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Discussing the attitude of the vari-- ous religious bodles to the temper-- amce question, Mr. Rowell quoted Rev. Fathor Minchan, as represent-- ing the oldest Christian Church. "I believe." said PFather Minchan, "that the spinal column of the liquor curse is the barroom. Practically every dJrunkard with whom I have been brought in contact received his initi-- ation in the barroom and graduated from that seminary of drunkenness. sys The number of men who will swill at home is, according to my observation, very small." The Methodist Church had taken a stand for total prohibition, but had also taken the position that until total prohibition could be obtained _ they would support abolition of the bar. | Majority Favors Abolition. ~"Spinal Column of the Liquor Curse." .__YThe 10C&1L option law in Ontario, ' \r. Row'rel'l gloin't'ed out, had had the i ccau«l%t in »s [ite as ¥el the e +2' > w ki The traffic also had an important bearing on the growth of pauperism. The record in Massachusetts showed that 65.20 per cent. of the cases in-- Vestigated were addicted to strong drink, while 15.65 per cent. were ex-- cessive drinkers. Dealing with the economic aspect of the liquor traffic, Mr. Rowell said it was a well--known fact that users of. strong drink were subject to a great loss of time; there was a cur-- tailment in earning capacity, and finally a great shortening of life. It was estimated that Great Britain suf-- fered a loss of one--sixth of her earn-- ings through the effect of liquor. Hon. George E. Foster suggested some years ago that Canada lost one-- tenth of her earning power from the same cause, but even putting it mod-- erately at 5 per cent.. the loss to On-- tario was measured in millions. Referring to the forces which have contributed to arouse public senti-- ment against the liquor traffic, Mr. Royvell reviewed the work of the 'temperance organizations of the Pro-- vince. --They might not be able to agree with all that temperance re-- formers saig or did. "I am sure we must recognize this fact: that they | are all laboring disinterestedly and sincerely for the promotion of what} they believe to be the public good,l ind whatever may be their attitude, ; their feelings or their convictions in : :'onnection with this matter, we must /' all have the most profound respect! for every man and every woman who is intelligently seeking to serve his lay and generation." (Applause.) \result of indicating the -f';e"lil:n'; The Presbyterian Church had adopted a resolution calling for the abolition of the bar and the treating syzstem, amd the Anglican Church, through its General Synod meeting at Winni-- peg, had declared that the demand of the day was the abolition of the bar. The Baptist and Congregational communions had dealt with the ques-- tion in a similar way. Proceeding, Mr. Rowell supported his argument with statements by Rfr. Hon. John Burns that "the liquor trado is an inmitigated curse to'finy community that claims to be Christ-- ian or civilized." Mr, Arthur Hen.-- derson, M. P.. one of the labor lead-- ers in England, said that "there is no factor which is keeping -- the workers back more than is to pa found in connection with the liquor traffic." The Economic Aspoct. The local option law Better Hotels "If you wipe out the bars entire. ly, so that hotelkeepers recognize that the liquor traffic is forever dirorced --from hotelkeeping, _ you will find that they will devote them. selres to giving the best accommo-- dation they can for the travelling publc."--From Mr. Rowell's speech in the Legislature yesterday. Must Follow. of a majority of the municipalities as in favor of the abolition of the bar, In 1875 there were 6,185 licenses. _ By the operation of the Crooks act the number was reduced to 3$,938, and under the local option clause of the present law there wetre less than 1,. §00 licensed bars in the Province to-- day. _ Out of 811 municipalitiee in the Province 444 were dry and 367 were wet, Of the 367 where licenses were in force, in 118 local option had received a majority, but not sufficient to meet the requirements of the three-- fifths clause. These added to the 444 would give a total of 562 municipal-- ities in the Province that by a ma-- jority vote had expressed in favor of doing away with the bars, although all of the larger municipalities, where population was centred, were among the number having licensed places. "What is the situation confronting us to--day?" asked Mr. Rowell. "I submit, Mr. Speaker, and I submit with con'fidence, that there is a rig. ing tide of public sgntiment in this Province, brought about by all the forces I have mentloned, which has reached the conclusion that the open bar in this Province is a public nui-- sance and a social fester, prejudicial {alike to the home, the Church and the State, and that such being so the time has come when the bar should be abolished." (Applause.) \Club and Shop Licenses. Continuing, Mr. Rowell defended nis position with régard to club and shop licenses. Some hon. friends had said that the bar was only a portion of the drink traffic. There were .1:'£ shop licenses in the Province and 53 club licenses, of which 30 were in Toronto. This would show that the bar represented the overw helming percentage of the traffic. If the drink bill of Canada was $81,000,000 per year, he estimated that the liquor trade in the Province was somewhere between twenty--five and thirty mil-- lions of dollars. Any hon. member who would take the trouble to visit the downtown bars of Toronto on & Saturday afternoon or an ordinary evening would become convinced that the bar and the treating systemmn wetre [the outstanding evils bf the -- liquor tratfic, Dealing specifically with the clud dquestion, Mr. Rowell compared the 5% club licenses to the 1,.580 batr licenses. Some of the clubs were mere drinking resorts, and no at-- tempt should be made to justify their existence. Other clubs were not \drinking resorts. He did not see how it would be possible to discriminate between one form of club and an-- other. '"TUnder a policy by which you seek to reduce the evils of the liquor traffic, I wish to make it clear that the club must go with the bar-- room,; and with local option _ you would be able to deal with the resi-- due of the liquor traffic. What Resolution Means. " Legislate Against j Liquor Traffic. "Some question has arisen as to the meaning of this resolution which 1 have the honor to present to this House: what does abolish the bar mean? -- Abolish the bar has been used in this Province for the past ten years, and has a well--accepted significance. By abolish the xba,r i:1 meant the abolition "All practical forms of legislation which public opinion will sustain 1 desire to see put into force, so that the cvils of the liquor traffic will be restrained and reduced."--From Mr. Rowell's speech in the Legis-- lature yesterday. B;'"thé licensed to the club the