Buchanan County bulletin and guardian. (Independence, Iowa) 1866-1869, 1867-05-10
PRoal.lrIoN vIsDIcATED.

The. result Of the Legislative inves
tigation which has been going on in
MASSACHUSETTS, is peculiarly gratifying
to all true friends OF Temperance.
Citizens Of Mass schusetts who are in
favor Of licensed liqucr traffic peti
toned the Lcgislaxurc for the repeal
Fof the Prohibitory Liquor La W. The
Legislature appointed . committee to
take the matter into consideration.
! The committee constituted a. kind 81
court pf investigation, and held regR-
lar daily sessions for sevefal weeks.
Ex- Governor Andrew appeared az
the attorney Of the license law peti,
tionssS q hd aboht 40 witnesses were
summoned and examined. who testi-
fed in favor Of license. Several
gwine-bibbing clergymen, q few dram
drinking doctors. and not few poll
ticians were among the number. The
lovers of liquor were particularly ju-
bilant over the fact that couple Of
Harvard professors testified in favor
Of alcohol as useful beverage. They
rejoiced greatly, also, because Gov.
Andrew acted as their counsel He
has always been opposed to Prolibi-
tion |; aud he is a LAWYER, and receiv-
ed from the liquor dealers association
a fee Of $20,0 900 for his services before
the committee. His assistant receiv-
ed $4,000.
Messrs. Miner 4 Spooner acted as
counsel for the Prohibitionists, re-
ceiving no pecuniary reward for their
labors. They called only seventy
FIVE witnesses. but they were some Of
the most eminent men of science,
educators, clergymen, editors and
lawyers Of the State. The inyestiga-
ton continued about six weeks. and
was in reality grand protracted tenn
perance meeting. Thousands of citi-
zens from all parts of the State at
tended, and the impression made IN
favor Of Prohibition was profound
and overwhelming. Never before
had the advocates of the liquor traffic
courted. such an open and thorough
investigation of their business. and
never before were the, 50 completely
d molished.
The testimony Of theEtemperance
doctors accorded with the writings of
the most reliable medical men Of an
cient and modern times. DIR. Bel
lows showed that some Of the Har-
ward medical professors testified to
what was condemned by their own
text books, and even by their own
writings in former days. DIR. Alden
very effectually disposed Of the plea
for using alcohol on the ground Of its
being nufriment, by saying. that if he
should put spoonful of flour into
pound Of agsenic he might extract .
little nourishmeat from it; but this
would be no recommendation of it as
a common remedy for disease. DIR.
Storer of Boston, vho is 80 justly
distinguished, expressed a similar
opinion.
During the progress Of the inyesti-
CATION, the State Temperance Ali
ance addressed all the clergymen of
the State by letter, asking this ques-
ton: Are you in favor of repeal.
ing the Prohibitovy Law and enacting
q License Laws'' They were re-
quested to answer yes or no, and re-
turn the SAM at once. On Friday,
March goth. there haG been received
1.O18 answers. All were for Prohi-
bition but 56. OF, those 25 we're Ca
,holic priests, 8 Episcopalians. l2
Unitarians, Swedanborgians, Con-
gregationalists, l Universalist, and 3
unknown. Three Catholic priests
answered for Prohibition. -
The Legislature of Massachusetts,,
as well as the people of the State, is
Overwhelmingly in favor Of Prohibi-
ton, and the law viii be enforced
hereafter with greater sigor than ever
hafaro