Litchfield enquirer., 1874-04-30
woman,s Political Work.

| ss Wloeh siAtelA aIOssslAs
 much into if tka aubject, is evidsntlS
 losing sonething of ahe novellyand some
 thing otyhs fersorofIits opening attack.
 Ths attempf to stop liquor selling by
 public prayer, and personal intercession
 with the seller, is giving place in Ohio very largely to an effort on the part of the tempeEanHe sz4a-aliaelas ths=nail=ariz. en by the temperance crusader. On the same day of our State election, Ohio Felected town and city officers; and, throughout the country, if not in the large pieces. the contest reallr .on the issue of Prohibition. When elected. Temperaaes oafcfals pass strong local prohlhitory1 ordinances of the ..AIcC Con- nellsyillen type (sonamed from the village shhth osigiuatedn thenlo or enforce the Aaaif law hfafn increased ceased strictness a4es.
 Much Much tQa the surprise however, of those Ehoi imaginat that theaI Iprohibitory step as an, easy one to comhanities aroused on the subject .,of Temperance, the result has been more dr a|defeat than a victory. Mot only" says the Tribune, ''the large cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Go sIHl slIRHlmbnsl are reported as declaring. against iIepperanees qbit1 town after town in the rural districts registered the same verdict 2 at | the, polls There were not a few tri- uinphs of the crusaders butathe drift of the tide was in the opposite direction !"
 Washington, c, H! H., tie birth place of the nsUs emeiit, ttftahklih., 1Hillsboro,. and oth- sT. places gcelebEatsd, ipl the early history of the crusade, voted danti- -temperance hE.,
 biThis;l result is just what a politician iSehld have expected, Weak as the liquor interest is. morally, itis.anLawfnl power at the polls; and sw6man,o its natural en- enry, is disffahchised. Even such a wave of temperanceI enthusiasm as has swept oyer Ohio cannot lift prohibition into popuiarity with a male constituency. Our space. will not admit of any full examine ton into the causes and extent of this power of the dram-shop at the polls.
 Politics. being now entirely male busi- ness tepds naturally to gcoarseness and disreRarl nfi tfrA darancies of ordinary mixed society, for the same reason that the. boys school the college, the camp, and all the occupations, that bring men together in masses without the presence |Iof ofwonan, tend to coarseness and harshness IIof manner, and to selfshnegs and immo- lrality of conduct. But, besides all that, the dram shop is so powerful politically Ibecause it can exercise such a control Ioyer the votes of those who frequent it. A church may number an hundred voters anfong it's members, yet it has no political fnanence. Its members are of. fixed, un- alterable political faith, just as they are pffixed, unalterable religious faith. Un.
 less the nomination of their party is an Dutrageonsly bad one they sustain it; and even if it is an outrageously bad one tbe extent of theft opposition will be stay ing away from ftta the polls. On the contra
 ty, the proprietor of 9. dram-shop deals with a class who care little for principle hnd whose votes he can carry to the one
 pr the other party as suits his own per tonal interests. If he can. control fifteen
 voters, their change from one side to the other signifiesa difference of thirty votes in tho total result. Such man is great political power; and, where the place is large, dram-shops many, and their habit fsse numerous. the liquor interest is su- preme..' In fact this power varies in di-
 iect ratio with the size of the constituen.
 ay. In small towns it is often scarcely felt. In cities 1t is apt to control poli- tics. The men who haunt tue dram-shops pack theprimar;es and make mountainous; while, in New York, the liquor seller is the unit of political power, and he and
 his class are omnipotent. , i,,ia4,. ..i. "
 It'is this evil practical phase of politics
 that explains, the characteristics of the
 'iprominent politician" In places under
 his control, like New York, the saloon keeper himself takes office. Ordinarily,
 however, he is too, shrewd to make any 'snch open exhibition of his power.I He dnd his men are on the partisan town
 cpnmittee and are, busy as workers on election days, influencing the vo- 'ters .elassad in the canvass lists as ''doubt- fnl."H They gobblea up many bits of party plundef but dare not run for elective of-
 fees themselves. Now tine ''prominent
 politician is either shrewd, ambitious,
 interruptions man who uses these fellows; or, a fairly respectable. pliant person who is, used by them. In any case he must be on good terms with the 'swork-
 ct" who manipulates the caucus, distrib. utes the free rum. and buys purchasable votes, and also on fair terms with the good lcitizens, church members, &c., who form
 the bulk of our political parties. He
 has, indeed, to pass much such an ordeal as embarrassed the office holder under
 Andrew 2 Johnson when. he had to be ''Johnson man. enough to get his nomina'
 tiph from the president, and Republican | enough to get ms confirmation from the l Senate. Is it my wonder that the s'pron
 inent politician" isla'tr1cky. unreliable
 legislator and, executive officer -- offer
 ready to pass prohibitory laws, but nevel
 ready to execute then?a He knows too Iweli that, were he to do this, he would find Responsibility, Morality and Reli
 zion divided on election day, the hquol
 interest united. and himself defeated. In
 deed the degeneracy one is almost Ger 1 tain toises in the respectable person turn
 ed politician grows largely out of his as
 'sociation with the men of the dram shop 1 The dramIshop seems to be fully as pow I erful on English as on American soil. i The London Times attributes Gladstone'l
 defeat to the ''''onnnipo potence !of beer, ' 4