New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-31
VOJCE From THE PEOPLE.

A VOICE FROM The PEOPLE,
The official announcement of the vote for
and against prohibition in Iowa calls pubic
attention to an extraordinary event Inc
majority in favor of the amendment was large,
%. 1913. although it's opponents were conlidento1
success even on the day of the election, and had
made the utmost exertions. 1t cannot be said
that the result was due to public indifference
or inattentiOn, as often happens when lmpor-
tant questions are decided at special elections,
more by the absence of opponents than
by the zeal of friends. In this
case tho total vote was sufficiently
large to prove that the whole State had been
aroused in remarkable degree. The aggrc-
gate was 2S1,1l3, of which 155, 436 votes
were for the prohibitOry amendment, and
125.677 against it. At the regular State cleo
ton of 1881, when a Governor and other State
officers and Legislature were chosen, the to-
tai vote was only 234,S64. With no offices
to fill, no patronage OF plumber to call
out the efforts of political workers, no
organized parties to arouse public sentiment,
and to bring out hosts of voters by the
mere pride of party, at this election over
10000 voters went TO the polls and voted III
the busiest part of the year for farmers, who
had refused to take the trouble to vote for
their respective parties and for personal friends
and neighpors who were candidates at the
regular fall election last year. In the exciting
Presidential election of 1880 the total vote
was 800, O65, but that was much the largest
vote ever cast in the State. and it is an
amazing thing that seven -eighths of the maxi
mum number of votes then cast should have
al in fn
the abortion of a constitutional amendment.
AS it cannot be said that the result was due
to negligence or indifference of the people, so
it was clearly not due to any evasion or am
bguity in the measure submitted. The
amendment is peculiarly sweeping III its pro-
visions and emphatic in its terms. 1t prohib-
its not only selling, but drinking and even the
manufacture of intoxicating beverages, and
not only the drinking, selling or manutac-
ture of strong liquors, but the drinking,
selling and manufacture of ale and beer.
In every respect, it is particu-
larly radical and stalwart measure. There
can be no sort of doubt that the people who
voted for it intended, as far as human legsla-
ton can, to make all use of intoxicating drinks
| impossible in the State of Iowa, except as in
dividuals may be disposed and able TO import
from other States liquors for their own use
This decision is the more remarkable because
| Iowa has a large number of foreign born cti-
zens who usually cling with tenacity to the
customs of their native lands. The ratio
of foreign born inhabitants never fully ex-
nresses the strength of that element. because
| the children of foreign-bOrn parents are mainly
! enumerated as natives. In Iowa, however,
! there were 2S7,530 males of the voting age
who we're born in this country, and 126, JOB
who were born in foreign countries so that
| over 80 per cent of the whole number were
| born abroad. More than One-third OF the for
eign-born inhabitants came from Germany,
| and much more than sixth from Ireland
! The development of an overwhelming and
uncompromislng prOhibitOry sentiment Ill a
| State having such elements OF population is an
! especially noteworthy circumstance. Doubtless
! it is in part due to the fact that Iowa is
q State in which the urban population Is I'M
usually small, and where the rural and farm
ing population largely predOminates. The
State has 1S5,351 farms, of which 141, 177
are occupied by the owners, and 44,174
are rented, while the whole State has
only $40, S94 families and 301 ,507 dwellings,
| These facts regarding the social and industrial
condition of the State help to explain a vote
which, even with these to explain it, must still
be regarded with deep interest by every pub
hcist, and with surprise 10y every politician.
1t may be well for Republican leaders,
especially in Ohio, to study this phenomenon
attentiyely. The cutlery against legislation to
regulate the sale of spirits, and to prohibit the
opening of bar-roOms on Sundays, is not
quite as loud rs it was, nor does it impress
politicians quite much, but there will be
enough OF it during the campaign this fall.
The Republicans may be enabled to act with
greater wisdom and courage if they first at
tenhvely consider the vote in Iowa. The two
States are not precisely alike, of course. BIT
Ohio has relatively smaller foreign popula-
ton less than % per cent of its males of
voting age being of foreign birth, against over
80 per cent in Iowa. The disposition of the
people of Ohio, in respect to free whskey and
no Sunday may be quite different from the
expectations of some politicians
.