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VTHWESTERN PRESBYTERIAth entral Presbyter/an c The'Southern Presbyter/an VOL. LXXXV. RICHMOND, NEW ORLEANS, ATLANTA, JANUARY 10, 1917. No. 52. CWtorial J?oteS anil Comment PROHIBITION is looming up larger and larger in this country. There is scarcely any subject that is occupying the attention and thought of so many people. Inhere never were as many bills before Congress on this sub ject as there are now, nor have there ever been such bills of as wide import presented to any legislative body as those now demand ing the consideration of Congress. The most important of these is the one to provide for a prohibition amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This has been favorably reported to both houses. Another is a bill to provde for prohibition in the District of Co lumbia. Another is one to exclude all liquor advertisements from the mails. This also has been favorably reported to both houses. There are two to provide prohibition for Ilawaii and Porto Rico. The Hawaiian bill has been favor ably reported to the Senate. Another bill, that should have been made a law many years ago, is to prohibit shipments of liquor to Africa. This is now in the hands of the Committee on Alcoholic Liquor Traffic. As so many of these bills have been favorably reported, it looks very much as if they will be passed by Con gress. Senators and Representatives are hear ing from great numbers of their constituents on both sides of the questions. Of course, the liquor people are opposing all of these bills, but the voice of the people is being heard on this subject all over the land with no tin certain sound. + + + Governor Sidney j. catts, recently elected Governor of Florida, in his in augural address recommended the passage of ' a law providing for police inspection of paro chial schools, convents and nunneries." We a>e very glad to see such -action proposed, and we hope the law will soon be passed, not only in Florida, but in every state in the Union, and for the territories and colonial dependencies of this country. "We do not believe human be gs, either young or old, should be kept under control or restraint of any individual or anization, other than parents in charge of tor children, without being responsible to i State. The State guarantees to every one protection of life, liberty and the pur of happiness. It must then see that this rantee is fulfilled. If a man, woman or d is shut up in any institution and not al ed to communicate freely with friends or ^esentatives of the State, there is no way iow whether or not the rights guaranteed eing enjoyed or not. The fact that chil are placed in such institutions by parents not alter the case, unless parents have the to visit them and talk with them free all restraint. Nor does the fact that tan or woman has gone into an institution ^8 or her own aceord alter the case, if he or she cannot come out at any time without fear or restraint. We believe that every school, asylum or benevolent institution, or any other in which human beings are confined, should be subject to full, frequent and un announced inspection by the representatives of the State. If the affairs of the institution are being properly conducted, those in authority will not object to the inspection. If objec tion is made, that is pretty conclusive evidence that something is being done which those in control do not want tHe public to know. There are a number of so-called schools and chari table institutions in this country that are vir tually prisons, and whose inmates are not given as much liberty as the convicts in a peni tentiary. Ev?ry liberty-loving citizen of this country ought to see that this condition of affairs is changed. + + + Why It Was Easy "A man once met a small lad staggering along the road under the heavy burden of carrying a smaller boy, who was unable to walk. The man said to him: 'Is he not too heavy for you to carry?' 'Oh, no,' said the lad. 'He's not heavy ? you see, he's my brother.' " + + + EST VIRGINIA, in a recent issue of this paper, was inadvertently deprived of an honor which she is entitled to. In speaking of the recent victory for prohibition in Michi gan, which that State gave 70,000 majority against the saloon, we said that was the larg est majority ever given for this cause by any State. "We thought our authority for this statement was well informed on the subject. We have just received from one of our read ers the statement that when West Virginia voted on this question the majority in favor of prohibition was 92,240. This is all the more remarkable when we remember that a large part of the population of that State is foreign. PEACE among the warring nations is being discussed more than anything else just now. The terms upon which peace can be se cured is occupying the thoughts of the gov ernments. It would seem that, to secure peace, it would be necessary to have a clear under standing of the causes of the war. If anyone can' give a clear statement of the true cause of the war, now is the time for him to speak. The thing that has puzzled us all along is what it was all about, anyhow. + + + BOSTON recently voted on the question of prohibition, but the liquor forces won the fight. The Congregationalist, published in that gives what it conceives to be the chief reason for the- defeat of prohibition. Billy Sunday conducted one of his most remarkable campaigns just on the eve of that election, and vet all efforts failed to drive liquor out of the Hub City. The Congregationalist "says : "In the recent campaign, influenced by the highest Roman Catholic influence in Boston, the clergy and others prominent in that Church refused to assist, for the most part, in the cause of no license, and much thorough work was done among the Roman Catholics to secure from 1hem a big license vote on the ground that if Boston went dry it would be a victory for Billy Sunday and the Protestant Churches co operating with him, and inasmuch as the Sun day campaign is a Protestant movement, which has been officially condemned by Cardinal O'Connell, this was not the year for Catholics to vote no-license." PREVENTION is better than cure. The loss of property every year in this country by fire is enormous. We happen to have the fig: ures for Virginia before us, but insurance peo ple tell us that practically the same conditions exist all over the country. In this State the loss for the year 1915 was nearly $3,000,000. The insurance people also tell us that a very large part of this loss might have been pre vented, if reasonable care had been exercised by the occupants and users of the property destroyed. There should be a campaign of edu cation for the prevention of fires started in every home in the land and in every business and manufacturing establishment. No one has a right to be careless in this matter, no mat ter whether the property is his own or another's. We ought to prevent waste in every way possible. It is often and truly said that it is not so much what a man makes as what. he saves that counts. + + + SPOTS on the sun, though very large, can not be seen because of the glorious light of the remainder of the surface of this splendid orb. If the Christian's life and character were to show forth the religion of Christ in its true features, the dark spots of sin would be con cealed from view by its glorious light. + + + HIGH COST of living is troubling a very large part of the people of this country. Yet this is unquestionably a time of tremen dous prosperity -for the country at large. There is more money to spend, and those who have it are spending it. But there are many whose income has not increased in proportion to their expenses. If all classes would learn to econo mize in their expenditures the great mass of the people would be much better off.