West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1881-04-13
LITTLE DELAWARE
Local Option What the Peool.
Want.

fore the State Legislature at Dow,
after an able argument in behalf
prohibition, closed his remarks
The following appeal "Your pet;
TONERS do not ask you to desire,
by an act Of yours, the monstG,
evil of which they complain. All
they ask is for you to give them
chance to do it. Let them take tbs
clubs in their own hands, and moth
ing will afford them greater pleas.
ure than to give the blow that shall
rid the State Of the monster that
ravages every part of it. The bal.
lot is that club. Put it in their
hands. 1t ofright belongs to them
1t is their natural, inherent, und4.
niable right They have never
been Invested of that right. But
as law-abiding people, they do moi
undertake to use it unlawfully
The polls are hedged about by legal
provisions. The franchise is the
noblest prerogative of freemen, but
it must be exercised under the
forms of law. Law is made to pro-
tect it, to give the fullest possible
scope, to aid it; not to fetter it, not
to destroy it. All the people ask
at your hands is to let them express
their will in the only way that the
popular will can be freely expressed
that is, by voting. Will YOU do
it? viii you let the people have
chance to have their own way?
We do not ask you to make the
people free. They are already free.
They are the sovereign power
They come to you asking that ey-
cry obstacle to the free, full, unbi-
ased expression of their will shall
be removed.
"Legislators of Delaware, will you
let your free constituents go to the
polls and vote? viii you let them
say whether liquor shall be sold to
make drunkards, to make brutes Of
men, to make widows, to make
pauper8, to make criminals, to fill
our jails, to fill our alms-houses, to
increase our taxes tenfold? Will
YOU let them have an opportunity
to say whether they shall pursue
their peaceful avocationS unmoIes-
ted by drunkenness and disorder?
viii you let them say at the ballot
box that taxation shall be reduced,
that public morals shall be protec-
ted, that helpless women and chill
dren shall find a true friend and
protector in the State? Will you
not gladly say to these petitioners,
Yes, feliow-citizcns, your demands
are reasonable, they are just, they
are humane, and they shall be
grantedn
"Do this, gentlemen of this Leg
islature, and you will do honor to
your State; you will deserve the
gratitude Of your people; you Will
deserve to have your names enroll
ed upon a list of imperishable honor
and fame. And why should it not
be done? Suppose you let this
question go to the people, who VIII
be injured by it? What harm will
there be in it? What injury will
be done to any human being by it?
Gentlemen, you know that 1t can
not do any possible harm to an,
man. You know that many OF
those who oppose it are interested
in the liquor traffic, and arc per-
sons who are influenced in one way
or another by it. Then, for HeaY-
ems sake, for truths sake, and Tor
your own sake, let u. have the Lo-
cal Option law!
''Ifyou enact such q law, and
majority votes in favor OF license
we submit. We are willing the
majority shall win. If the fr1endS
of temperance, of society, OF good
order, of the public welfare WIN
then we shall have gained a noolt
cause. Then we shall have done
for our State by your help a thing
for which you will have reason 70
be thankful as long as your heao'
are above the ground And in thai
eternal state to which we are al
tending, whatever else you may
have cause to deplore, it wall not
be a reason that you let the people
of Delaware have their own way
with the liquor traffic. | THANK
Won for WOLFE lind resnectful atten-