The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1880-05-13
IsBoRoUGH HIGHLAND COUNTY, OHIO THURSDAY MAY 49, $780,
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
LOCAL OPTION.
ANOTHER LETTER FROM JUDGE
THOMPSON.

ANOTHER LETTER FROM JUDGE
THOMPSON.
HuLsBORo, o., April 28.-It is a ft in
troduCtOry prelude to the request for the
publication Of this letter, to express the
sincere gratitude Of all orders of the tenn
perance people Of Ohio for the publication
in your influential Journal on the 4th of
December, 1879, Of a letter written BY me
with the headlines, "a local option liquor
law for Ohio without a clause allowing
the privilege of the sale of intoxicating
hqors as beverage on the payment of taxes
therefor, but with a clause allowing the
voice or vote Of woman to be equal to that
OF man on the enforcement Of such law. ("
and 1t Is equally fit to sUperadd to such ex-
preston Of gratitude, that unless the Wri-
te1 was deeply impressed with the con-
sciOus conviction that as profound interest
among a large class of your numerous
readers will be instantly aroused by the
headlines of this letter, as was by those of
the former, he would not ask the favor of
this publication, intended to keep alive
and cherish healthful, staadfast, growing
public sentiment in favor Of the virtues Of
sObriety, as contrasted with the vices and
crimes Of drunkenness; and he Will furth-
er add, that unless the thoughts herein ex-
pressed will freely circulate and defend
themselves, without willing under the
fervid heat Of any just criticism, that
then they may fade into oblivion without
further space being asked in your journal
for their future vindication.
The partial prOXimate effect of the first
letter was to cause o Union State Tenn
perance Convention, on the call Of some
of the most distinguished male and female
temperance workers, to be assembled at
Columbus on the LIST Of January, 1880, and
the counsels of that convention, admitted
to be the largest of the kind ever assem-
bled in the State, resulted in the adoption
of the headlines of the first letter as the
basis Of cooperation for the temperance
people of the State, and in the recon-
mendatiOn to the General Assembly of
the passage of either one or the other Of
two local option bills presented in the re-
port Of the committee Of the convention,
and also in the recommendation Of form
of petition in the language Of such head
lines, for circulation among the people,
praying for the passage Of either one Of
such bills.
In response to the recommendation of
the convention and the Joint cooperation
Of only a portion (fOr only a portion were
aroused to actiOn) Of the temperance peO-
pie Of the State, petitions for the passage
of local option anti-liquOr law were pre-
sented to the General Assembly to the
number of l31, ,182 petitioners, whereof
78, ,140 were in favor Of the voice Of wo-
man by petition or ballot, and 53,O42 were
for simple local option, without any gener-
al expression Of opinion in the main as to
the provisions Of a local option bill. Now
and here claiming (if the claim is s mis-
take let some knowing one correct it, in
behalf Of the temperance people, that the
above grand total Of petitioners for local op-
tion exceeds by thousands any grand total
Of petitioners on any other subject Of legis-
lation that has ever been presented, from
the foundation of the State up to this
time, and also thatfO intelligence and moral
worth, the petitioners were the equals Of
any others who ever appeared before the
General Assembly, and also remembering
that the recommendation Of the COn7en-
tiOn was that all the petitions for Woman's
voice we're only to be presented to adult
persons for signature, and knowing that In
my county only such petitioners were per-
mitted to be signers, and that of our petit
tioners, numbering over 1000, that near
5000 were legal voters, 1t Is on such basis
further claimed, and assumed with perfect
confidence, that Of the total number more
than 100000 petitioners were adults, and
that at any minimum calculation of such
number there were more than 10000 male
IL ~, k, ,f he, fAo0nan1 A
bly, on the local option bill of the COM
mittee was ffty-i7e yeas, and these fifty
five members represented fifty counties Of
the State, from which it follows that the
vote by counties was so yeas to 88 nays,
and that the bill only failed Of its passage
by three votes.
The foregoing statement Of facts and
events distinctly outlines the near future
which is dawning through morning day
light. Fir5t-WhO are the 10000 male
electors who signed the petition? They
are not hungry Ofhce-seekers or partisans,
banded together by the Cohesive power Of
plunder," but a large majority Of them
are a class Of sober, intelligent, liberal per
sons; high-minded and high-purpOsed
citizens of every vocation in life, property
holders, and earnest and WatChful keepers
and guardians of every precious religious,
civil, or personal right, that is the out
growth of free American civilization
They see, as all others see, that alcoholic
drunkenness is fast supplying and infusing
into the blood of the body polite, its in
durable, leproUs. and murderOus faint, and
that unless checked or regulated by a
large and healthy majority public senti-
ment, formulated into effective law, nation
al Generalization must speedily ensUe.
And they formally and fearlesslY declare
and resolve, that by all human agencies
under their control they will resist the IN
PRODUCTION and cultivation Of the opium
smoking habit and debaUCheries Of AsiatiC
immigrants on the Pacific Coast, and the
beer, brandy, and Wine-drinking habits and
customs Of the European immigrants on the
Atlantic Coast, as well as oppose with in
creased firmness the destructive whisky
drinking, murderous madness of our native
and foreign population throughout the
whole land; and such electors being Of
the character described, and endowed with
a will to act, a noble purpose to accom-
plish, an inspiration Of patriotic duty,
conscious Of holding the balance Of power
between political parties IN more than
half the counties that voted against local
option, will never permit another General
Assembly to be elected which lacks only
three votes of the constitutional number
required for the passage Of a local option
law; but, on the contrary, if there be not
a majority Of three times three more than
is required for such purpose, then Tor
the first time reformation turns backward.
To the Union Temperance party Of Ohio,
without arrogance, 1 am bold to declare
our victory is assured. In the last four
months springs from the veins Of public SEN
timent have gushed forth from hillsides all
around, and are running into the tide Of
which is rising and swelling
as if all the spring rains had fallen at
once, and still
There's tempest in yon horned moon,
And lightning in yOn cloud
United as we are in the advocacy Of the
best measures under the circumstances for
the present, if not for the best altogether
that is deemed capable Of speedy accom-
pIishment, and every day melting faster and
faster into one common union temperance
sentiment, which is crystalized as fast as it
forms, we Will for the present hold fast to
the accomplishment Of the purpose Of the
convention of January 1, 1880, and in the
interim Of such accomplishment let Us
all. in our various orders, societies, and
parties, promote the great cause as to each
may seem best; ever cherishing charity
for diversity Of opinions aiming at the
same great object; and to the women OF
our party am more bold to say that,
since our convention at Columbus, 78,l4O
adult citizens of the State, and another
equally large Temperance Convention,