West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-01-04

udiIVoo VI pllC plOlllOltOlN law III
Maine have emenated from individ-
uals either directly or indirectly
interested in the perpetuation of
the liquor business. Money, ambi-
ton and appetite have played their
several parts jim the manufactured
stories of crime and confusion in
the Pine-Tree State, attendant up
on the enforcement of the LIQUOR
law.
The utterances of Mr.. Dow and
other leading temperance men on
the other hand, are as unbiased and
fair as they could be, and are made
only in the interest of truth. They
have in view only the welfare and
prosperity of the people, and seek
to attain these ends by the removal
of all conflicting elements, and es-
pecially the evil of intemperance-
that being the recognized parent of
larger proportion of crime, IN
happiness and want than all others
combined
THE LAW IN KANSAS.
| was not aware until | read the
Register, of the painful discomft-
ure of the temperance people in
Kansas. Indeed, my information,
gathered from private correspon-
dence, as well as some of the lead
ing journals of that State, had led
me to believe that prohibition was
looked upon by the best minds as
being the established policy. Gov.
St. John, whose position in
relation to Kansas as regards
the temperance questions is the
same as that of Mr.. BOWS, in
Maine, very positively asserts that
prohibition there is a grand sue
cess, while many other men of &C.
knowledged ability and spotless
regulations, have corroborated his
statements. Only few days ago l
cut from the editorial page of the
New York San, a journal whose
judgment the Register will not
question, an item which is not cal
culated to convey the impression
that the law in Kansas is a failure.
The substance of the article was
that in Topeka, which place seems
to have been the place selected as
the ground on which the liquor
men should wage their fiercest war,
where the law at first appeared to
be unequal to the efforts of it's en-
ragged opposers, its enforcement had
been commenced with commenda-
BILE exactness and deserved severity.
AsUGGEsTIoN.
Let me suggest to the Register
that if it will labor as assiduously
to enlighten the people in respect
to the great evil which is threaten
ing their lives, their liberties and
their happiness, as it does to prove
that prohibition is failure, it will
not be long until we can chang
out our banners on the outer
wall, and feel that we are safe-se-
cure behind the strong, substantial
battlements of prohibition.
A HOPEFUL SIGN.
A hopeful sign, however, that
the Register will soon emerge into
the true light as regards prohibit
ton, is it's acknowledgment that
license is a failure That step once
taken, the next one is easy. Ii
cense has, in truth, been the rock
on which prohibition and anti-pro-
hibition men have split, Remove
the obstacle and, unless a better
remedy is provided, Prohibition is
the result. Now that the Register
grants the inadequacy of its long
and persistently maintained theo-
ry to deal successfully with the liq-
uor business, if it will not yield to
the claims of prohibition, why not
give US some new measure that will
sweep the wretched evil from face
of the earth?
The Register makes the very I'M
fair assertion that Mr.. Dow gave
up the controversy on the liquor
question entered into with that
journal some time ago, because he
could not answer its arguments. Ii
the Register had printed the post
script to Mr.. Dow's last letter no ex-
PLANTATION would be needed from
| me- The controversy was SuS-