North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1867-10-02
To the Voters Of Clayton County.

OH paa 4. r;gN ~ sar ui,d
To the Voters Of Clayton County.
| On the Sth day of October next you
will cast your votes for County officers
and members of the State Legislature.
The Republican County Convention
for the purpose simply of keeping up
its organization, has nominated its
ticket, and without alluding to, or ad-
opting a platform of principles, adjour-
ned, expecting that republicans thro'
old party ties, will support its nomina-
tons irrespective Of Questions of State
! pOlicy--at this late day the Democrats
Of this county will probably make no
nominations. You are therefore fOrtu-
nately left free to act at the coming
election as you may deem for the best
interests of the public. With only one
party in the field, politics cannot di-
vide you, and we therefore appeal to
you, not as party men, but as citizens
looking to the welfare of the County
and State, to support the men whose
names appear below respectively for
State and County offices.
- The question of greatest interest that
will come before the next Legislative
assembly of Iowa will be the repeal of
the present unwise and injurious Pro-
hibitOry Liquor Law. At the late Re-
publican County Convention an; at
tempt was made to have resolution
adopted requiring the members of the
Legislature from Clayton county to use
their influence in procuring the repeal
or modification of that law, but the
Convention lodged the question, al
though majority, and by far the best
men in the Convention, favored the
adoption of the resolution which was
defeated by strategy. Part of the nom-
inees of that convention are outspok-
en- advocates of the repeal of that law,
and as such, we will cheerfully vote for
them. We submit to the People of
Clayton County the following reasons
why the present PrOhibitOry Law
ought to be repealed or modified =. r.
1st. It does not answer the end pro-
posed by its friends-the suppression
of intemperance-and on the other
hand, as we believe, only aggravates
the evil of intemperance. The sale of
liquors being Illegal in this State, thou
sands of people buy it for private use
by the quantity in Wisconsin and Illi-
nOis, and keep it in their families,
while the tendency of the law in maxi
ing liquors cOntraband is to induce
those who do traffic in them, to adulte-
rate them to a great extent and it is q
notorious fact, that drunkenness has in
creased in Iowa ever since the passage
of the Prohibitory Law.
I'd. The laYEDRot generally be en-
forced, ,--su laws, directing
what men 81 shall not eat and
drink are q dll0OD Violation Of natural
right, and subversiOn of the personal
liberties of mankind, and any law which
aims at such an object will always fail
to convince men of its morality and
justice. A law that fails to receive the
moral support of the masses must me-
cessarily fail in being executed. The
penalties imposed by this law are 80
shrink from enforcing it when called
on for verdict. How often could con-
victions follow If the penalty for larce-
ny was death And yet, when your
neighbor is guilty of selling glass of
wine, even If it is as pure as that made
by the first miracle, the penalty is fine
and imprisonment at the discretion OF
some fanatical Judge-it may be.
arbitrary and ridiculous. 1t outlaws
L w
or sells it, with terrible severity, while
it smiles complacently on beer and ci-
der. The most eminent physicians
bear witness that pure alcoholic liquors
not used in excess, are not more hurt
full than lager beer. In some of the
New England States, where temper
ance fanatics rule, beer is placed under
the same ban as rum and whiskey, and
the same rule will apply in Iowa when
the same class of men no longer need
to a4se the vote of those who drink
beer. One man needs u little alcoholic
stimulalit, and another wakes healthy
On lager beer. II Why legislate for the
one and not for the other If you
raise your own sour wine grown on
the sour soil of North iowa, or press it
out of the poisonous rhubarb root, you
may drink it. or sell it at some saloon,
or for sacramental purposes, because
(cogent reason) it is domestic aUine !;
but tap 1agOn of sparkling wine
grown on the sunny slopes of France
or Germany, you must invite your
| friends into dark corner. 1t is not
dOmestic--it is contraband, and he who
sells it is liable to be immured in q rot
ten county Jail. 5...p =. i..-,r
Some earnest prohibitory men are
candid enough to admit that the dis
tinctiOn is ridiculous, and that they
are only waiting the good time coming
when the law will bear with equal Sc
verify on him who loves beer and ci-
der and rhubarb wine as well as on
him who drinks old rye and apple
brandy.
4th. The attempted enforcement of
the law in Clayton county, at the next
term of the District Court, will cost
the county not less than Ten Thousand
Dollars. There are nearly fifty indict-
ments pending trial for violations of
the Prohibitory Law, and if the Dis
trict Court dispOses of those cases at
ing Of its first term, 1T must work with
uncommon dispatch, and at the end
the people must pay the nice little bill
which few self-conceited fanatics will
saddle on the already over-burdened
Taxpayers. These indictments are all
found from two townships, MOnOna
and MendOn, and the instigators and
infOrnsers in this piece of extravagant
folly are pressing the Grand Jury to
indict q score or So in Gutenberg, Clay
ton, Garnavillo, Elkader, and In fact
in every township in the county
What. an enormous bill Of expense
will this entail, and you must pay it,
because, fOrsOoth,, dozen self-styled
moral reformers have determined you
shall pay it. ,s.s. - s.
!, The Grand jury. was not to blame.
The law imposed on them the duty,
and yet the same Grand jurors took
their beer and whiskey at the counters
of the self-same men whom they in
dicted. The jurors drew their pay and