The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-09-19
AN APPEAL
To the Voters of all Political Parties and
Creeds.

FELLOW CITIZENS AND VOTERS:-YOu
have often been called upon by your re-
spective parties to fOTSake all other en-
gagements on the day of election, and
attend to the pOlls,sO that victory might
attend the Candidates of your choice.
Such a day will soon again be here, and
with it a question of much greater i'm
pOrtance than the election of any or all
the candidates before you. We do not
ask you to be less Jealous for the men
you prefer to vote for, but that with your
voting for men you consider the impOr
tant question of the proposed amend
ments to our state constitution relating
to the liquor traffic. The evils growing
out of said traffic far snrpass all other
evils in the state, and the decision this
fall on this issue, as presented to US, is
more far-reaching than the election of
any county or state ticket. In order to
prepare you for proper decision on this
question, it Is best to see what we now
have in our state constitution relating
to the liquor traffic, and what Is prOpOs
cd to be put in its place. The following
is the present clause:
mo license to traffic in intoxicating
liquors shall hereafter be granted in
this state; but the General Assembly
may by law provide against the evils
resulting therefrOm."
lWlCb nave Jllb pCOplo VI OlllO 5tIOuR-
ly condemned license, and confirmed the
above mo license clause. Legislative
control" Is fully provided for, and has
been admitted ever since the adoption
of the present constitution. By the ell
acting of the Adair law and other SINH
lar laws years ago, as well as the Scott
law more recently passed, this fact is
fully sustained; and the Supreme Court
has decided that the Legislature have
full power under said provision to Tegu-
late, punish, tax aud even prohibit the
traffic. All power is given the General
Assembly over the traffic except that
they cannot license it. Now let us see
what the first proposed amendment is.
1t reads as follows:
''The General Assembly shall regulate
the traffic in Intoxicating liquors so as
to provide against evils resulting there
from; and its power to levy taxes OF as
seSSmenIs thereon is not limited by any
provision of this constitution"
Hon. Judge West and many of the alb
lest lawyers in Ohio give it as their de-
cided opinion, that there is nothing in
this proposition but what we have al
ready got; while at the same time the
adoption of this proposition would take
away our present mo license" clause,
and thereby open the way for license.
No man, therefore, should vote for the
first amendment proposed unless he
wants to license the traffic. The Scott
law will stand as well under the present
constitution as under the proposed first
amendment. The friends of that law
cannot gain anything by voting for the
first proposition, neither can the enc
mics of said law gain anything by not
voting at all. The Scott law is law
subject to Legislative control" under
either the present constitution or by the
adoption of the first amendment, and
may therefore remain for long time as
bone Of contention between parties,
unless we eau get a majority of the vO-
teTs to see the true issue, and adopt the
second amendment only, and thus do
away with all necessity for laws that
would license or tax the traffic.
The second amendment reads as fol-
lows:
'The manufacture of and traffic in in
tOXicating liquors, to be used as a beV
Prage, are forever prohibited; and the
General Assem- bly, shall provide by law
for the enforcement of this provision"
By the adoption of this amendment
the present mo license" clause is also
taken away; but as prohibition super
cedes license or tax, there can be no use
for any provision for either of these.
The question that presents itself to the
ling of intoxicating liquor as beverage
a legitimate business, contributing in
any way to the interests of the state; if
80, then we are justified in suffering the
business to con 1ue, and be subject to
such tax or license as may be suited to
any other Legitimate business Of the
same magnitude, thus making said bus
iness bear its just proportion of taxes
and state expenses. But if it is found
that the liquor traffic produces no good,
but is causing poverty, misery and
with as we do with all other crime
and evil, viz: prohibit it. That the
liquor traffic produces more sorrow,
misery and crime than all the gambling,
cOunterfeitlng and horse stealing put
together, statistics and facts show on
every hand. Would we not be consider
ed tampering with the best interests of
society if we should advocate that gam
bling, cOunterfeiting and horse stealing
should be tolerated if those who practice
said evils would but pay into the public
treasury a sufficient tax or license; GER
tainly we would be guilty of great
wrong to society thus to plead. Is it
not then dOubly wrong to advocate the
existence and continuance of the prince
of evils if they will only pay a sufficient
ly high tax or license; are we not bound
as honest men TO vote for the second
amendment only, which puts the same
prohibition on the liquor traffic that we
do on the lesser evils already referred to.
We the VOTERS of Ohio are the only
Constitution makers; no Governor, GEN
eral Assembly or Court can make our
Constitution. Our government is made
"by the people and for the people," and
no political party wants to array itself
against the will of the people expressed
by their votes in the adoption of Con-
stitutiOn. While this may be true, it is
also true that every voter should see to
it that his ballot IS cast for the men
most likely to be trusted with so great
question. 1t is therefore every voters
duty to investigate the great question
now before the people of Ohio on the
propositions quoted and referred to, and
if,thus fairly Investigated and decided by
the unbiased judgment and convictions
of honest men, we have no doubt but
that very large majority of the voters
will decide that we have no kind of use
for liquor saloons, and that they must
be prohibited just as we prohibit all
other public evils. Some time serving
politicians tell us we must wait for pub
lie sentiment to work up to this point,
and yet they are doing all they can to
keep the people from expressing their
honest sentiment by their votes when
the question is presented as now; all we