By Authority of the People

When the famous submarine reef known as Hell Gate was blown out of the waters of Long Island Sound, the world echoed with rejoicing to learn that what had been a menace and a barrier to vessels and to commerce was blasted into fragments never to return. There is a greater Hell Gate which with its infinite submarine and subterranean tunnels honeycombs our social structure. The saloon is the dreadful barrier to commerce and prosperity, as well as a menace to health and peace. In spite of the fact that its awful traffic bears the approving stamp of our government, the time will come when this great thing, whose foundations are laid in hell, will be blown skyward by the power of public sentiment mightily aroused and intellectually directed.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also.

Hab. 2:4

Images captured with a Kodak DC120 digital camera from the collections of the The Cartoon Research Library of Ohio State University. The unpaginated source is Fifty Great Cartoons (Chicago: Ram's Horn Press, 1899).