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 down." 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 order 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 principle, utterly inconsistent with the purpose of enlightened government, and in practice a protection to a traffic which is inherently criminal in its nature."