Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1882-03-09
PROHIBITION IN KANSAS.
NIarch9w2
BY Rev. Richard Uordley. d. d.

tiy Rev. Richard GOrdley, ID. D.I
The reports of the working Of the
Kansas Temperance Law have been
conflicting, aud it is not strange that
people outside the state should hardly
know what to believe One reason for
this is. that the opponents Of the law
have made it point to create the i'm
preston that the law is failure
Every unfavorable report has been
sent to the winds, and repeated over
and over again. A newspaper reporter
goes into Kansas town. He is taken
in hand by the initiated, and filed
with beer and falsehoods. He reports
to his journal the next morning; that
"liquor is just as free in that town as
ever it was" Whereas if he had not
been aoeU kno1Un and well-introdtced,
he would have gone away as dry as
the Western plains are represented to
be. A case Of drunkenness is reported
in local paper. A solitary case,
where before such things We're of daily
occurrence. 1t is copied everywhere
as Zone of the fruits of prohibition. :"
As specimen VI these ulalufaGtHred
stories, a paper; usually considered
reliable, stated a short time since, that
40, 900 people had removed from
Kansas into Missouri ON account of
the passage of the prdhibitury law
Why they should leave Kansas if the
the law was without effect, the paper
did not stop to explain, but made the
statement as if froui actual knowledge
But the fact is, nobody has left the
State on this account; except few
dealers who have taken their stocks IF
liquor over the line into Missouri.
For this, Missouri has our sympathies.
''What is their loss is our gain"
But then the reports as to the failure
of the law are not entirely without
foundation. La three or four of cur
larger towns it has been mostly ignored.
Leavenworth voted heavily against the
law, elected officers who were known
to oppose it, and they have so far
evaded its provisions. The same is
true Of Atchison and one or two other
newer towns: At Lawrence and
Topeka there have been more efforts
at enforcement, but not with marked
success. The difficulty has been with
witnesses and jurors. Some leading
men, supposed to be honorable men,
have advised witnesses and Jurors to
perjure themselves to defeat the law
AS Il result of such teaching, men who
have been seen drinking liquor will
swear they did not know what it was
they drank; aud Jurors in perfectly
plain case Of guilt, will vote to
"acquit" and the jury disagrees.
This thing will be reached after awhile
The next movement will be to put
few of these perjurers in the peniten
tiary, and this obstruction will be
removed.
These four towns are the best known
of any in the State. Strangers always
visit them; newspapers always report
them; and they are taken to represent
the State. But they are not the State
by any means. They are only very
small part of the State. In the great
body Of the State the law is enforced
as we'll as any one expected it would
be. There was time when the law
was being tested before the Supreme
Court: Thi, involved a number of
disputed points, and occupied several
weeks. The saloons opened every
where and boldly defed the law.
They were sustained in this by the
National Brewers Association who
were ready to spend any amount of
money to break the law GOWN.
After the Court had declared the law
valid, it was no easy matter to upset
the traffic which had taken advantage
of the doubt. In Emporia here it