West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-11-15
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..
Before and After.

A1pC ROlioAON"A Ne'AN - 80 -~~O' -
pecially when reviewed after the
results of the election, we repro
duce for our readers, letter by
President Thompson, Of Otterbein
University, written in June and
published in the Ohio State Jour-
nal since the election.
Following is the letter:
WEsTERvILLE, O., June l, 1882.
Mr.. George K. Nash:
DEAR SIR: During the coming
week, as / understand, the Repubii-'
can Convention is to be held. The
party will meet this year under
peculiar circumsta The Ger
mans, for whom they have been
willing hitherto to sacrifice almost
all other interests, have been driven
off by the Pond bill. That has
been declared unconstitutional,
and it is not likely these beer-loving
Germans will come back. 1t seems
to me but two ways are open to the
party now. The leaders may turn
Che members back to the fesh-pots
Of Egypt, and they may make
humble apology to these men for
what they did, and thus try to win
them back, or they must turn their
faces Zionward and push out Oh
the line Of duty. They surely can
not rely on the liquor vote any
longer. If they succeed in the
coming election, they must get
help from some other quarter. The
only other source from which they
are likely to draw votes is from the
Prohibition party and from earnest
temperance men, of whom there
are not a few in the Democratic
party. The radical temperance
men have been deceived and delud-
ed so often that no wishy-wgshy,.
halfway pretenses will satisfy
them. If they are won at all it
must be plain and positive under
standing made in good faith. The
10000 votes cast for the Loveland
ticket show that there are some
men who are in earnest on this
question. The whisky ring have
for SO long time been ruling our
politics and controlling our legis-
lation that whatever it may cost
these persons proposea change. In
your present struggle you can't do
without these men if any reason
able measures will secure them,
and | think they will. You can't
go backward in this struggle now.
You can't stand still, for to the pub
Tic, doing nothing is retrograding.
Your only safety, as far as I can
see, is to step out bravely and hon
estly, as Kansas has done, as Iowa
has done, and show that you also
are ready to meet the emergency of
the hour.
What is to hinder you from
adopting such a course? 1t will be
an insult to intelligent people to
offer, as has been proposed, to sub
NIT three different constitutional
amendments-one for license, one
for taxation, and another for prohi-
bition. Each will help to kill the
other, and perhaps this was intend
ed. The people have twice vetoed
license, and that may suffice for the
present, We do not want a prop
osition to repeal the amendment we
now have and turn the whole thing
over to the Legislature. Such
bodies are very uncertain quanti-
ties, and if the people clearly un-
derstand what such proposition
means they will never consent to
it.
Why not let the Legislature give
us fair chance to vote on an
amendment prohibiting the manu-
facture and sale Of intoxicating
liquors, save for medicinal and me-
chanical purposes, and let us test
the people? Give US fair, square,
honest proposition, with six months
in which to discuss it, and we will
try it before a jury Of the people.
Some of our best lawyers say we do
not need such an amendment. The
same organic law which disallows
the curse of horse stealing also dis
allows all other curses. including
liquor selling and all we want is to
I r1,4,4 -, Ill