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THE PUBLIC FORUM SIGN YOUR NAME. Some con tributors to the columns of The Day Book Public Forum may wonder why their letters are not printed. A great number of lett&rs-on interesting topics come into the office unsigned. That's the answer. The Day Book will print letters from readers using initials only, but it is necessary that we have the writ er's name and address for the office. "When writing a letter for The Pub lic Forum please sign your name and address. Thank you! A REQUEST . By R. F. Connor Oh! weatherman, weatherman, up in your tower, A great favor we are asking of you; Don't for a week or ten days throw a shower, We have dampness enough in the dew. Oh! weatherman, weatherman, high in your tower, Send us more sunshiny days. Though the wheat and the oats grow taller each hour, Have pity on our poor sickly maize. Say, weatherman, weatherman, up in your tower, We surely would call you a "beaut" If you'd throw on the heat with a lit tle more power, We could then wear our Palm Beach suit REV. LEONARD ALL WRONG. As a reader of your paper I wish to protest against a statement in your Issue of July 7, attributed to Rev. A. W. Leonard of Seattle, that "liquor in the United States is killing 2,000 men a day." The dispatch was from Atlantic City, and the statement was said to have been made before the convention of Anti-Saloon League of America. It Is men like Dr. Leonard who are casting discredit on the anti-saloon movement and losing i followers. I am unable to decide whether men of his type are ignorant or intentionally misleading the public. In either case his sort injure any cause they seek to support If Dr. Leonard had looked up the United States census figures he would have found that his statement was absurd. Two thousand deaths a day from alcohol would give us a total for one year of 730,000. Now census figures for the registration area of the United States, which in cludes 63.2 per cent of the popula tion, show that the total number of deaths from all causes in 1912 was 838,251. Deducting the number of deaths among infants of less than five years leaves us 633,612 deaths, and if this ratio is carried out for the non-registration area we find the total of deaths from all causes (five years or more) to be 933,612. Yet Dr. Leonard would have us believe that 730,000 die from alcohol alone. As a matter of fact, there are but 2,500 deaths a day in the whole United States from all causes, so that to give 2,000 of these to King Alcohol is to compliment him too highly. Moreover, the census for the regis tration area for 1912 has this entry among causes of death: "No. 56 Alcoholism (acute and chronic), 3,183." If we double the amount, to allow more than amply for the non-registration area, we have only 6,000 deaths in twelve months due to alco hol. Deducting this from Dr. Leon ard's vgures, leaves the doctor with 724,000 to account for. Even the uneducated mass of peo ple soon detect such absurd state ments as these and are alienated from good causes by poor leaders. T. H. FOR PLAYGROUNDS. It appears to me the men who are endowing universities and libraries and others