Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seems not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and I believe all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts.
Abraham Lincoln (1842). “An Address Delivered by Abraham Lincoln: Before the Springfield Washingtonian Temperance Society at the Second Presbyterian Church, Springfield Illinois, on the 22d Day of February, 1842”, p.12
