, in a letter,to Tiie Dominion, said: "I STILL BELIEVE" THAT NO-LJ^NgITE'VEN IF • ENTIRELY TRIUMPHANT, WILL NOT BRING IN THE MILLENNIUM, NOR EVEN FURNISH A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT OF THE LIQUOR PROBLEM." Vide Dominion', October C, 1911. Of course all prohibition ministers despair of tho Gospel when it comes to temper- ■ ance (?) and fall back upon tho law and tho police, but "a Wellington divine" would fain halt between two opinions. ' WHAT HAS MAINE DONE? After fifty years' experience of prohibition, the honest people there have risen in their wrath and thrown the-vile thing known as prohibition with all its inherent abominations virtually into the sea. They havo cast out this evil thing from their state, while its advocates in New Zealand are working so strenuously to engraft it upon the Dominion. While prohibitionists would forcc their panacea, so-ealled, upon New Zealand,' tho good people of Maine have determined to institute clean, respectable license, such as we havo in Now Zealand. When licensing was abolished, anil prohibition started in Maine, it led to "the abandonment of tho business by persons who wished to stand well in the community as honest men"—Vide "Evening Post" (Octobcr 7, 1911): and —mark this—against the repeal of prohibition, the sly grog-seller, tho smuggler, tho prohibition clergyman, the illicit, dishonest trader, and all persons of that class, wero found fighting hand-in-hand for the retension of tho law that enabled thom to carry on their nefarious avocations. 'io such a deplorable condition socially, religiously, morally, politically had the State of Maiue, under No-License and prohibition, been degraded to, that, at last, after two generations' experience of this deep seated iniquity, honest, and Respectable nien and women in sufficient numbers in Maine have had courage, despite their villification by prohibitionist clergymen, intriguing sly grog-sellers and others, to riso in their righteous indignation and cast tho vile thing out. Maine, after fifty years, has determined to resort to licenso and re-establish tho business into hands of honest men. SAVE THE DOMINION. Tho Defence League in New Zealand honestly aud sincerely desires to save this fair Dominion from undergoing''tlio deplorable degradation Maine has, undergone in her prohibition experience; and tho league feels emboldened to call'upon all fair-minded, self-respecting men and women to preservo New Zealand from that domination of iniquity and tyranny that No-Licensc and Prohibition has so long imposed upon tho now emancipated State of Maine. Remember "a Wellington divine" savs: "NO-LICENSE WILL NOT BRING IN THE MILLENNIUM," and we know from Maino's experience what it does bring in. It has made a return to'clean licensing in that State possible. Why go to a worse condition? Therefore, if you desiro to save Now Zealand from the slavery of prohibition, from tho iniquitous sly grog shop prohibition breeds and fosters, you will strike out tho bottom lines in your ballot-papers on Election Day,- and secure to this Dominion that freedom those liberties its peoplo now enjoy.—*