West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-03-15
Prohibition i'm Politics.

! DEAR FREEMAN - mean Oy the
above heading, making Prohibi-
ton a distinct political issue, find
ing or making a party to push it,
and securing its success by ordina-
ry, or rather by legitimate political
methods. There are many advo-
Gates of Prohibition who have
thought that it might be estab-
lished without, to use the common
expression getting it into poll
tics" That is, they have thought
that it might be gotten before the
people and a majority secured in it's
favor, without disturbing existing
party lines, or interfering with ex-
listing party relations, or modifying
existing party platforms. They
have thought that we might Sc
cure this much needed reform IN
our State polity without the agita-
ton, organization and tactics which
have been found necessary to the
success of every other really i'm
portant reformatory measure that
has ever succeeded in the history
of our country, or in any other
country governed by the people.
Events have shown the impossi-
bility of keeping Prohibition out
of politics that is unless we mean
to abandon it entirely, or to waste
our strength in doing what will be
of little or no avail. And, truly,
a little common sense reflection
will show us how vain is the ex-
pectation of success for our darling
cause without getting it into pol
tiles" Before the question can
come before the people at all, there
must be Legislature with ma
jority of two-thirds in favor of
submitting it to vote. Such a
Legislature must be elected and it
is unreasonable to suppose that a
Legislature with u majority of that
extent in favor of submitting Pro-
hibition to vote of the people,
can be elected without making
Prohibition a distinct issue in the
election. And, if Prohibition is
to be distinct issue in the cleo
ton of members of the Legisla-
ture, then men representing this
issue must be made candidates for
seats in the Legislature. This ne
cessitates steps to secure the NOM
nation of the proper men, and a
straight out political canvass to
secure their election. So ProhiDi-
tion must get into politics whether
its friends prefer it or not, and if
they are not willing to follow it
there, they will not see it succeed.
Again, there is much truth in
the proverb, whats everybody's
business is nobody's business" We
shall find that we cannot get Pro-
hibition fully and fairly presented
and represented until there is a
straight-out Prohibition party, or
till some party adopts, in good
faith, Prohibition as distinct and
permanent part of it's platform.
Prohibition has many able, zeal
Gus, active, self-denying advocates,
who will spare no labor, time or
expense to secure it's success. But
the main work, / mean the work OF
getting the people in mood to vote
for Prohibition, the work of get
ting them to the polls and Of get
ting them to deposit the right
kind of ballots when they get
there-must, necessarily, be done
by the personal efforts of candi-
dates for office on the Prohibition
platform and by the efforts of those
specially interested in their cleo
ton. In seven cases out of ten,
the average voter is more interest
ed in the candidate or in the party
than in the issue, and we shall find
that we cannot spare that class of
voters who will support Prohibi-
ton in the concrete when they
will not support it in the abstract,
shat is, who will vote for prohibi-
ton in the person of a candidate
for office while they would not
vote for it as a general measure.
Once more, the liquor interest is
strong and INSCRIPTIONS. They
will fight us with every instru-
ment that will serve them. They
will have the support of national
combination against us, for they
well know that if you touch the