The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-06-21
Letter from Iowa.
Temperance and Prosperity.

To the Editor Of the Pres: B.
KNOXVILLE, Iowa, Juue IL, 1881.
1t is hardly possible to give good idea
of the beauty of this country by any mere YER
bal description of it. A New Highlander, who
has never been out of his native. State, can
have no conception VI it. The whole region is
a beautiful rolling prairie Of the most fertile
81 soil, and is now adorned with abundant timber
upon the gently rising hills and in the valleys.
Thirty years ago, when the first settlers came
"a in, there were no trees, not even shrub in all
,sthe country, except occasionally along the wa
ter. courses now all this is changed and charm
,.g ing groves of tall trees are seen on every hand
+. The village streets are lined with naples and
-elms, and every house in town. in country, is
ss beaut6ea and shaded with them. As one flies
., through the. country on the rail he sees right
- and left in lnxnriant pastures, large herds Of
"a fat cattle, some of them feeding, some of them
~ repOsing and quietly Chewing the cud." One
sees also immense fields of corn and wheat and
tall grass, with the busy plows and cnltivators
at work among the crops. In fifty more years
Iowa wall be populous and rich enough to con-
= .sttute a nation of itself. The time is coming
rapidly on when New York will cease to be
the Empire State, because Iowa, Wisconsin,
Minnesota. will all take precedence of it,
y The people here are very busy, because the
q season isglate by fully two weeks; but hard at
aswork, as they are on, their great farms, they
N take the time for coming ten, fifteen. twenty,
even forty miles to the temperance meetings,
which have seen. The whole State isstirred
=. mp about constitutional prohibition, and the
great Republican party is fully and openly
foI t<s of ~ L..
in this-Democrats and all-that-it is fair and
ljustthat the people should decide this great
3. question for themselves; it is their undoubted
right so to do. and the politicians wash their
hards of all responsibility in relation to- it,
when they say, "let the people decide."sr
At Grinnell, the other day. was called
upon by Mr.. Grinnell, the founder of the town
twenty-seven years ago. He resolved from the
start that there should be no liquor sold there,
because he regarded the liquor traffic as in
deadly hostility to the prosperity Of every COM
munity'where tits permitted, and as an active
=. agent for the demoralization and degradation
maintained from the beginning. Tho most in
s.ihuentiai men and all the heads of industrial
establishments there are active and earnest in
excluding, the traffic. They have a standing
committee OF vigilance to. find out and hunt
down any one who, dares to intrude into the
town that demoralizing trade There is great
AGRICULTURAL machinery factory there, in which
"a great many men are employed. The works
were stopped and all the hands came to the
constitutional amendment. meeting that / at
tended, and the proprietors and manager came
with them. Thefe is no public question of any
sort that now attracts 90 much attention and
excites so much interest in Iowa az this of an
amendment of the constitution. forever prohi-
biting the manufacture and sale Of intoxieat-
g.. ing liquors There seems to. be no doubt in
any quarter that such an amendment will BE
approved by large majority of the people.
Our beer and whskey friends here are very
much excited over it. They. say in their des-
- pair. Whatever are we to do for our drinks?"
I'VE cannot live without our whiskey and
beer" :" We will go away from the State and
it will become depopulated.n The temperance
men reply, "That's right, go away; we do not
want beer and whiskey. guiding population,
for every one of such people who goes away.we
shall have two or three sober. Industrious, saw
ing, thrifty people. coming in. The liquor
traffic is an enemy to all industry, economy and
thrift, and is a shocking waste of the wages of
: labor, and of the resources of the country"
80. To this there is nc. reply, and there can be
none. Tho war fever against the liquor traffic
seems to be spreading rapidly over the whole
country. .-,e /, ~. : --.:- -
49,, - =. Respectfully, .:....a
NJ H.