The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-03-30
POINTS ON PROHIBITION.
Governor st. John interviewed by a
Correspondent of the st
Louis Post Dispatch.

Louis Post-Dispatch.
The following from the ST Louis Post
Dispatch, furnished by the Topeka cor
respondent of that paper contains much
that is of interest TO the friend of lem
perauce:
met Governor ST. John in the state
house. where had an excel ent oppor-
tunity TO study this remarl able man.
You would not tax him To b The gov
ernor if you were ot told alb ut 1t; you
would be more ap to imagin. that gen.
tIeman was wantiI 10 sell th governor
some lightning RI Is for the tate house,
or that he was anx GUS to ius' re the gov
ernOr's life, rather than he " IS the gov
ernor himself. II has hin, enter
prising face, fest )oned with a long,
carefully kept mu tache, the proper adj
iustment of which keeps hin busy about
Ihreefourths of l. time. lie was the
only man in Kans IS that kew the tenn
per of the people we'll enough to risk
everything on prohibition Highland
TO win a great and unexpected victory.
! suppose lac is sincere. lie has not a
sincere face-but that proves nothing
the man must believe IN prohibition, or
he could not have done such work for it.
He is a slow talker, and do not believe
that he is ballasted with much infor-
nation beyond liquor and Kansas poll
tics.
Said /: Governor, / have just
come out of saloon almost IN the
shadow o. your state house. Why
don't you close it up:"
at cannot"
"Then prohibition does not prohibit ~
"That is not fair statement of the
case at all. l am made to admit thai
there is not as much whisky sold in
Leavenworth, AtchIson, Topeka OF
Dodge City as there was before the pro-
hlbition law passed, but that does not
prove that prohibition is failure"
at doesn't. Then what does il
proven"
at proves that mayors and city mar.
shals can commit perjury with temper.
airy immunity, that is all. 1t proves,
not that the law is faulty, but that the
executive officers of the law are not do
| ing their duty. When the legislature
next meets a Law will be passed forming
| q system of police commissions for the
large towns under the governors con-
troll, and we will then see whether the
| liquor trade can not be stamped out of
this state. The law has not had fair
trial in the large towns. The NUM-
cipal officers have joined hands with
the whisky ring and they stand or fall
| together | think il will be the latter
alternative And it is only in the large
towns that there is any trouble at all. In
three-fourths of the state the law is be-
| ing obeyed. You cannot argue that pro-
hibition is failure because whisky is
sold in Kansas. We have laws against
murder, and yet murder is committed.
Nobody has yet urged the repeal of the
criminal laws because they failed alto
gether to prevent crime"
as it a fact that great many people
| are leaving the state on account OF the
temperance lawsg'
mo, sir; il is not a fact. / am con-
stantly travelling over Kansas, and since
that lie was put in circulation / have
taken particular pains To ask in every
meeting have addressed for the facts
about emigration and immigration. l
have heard of but one head of family
leaving the state because of the new law,
and / know of hundreds of families
which have come to us on account OF 1t
The balance sheet of population IS al
together in favor of prohibition"
at certainly iSa most interesting ex-
pertinent"
"Sir, it is not an experiment; it is a
fact. Prohibition lays the axe to the
very root of crime, and its effects are be-
ing seen already in our penitentiarY.
Here is a statement which ! have re-
ceived from Major Hopkins, the warden
of our penitentiary at Leavenworth,"
and he handed me a paper, which l
tTanscribe as follows:
COMMITMENTS TO THE PENITENTIARY.
Commitments for state cases to the
Kansas state penitentiary at Leaven
runrfh.