The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1882-09-28
PROHIBITION.

| traffic ana painfully aware OF tne HIS
I erIes engendered by the sale and use
4 OF 80 many noxious agents whose
:. proper place Is in the catalogue Of
poisons, adorned with that CHASTITY
! and significant emblem, 1.-THE skull
4 and cross bones" We sincerely hope
: that our world. as il becomes more
, matured, wiser and better, will reach
l a period in which the moral sentiment
of our race will predominant to such
4 an extent "A. to render Temperance
, lectures and legislations wholly un.
necessary. That period s~ill never be
reached perhaps until long after Our
] immediate progeny has passed away,
4. | and man, by a gradual. yet thorough
, system of moral training. has taken
| hi, position upon "A higher and grand.
or intellectual plain in accordance
with that primordial and eternal
/ | principle of our universe, evolution.
lis education forms the common
, mind, and, just as the twig is bent, the
the trees inclined" Hence the
necessity Of instilling into the minds
Of our rising generation, pure AMI
. correct principles, and just in proper
, | ton to our success in this, will the
saloons of the next century he fewer
and less profitable There is one way
and one only, of destroying the
whisky traffic, and that is by so Oper-
ating on the moral. intellectual and
/ religious elements of mans nature a.
to destroy his taste for liquors, and the
conyiyial amu-ements of saloon soci-
ETY. The crusade "a few wears ago, did
more toward discouraging and abridg-
ing the saloon business than all the
legislation and prosecutio ions have
done in decade of years. II did its
work by fulfilling the above indiea-
tons aud creating AN anti-whisky SEN
nent. All successful reforms must be
conducted Oh this principle, and, when
an overwhelming sentiment in favor
OF a certain measure il developed, IA
law in support of such a measure can
be enforced. But, when an attempt
il made 10 enforce II law that has a
bare majority, if any at all, i'm its
favor, such an attempt provokes "A
spirit of resistance, bitterness and
strife that will last during the life of
this generation and be transmitted
uniIDpaired To the next.
| am one that voted for the prohibi-
tory law without ever stopping to
study the difficulties attending its en-
forcement, or considering for "A mo-
L ~
measure in other states After | have
seen il fail absolutely for the past
year in KANSAS. | have been led to
study its workings in other states.
| Many years ago, Ohio passed law
very similar 10 ours and from that
time TO this, every saloon i'm the state
| has existed in absolute opposition to
| law. The result is, there are ten times
as many saloons in the state as there
| would he If the license law existed. In
| the manufacturing towns, you will
find many saloons located on the dark
streets in the front room of some coal
digger's residence.
The women usually attend the s:t-
looms in the day time, and mt night |
the ruilians of the town gather in ana |
drink, swear, gamble, fight and make |
Rome howl" generally.
The gentleman that reads Of the |
cutting, shooting, bottle throwing.
table turning, furniture smashing,
and head breaking scenes of the pre-
vious night will find that the tleaters
of these midnight orgies, are saloons
in the worst parts of the towns, where
Ignorance and brutality are the domi-
nant elements and human iepravi,y
L. almost absolute; where, in fact,
The officers of the law never 90 except
when summoned to qucil "A row. Now
if the license system prevailed i'm the
state of Ohio, every man i'm the state
that runs "a saloon would have to pay
from $500 To $500 per year, and give "a
heavy bond, and, consequently. these
miserable places would not exist.
If the old license law of Ohio. were
established again, - per cent. of the
saloons of the state would close, and
the remainder lie confined to the bust
ness streets where the shadows of
night are driven away 10y the dazzling
glare of gas or of the electric lights and
the police forces are able to regulate
the traffic and prevent to some extent,
the commission of airocious crimes.
We have only one way Of Judging of
the future, and that is by the past,
and, if the law has failed in Ohio and
other states, have we any reason Ia
hope for it, success in Kansas? Does
the moral element of Kansas 50 farex
ceed that of Ohio a. To render an en-
foTcement of the law possible?
Before the passage of our liquor law.
no man could open a saloon without
the written assent Of a majority of the
adult males and females of the town
i'm which such saloon was tn Ice OPEN ,
cd, and, consequently, where q strong :
feeling existed, there were
no saloons. Now rs the liquor law
has only been enforced i'm places
where such strong temperance ideas I
existed, what have we q
gained by the law? 1t is true that the '
law has been enforced To an imperfect I
extent in some small towns aud il is e
also true that the saloons have doubled a
in number IN the large ones. suppose G
some fellow whose time il not worth ];
slo per month, and every town has
such fellows, concludes to open
saloon. lie rents place for five or :,
tx dollars per month and starts out,
10 sell cider, soda water,
,igars, etc, but actually sells beer and
whisky every day. In the course of
hree or four months, after he has
made five or six hundred dollars, he I
: prosecuted, convicted, ifinde ed does ,
lot plead guilty, and jailed. The ]
county pays the costs and the COM ,
nis>iOners turn him out in short I
ime. In the mean time some other 5
elbow for whom the Jail has no terrors ,
: running similar concern, and that ,
: the way that prohibition prohibits.
he temperance law has not failed i'm I
however. In Ii months !
has closed all the distilleries and !
reweries in the state and caused the I
of many beautiful vine \
ards. /,
Our surplus of grains and fruits is /
ow shipped into other states, made !
ito liquors and reshipped to Kan sas a
" consumption. v
In consequence of the enforcement c
the law, the floating population of q
he small towns in the central part of IL
lc state has gravitated tn the large n
WIS near the eastern border and il
used "A depreciation Of rents and c
al estate and dull times generally.
Instead of this crazy child of polit-
al fanatic, give Us law that means
hat il says, and does what il pur- mi
Dses To do. Give us Il law that does oh
ut breed spirit of insubordination, w
utiny and deception i'm the state.
i've us a law that does not cause n lin
instant decadence of the towns i'm to
e central and western counties i'm d..
der TO maintain boom i'm the east ,rt
N part of the state. h..
Give us a law that embraces the or,
imiiive principle of all law, equality an,
Id justice, and. consequently, one =
at can he uniformly enforced
Give us a law that compels every
an i'm the state that runs a saloon to
y tribute Ia the town i'm which ke ~
htl. l. 4