Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-06-25
THE PRoRIRITIoNIsTs.
No-,Ds,., ria,ror- asd national Co--i'


The Prohibition National Convention
was held az Cleveland on the 18th, with
i42 delegates, representing twelve
es-Arkansas, Connecticut, Iowa,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
New JERSEY, New York, Ohio, Penn
sylvania, West Virginia and Wiscon-
sin.
Neal Dow, Of Maine, was nominated
by acclnmation for President and A.
II. Thompson, Of Westerville, Ohio, for
Nice-President, of the United States.
The platform is rs follows:
The Prohibition Reform party OF the United
States, organized IN the name Of the people TO
revive, enforce and pcrpetuate I'm the Govern
mcnt the doctrines OF the Declaration Of Indie
pendence, submit for the suffrages of all good
citizens thefollowing platform Of National re-
forms and mcusures. In the examination ana
discussion OF the temperance question IL has
hocn proven and Is an accepted truth that alco-
holic drinks, whether fermented, brewed, or
distilled, are poisonous to the healthy human
body, the drinking of which Is not only need
less, but hurttul, necessarily tending 20 form
Incorporate habits, increasing greatly the
number. severity and tptal Termination Of dis
eases, weakening and deranEing the intellect,
pulluting the affections, hardening the heart
and cOrruptlng the morals; deprving many
of reason, and still more Of its healthful eT-
crcise, and annually bringing down large num-
hers to untimely graves; producing In the
children Of many who drink predisposition
l
and mental diseases, causing dminutiOn Of
strength feebeness Of vision, hoklenoss OF
purpose and premature old age ana producss
ing to all future generations deterioration OF
moral and physical character. Alcoholic drinks
arc thus the itnplacahe foe Of man as an indi-
Yidual
1. The legulized Importation, manufacture
and sale Of intoxicating drinks ministers TO
their use and teaches an erroneous and de
structiye sentiment that such use is right;
thus tending to produce and perpetuate the
aforementioned evils.
2. To the home It is equally an enemy, prov
! ing the disturber and destroyer of its peace,
! prosperity and happiness; taking from IL the
| earnings Of the husband, dcpriving the de
\ pendent wife and children Of essential food,
| clothing and education; bringing into 1t pro
| family, abuse and violence; setting at naught
| the VOWS of the marriage altar breaking up
! the family, and sundering the children from
| the parents, and thus destroying one of the
| most benefcent institutions of our Creator,
/ and removing the sure foundation for good
| government, National prosperity and welfare
! 3. 10 the community lt is an enemy produc-
| ing decentralization, vice and wcl1edness; it's
| places of sale being often resorts Tor gaming,
! lewdness and dcbauchery, and hiding-places Of
| those who prey upon society, GountGracung
| for intellectual elevation, moral purity, social
| happiness and the eternal good of mankind,
without rendering any cOuntcraotng OF COM
| pcnsating benefits, being i'm its influence and
| effect evil, and only evil and that continually
4. To the state It Is equally an enemy, Leg
| islative inquiry, judicial investigation and Of
! ficial reports of all penal retOrmatory and
| dependent institutions showing that the man
/
| noting cause Of intemperance crime and
| pauperism, and of the demands on public and
| private charity, imposing the larger part OF
| taxation, paralyzing thrift, industry, manu-
features and commercial life, which but for IL
| would be unnecessary; disturbing the peace
| of the streets and highways, filling the prisons
| and poor-houscs, COrupting politics, legisa-
| tion and the execution of tho laws, shortening
lives, diminishing health, industry and pro
! ductive power in manufocture ana art, ana IS
| mnnifestly unjust as well as injurious, to the
community ON which II is imposed, and is con,
trary to all just views Of civil liberty, as VOL
as violation of the fundamental maxim of
our common law TO use your own property or
| liberty so us not TO injurc others.
