Page 61 - 1901 Pinakidia

drunkard's death They quoted copiously from strong statistic~. and Layne, J. E. applied the dodt inc of limits
to clinch the argument But .Ill a\'ailed nothing. The judg-es h.HI fi ·ed their mind~ ancl decided that the bar·
rooms must not he slandered. And the first debate ended in dt:feat for the Bema. But this did not break her
spirit. It was announced from the platform there would be a hu~iness meeting of the Bema Society the ne.·t
morning at 9 o'clock. After the transaction of sundry matters of no tmportancc. the President 'uddenly ··alled
for denu11ciation of the judg-es. The whole society ro.;e t 11 mas.,r. lhery man did his duty. One man e\'en spoke
twice. After this the society felt better, but the effect was not salutary on future judgl-..
The seco11d debate occurn:d in :\larch, '93, and the question \\as· Re olYed, That the Cm·ernment shouhl
not own the r,1ilroads and telegraph line,. The Bem'\, rt:presented hy Coogeer and (;raham, hac! the affirmatin~
The Forum, represented by Lake and George Washington, had the nt:g:tti\'C The arguliH!nb of the neg-ati\·e
were good. In fact, a ft:w Be mas ft:lt apprehensiYe of the result, until Coogeer called attention that tht: argumt:nb
were populistic. This mo\·ed the audience, who could not repress their sympathy, and when Strick pulled his
two dollars and asked the audience to think of ten billions of those dollars being spent to buy the railroads, and
of the awful responsibilitit:s of fastening such a giant debt on the generations yet unborn, the judgt:s wept. The
battle was \\'On.
It was on this occasion that the ladies of Lake Cit) showed their appreciation of the effotis of the Bema bv
presenting a beautiful white and gold banner, upon which was emblazoned in gold letters tht.' motto and embkm
of the society.
The eight succeec'ing contests during the period up to the Spring of 'yti \\'ere lkma Yktorie~ Siuee that
time, with oue exceptiou, she has suffered defeat. We caunot speak of Iter future. That rcmaius to be worked
out by the genius and industry of her prescut orgauization. If the past ma} ht: considt:rcd an inde. wt: 111:ed ttot
ft:el apprehensi\·e.