Topic: Prohibition, Matches 7 quotes.

I now appeal to you and to all other good citizens to unite and help enforce the laws which have been enacted for the regulation of the liquor traffic. I appeal for the election to office in every branch of our government those who live in accordance with the law and those who favor its enforcement. Will you be good citizens and go to the primaries and to the polls and help as best you can to see to it that no one is elected to public office who owes allegiance to the liquor traffic or to any of its allied evils?

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1935

Topics: Law; Prohibition; Voting

The Fundamental Principle In Individual Government

In my advocacy for Prohibition I keep ever in mind the importance of that great principle which Joseph Smith enunciated when he was asked how he governed his people so well. He answered: “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves.” That is the fundamental principle in the United States in individual government and when an individual becomes converted to a condition he can live up to it. When we get the majority of the people converted to a condition that will favor temperance the law will be enforced.

But there is another condition also. We are living in a democracy. The majority of the people determine the kind of laws by which the people should be governed. That being true we are now facing a proposition to determine what the majority of the people desire. I believe that the American people desire temperance. I have given one reason why I think that the retention of the Eighteenth Amendment will foster and favor temperance.

Source: Elder David O. McKay
General Conference, April 1933

Topics: Prohibition

“They Shall Not Pass”

Sixteen years ago there was a terrific battle being waged at Verdun. On June 7, 1916, the French vacated the city Damloup under the hill on which Fort Vaux was situated. The defense of this Fort was one of outstanding heroism, and Major Raynal, the commander, was treated with every honor as a prisoner of the Germans.

Fort Vaux had fallen and other outer lines were broken through, but there was an inner circle of defense that was invincible. The words of General Petain, “They shall not pass,” thrilled the heart and nerved the arm of every French soldier. For more than two long months the Germans hammered and battered at that inner defense in the most terrific conflict in the annals of war. In the last desperate assault of the Crown Prince, 40,000 German soldiers were slaughtered in a hopeless effort to break through the French curtain of fire. The inner circle of defense was impregnable. The main line held.

Today we witness the legalization of beer by the United States government. One of our outer defences has fallen and the enemy spurred on by victory will attack others. But the inner defence, the 18th Amendment, must be defended at all costs. Let the words of General Petain, “They shall not pass,” strengthen every heart and nerve every hand in defense of this part of the Constitution of the United States.

Source: Elder David O. McKay
General Conference, April 1933

Topics: Prohibition

One evening last May when I was passing through Butte, Montana. I read in an evening paper that the head of the Montana division of the women’s organization for national prohibition reform “appealed to the women of Montana to join and support the organization in its efforts to restore law and order, to safeguard the homes and family ties in the nation through prohibition repeal. * * * The direct objects of this women’s organization,” the state leader announced, “are the closing up of speak-easies, the abolition of gin mills and roadhouses; putting the bootlegger out of business, taking the profits out of crime, and the restoration of respect for law.”

All of them are perfectly worthy objectives and undoubtedly all good people will stand for them. But behold the means by which it is proposed to attain them! Did you ever hear of anything more deceptive? Yet many accept this propaganda, convinced that the objectives and the means are as logically connected as are cause and effect in the natural world. Of course this particular propaganda takes account of two facts. First, that people in general are very forgetful, and second, that millions of voters in America had not yet reached the legal voting age when national prohibition went into effect. From observation and personal experience they know little or nothing of the old saloon days and the almost intolerable evils, linked with, and attendant upon, the liquor traffic. And people are forgetful, very forgetful. Many of the older people now favoring the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment seem to have forgotten the old conditions, and knowing that conditions today relative to liquor drinking are not so good as they ought to be, appear to be ready to “jump from the frying pan into the fire” as a result of the repeal propaganda.

Among other thing’s it is said that repeal will bring back prosperity, reduce crime, stop racketeering and do many other very desirable things. Experienced, as well as informed people all know that repeal will make all these matters worse, much worse, instead of better. But in times like these any propaganda that promises relief from present ills appears to many as does a straw to a drowning man—a safe support or a secure anchorage. Hence the condition of the times produces the very atmosphere in which wild propaganda of various kinds flourish.

Source: Elder Joseph F. Merrill
General Conference, October 1932

Topics: Prohibition

Latter-day Saints Must Uphold The Law

There is much being said now about the law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of liquor. Latter-day Saints should uphold that law everywhere, at socials, at banquets. Civil officers, members of clubs, who are contributing to the formation of public opinion ought to be proud to uphold that law. It is a constitutional law, and it is time that the leaders of this country, the politicians, the statesmen, the leaders in civic affairs in the state and in the cities should so speak of this law, so act towards it, that public sentiment would be turned in favor of its enforcement. Latter-day Saints, we are expected to uphold it and to uphold every other law which contributes to the advancement and peace of mankind. And these laws against the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors are such laws, and our conditions now in society, with millions of automobiles, the drivers of which must be at their very best, active mentally, quick to respond physically in emergency, make it necessary that we eliminate from sociey anything that will becloud the brain or leave the driver’s hand unsteady. We are living in a condition in which we cannot with impunity foster traffic in intoxicating liquors. God said long ago that they were not good for man. Our boys and girls, from the standpoint of integrity and consistency, should take a stand against the use thereof.

Source: Elder David O. McKay
General Conference, October 1927

Topics: Prohibition

I am thankful, I repeat again, for the loyalty of the “Mormon” people in sustaining the prohibition law, and I am sorry that some, apparently, from what they say and from their actions, are wavering. Let us, as a people, be loyal in support of those laws. They are constitutional, have been so declared. And it is the safe course, as far as the people of this Church are concerned, to honor, sustain, and obey those laws, whether we like them or not. And I want to tell you that it is the safe course for this nation to follow. When individuals or a community or a nation select only those laws that suit them, and obey them and break those other laws, they are in a dangerous position. When a constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery was passed, there were those who were not ready to sustain and uphold that amendment, just as there are those now who are not ready and willing to uphold and sustain the Constitution of the United States. The Volstead act is a part now of the Constitution of this nation, and is so declared by a large majority of the people of this great nation, and it is the duty of this nation to uphold and honor and sustain the Constitution.

Source: Elder Thomas E. McKay
General Conference, April 1926

Topics: Law; Prohibition

Prohibition is patriotic because it has proved itself to be a true friend of labor and a true friend of capital. Rome did not die for lack of college and public games, for the want of culture and refined society, or because she had no army or no navy. Rome died when she rotted at the heart. Rome committed moral and political suicide.

Said Poling:

I fear no yellow peril, I fear no foe that may embark from a foreign shore to do us hurt. I fear only the foe from within, this shackler of bodies, this impoverisher of industry, this moral despoiler, this corrupter of government which is called alcohol.

Source: Elder Richard R. Lyman
General Conference, October 1942

Topics: Morality; Prohibition

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