! 5. II Is neither right nor polite for the State
| TO afford legal protection to any trOtc or sys-
TEN which tends to wasteits resources, 10 cur
rupt social habits, and to destroy the health
| and lives Of the people; that the importation,
| manufacture and sale of intoxicating hever-
| ugcs is proven to be inimical to the true inter
! csts OF the individual, homo, community,
State, and destructive to thcordcr and welfare
of society, and ought, therefore, to be classCd
among crimes, and be prohibited.
g. In this time Of profound peace at home
| and abroad, the entire separation Of the Gem
eral Government from the drink traffic, and
It's prohibition in the District OF Columbia. tho
Territories and in all places and ways over
| which under the Constitution Congress has
| control or power, is a political issue Of the
first Importance TO the peace and prosperity
of the Nation. There can be no stable peace
and no protection to personal liberty, life, or
property, until secured by National and State
constitutional provisions, enforced by ade-
quate laws.
I. All legitimate industries require the de-
| livcrunce from taxation and loss which the
liquor traffic imposes upon them, and financial
or other legislation could not accomplish so
much to increase the production, and cause a
demand for labor, and, as Il result, for the
comforts of living, as tho suppression of this
trntlic would bring to thousands of homes as
one OF its blessings.
s. The administration of the Government
and execution of the laws are through politi-
cal parties, and we arraign the Republican
party, which has been in continuous power In
| being
its duty: as false TO the loudly-prOclaimed
principles Of "equal Justice to all, and special
fnvoTs to none, and Of protection to the weak
and dependents" inscnsible to the, mischief
which the trade in liquor has constantly in
fllctcd on the industry, trade, commerce and
socinl happiness Of tho people; that the h652
distillcries, 2,S3) brewerics, l752B places
OF sale OF these poisonous liquors, IN
volving an annual waste 10 the Nation
of Sl500 100000 and the sacrifice OF a
hundred thousand lives, have under
its legislation grown up and been fOstered as
legitimate source of revenue; that during its
histuTysiN Territories have been organized and
five States admitted into the Union, with Com
but the prohibition Of this dcbasing and de-
structVc truilic has not been provided for nor
even the people given, at the time of admission,
the power To forbid II I'm any one Of them. It's
history further shows that not in single in
stance has an original Prohibitory law heen
enacted In any Stute controlled by It, while in
four States so governed laws existing on its.
advent TO power have been repealed At its
National Convention ia 1872, itdeciarcd, as part
of its party faith, that 1t disapproves of re-
sort 10 unconstitutional laws for the purpose
Of removing evils 10y interference with tho
right not surrendered by the people TO either
the State or National Government, which, the
authoNOf this plank says, was adopted by the
Platform Committee with the full and explicit
understanding that its purpose was the dis
cnuntenancing of all so-cnlled temperance
(Prohibitoryl and Sunday laws"
9. We arraign the Democratic party as un-
faithful and unworthy of reliance on this ques-
tion, for, although not clothed with power, but
occupying the relation Of an opposition party
during twenty years past, strong In numbers
and organization, II has allied itself with the
| Representatives. and become in all States of
the Union their special political defenders, and
i'm the National Convention in 1876, as an arti-
Gle of its political faith, declared against pro-
hibiton and just laws in restraint of the trade
in drink by saying IT was opposed TO what it
was pleased 10 call all sumptuary laws The
National party has been dumb on this question.
10. Drink traiiickers having history and ex-
perience, in all ages, climes and conditions of
| men, declaring their business destructive of
all good finding no support in the Bible, morals
their Justification and intrench themselves be
hind the evil elements of political parties for
defense. Party tactics and party tnertias be-
come the battling forces protecting this evil
II. In view of the foregoing facts and his
| tory, we cordially invite all voters, without re-
gard 10 former party affiliations, TO unite with
the drink system under the authority Of our
| National and State Governments. We also de-
mand, as a right that women, having the
privileges Of citizens in other respects, be
! clothed with the ballot for their protection and
as a rightful means for the proper settle
ment of the liquor question.
II To remove the apprehension of some
who alscgc that the destruction Of the public
revenue would follow the suppression Of the
drink trade, we confidently point to the eX-
| pcricnce Of Governments abroad and at home,
which shows that the thrift and revenue from
the consumption Of legitimate manufactures
! NnUn IuTunIW followed