West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-01-06

statements respecting the ineffect-
ualness of the prohibitory law in
Maine have emenated from individ-
uals either directly or indirectly
interested in the perpetuation Of
the li.uor business. Money, ambi-
ton rand appetite have played their
several parts in 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
a larger proportion of crime, un-
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 Sun, 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 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 fercest war,
where the law at first appeared to
be unequal to the efforts of its en-
ragged opposers, its enforcement had
been commenced with commenda-
BILE exactness and deserved severity.
SUGGESTION.
Let me suggest to the Register
that if it will labor as assiduouslv
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 prohibi-
ton, is its 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 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 it's arguments. Ii
the Register had printed the post
cori pt 70 M DOu,c Loot LOT for no OK