216 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
REV. PURLEY A. BAKER
On March 30 Rev. P. A. Baker died at
his home in
Westerville, Ohio. He was born in
Jackson County,
Ohio, April 10, 1858. He was
prominently identified
with the work of the Anti-saloon League
almost from
its beginning. This organization like
many other move-
ments, began in Ohio in 1893 and
extended to every
state of the Union. Its founder was
Rev. Howard H.
Russell who is still living in
Westerville. Rev. P. A.
Baker was in charge of the Cleveland
district of the
League in 1896. He became its state
superintendent in
1897 and in 1903 he was chosen general
superintendent
of the Anti-saloon League of America, a
position that
he held to the date of his death.
Soon after he became prominently
identified with the
League his ability as an organizer and
an executive was
recognized and felt. During his
administration amend-
ments prohibiting the manufacture and
sale of intoxi-
cating liquors were added to the
constitutions of a
number of states and finally became a
part of the con-
stitution of the United States.
There have been and still are
differences of opinion
in regard to prohibition. Some citizens consider it
still in the experimental stage. There
can be no ques-
tion, however, in regard to the
magnitude and progress
of the movement in the United States,
and if it achieves
even approximately what its friends
with confidence
claim for it, Rev. Baker will in the
future be accorded
high rank among the reformers of his
generation.