The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-04-11
WANTED.

WANTED.
The Minneapolis Tribune, with q
candor which is far from being char.
acteristic of Northern journals, wants
"a sprinkling Of southwestern civil
cation imported to these higher lati,
tudes, for use among the descendants
of the Puritans." The occasion fol-
this call il found in the fact, a.
charged, that the gamblers and sa-
loon keepers Of Minnesota took "the
paltry sum of $4,000, representing
perhaps the profits of two days bust
ness" and fixed" both houses of
the Legislature of that State SO that
legislation looking to the curtailment
of the drink traffic and gambling
was prevented. This admission upon
the Lart of the leading Republican
journal of that State is q remarkable
one. It is a candid acknowledgment
Of the low moral tone of its represen-
tative men; that they are purchas-
able and may be boughtat ridiculous
Iy low figures. But the Tribune does
not stop at.its admission. It insti-
tutes a comparison between the peO-
| pie of its own State and those of Mis-
souri, and Arkansas which is emil
nently f1attering to the southwestern
States.
Minnesota, it says, has been large
~ settled by men from New En-
gland, New York, Ohio and Michi-
gan. ION the other hand Missouri
and Arkansas are commonly placed
by US in the catalogue of common
wealths whose civilization is imper-
feet and from fifty to n hundred
years behind the age we live
in. Those States are glib
ly spoken of as communities in
which habitual law breakers and cut
Threats like Jesse James disport
themselves in safety, while the bowie
knife and the shot gun are the ordi-
nary arguments in amicable neigh
borhood disputes and the milder
political controversies. Yet in Mis-
souri, q law was enacted more than q
year ago making gambling a felony;
it has been rigidly enforced under
the stimulus Of Citizens League in
the great city of St. Louis, has been
sustained by the Supreme Court of
the Stata and has proved itselfa wea-
pom with which the crime and curse
of public gambling can be destroyed.
The Missouri Legislature has recent
ly enacted and the Governor has ap-
proved a high license law so
thorough going in its provisions,
so broad in its scope, and so
evidently sincere in its intent, |
that it promises to serve as a model
for statutes of its kind in the other
states of the Union. The liquor
league of st. Louis and the banded
grog-sellers of the State were unable,
with all the money at their control,
to corrupt and debauch the law-mak-
ers Of that semi-civilized communi-
ty. In Arkansas, one remove farther
the ultima thule of south
western barbarism, they have on the
books and they very generally
enforce a law prohibiting the sale of
intoxicating beverages at any point
three miles of a church or
ychoolhouse. The result Of this legis;
although it has not been
noised about the world, is
in three-fourths of the counties
Of the State almost complete sobriety
prevails, and the liquor traffic as it is
known in Minnesota does not exist"
The essence of this admission is
in the truths deduced from 1t.
The true Southerner is not purchas-
IDLE. His chivalrous sense of honor,
which is frequently extravagant in
is manifestation, admits nc partner
with sordidness. He may be
wrong in his conclusions, but he is
lonest in them. But right or wrong
he professional briber never seeks
Tim as a victim. His heart may get
he better of his head and lead him
INTO a losing cause, but neither head
heart can be bought. It is this
anne n OF honor that is wanted
other Northern States besides
but there are few Zri-
'unes that will admit it. Hence the
acknowledgement of that journal is as
charitable as it is truthful.