St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-10-16
Rev. DIR. GOrdOn'S Reasons for
His Political Faith.
WHY He SUPPORTS ST. JOHN.
of the Boston Herald :

! |. While claim neither aptitude nor
ability for political controversy, |
count myself most happy to be called
upon to give Il reason for the political
faith that is in me.
! | am a prOhibitiOnist. ] am such be-
cause see the homes and hearths of
Our country menaced by the most ty-
rannical foe that ever threatened the
| liberty and pcrpetuity of IA nation. As
Il minister of the gospel of peace, | am
constrained to stand aloOf from mere
partisan politics; but when an impu-
dent moral wrong, not content with
| Staying thousands of souls and bodies
yearly, demands, and has largely OBJ
! tanned, the sanction of the law in its
iniqnities, the testimony of Christian
ministers is certainly called for both
10y speech and by ballot. .
hold it to be the most awful thing
conceivable for the government to
countenance the drink traffic, by Ii
censing it and taking revenue from
it, thus becoming partner in the
! business of "dealing wet damnation
round the land" And if the state thus
assumes the role of Tetzel, peddling
out indulgences to the public poison
ers, it is time for Luther to leave his
cloister and nail his prohibition theses
on the wardroOm door.
To show that / utter no slander, let
me call attention to one or two facts.
| The United States government has
four r-ffths interest in all the liquor
distilled in this country. If, as by the
last quotation, whiskey brings Sl.lO
per gallon in the market, the distiller
gets 20 cents and the government
NINETY CENTS ON EACH GALLON
Here, in the first place, is a gigantic
! swindle for what other business
could live under such tax ? And, i'll
the second place, it is gigantic crime /;
| for with this vast revenue, 1t becomes
for the interest of the government to
promote the liquor manufacture. As IA
consequence, it appears that the whls-
| KEY revenue has increased 1900 per
cent. in 20 years. 1t was $4,000, 900 in
1863. and S75,000.000 in 1883. This
fearful increase in liquor production,
and the consequ mt ruin and havoc
wrought throughout the nation, are
the work of republican administra-
| ton And now the eminent candidate
of that party comes forward with the
bland proposition that this enOrmity
be fastened upon the people by dis
tributing the revenue among the states,
and making it IA 'permanent resource
of the country. Is here such an eXhi-
hition of humane and benefcent legis-
lation, that temperance people should
he filled with distressing anxiety lest
this party and its candidate should fail
of success
Il 70, IN la nd At
cordial credit to the party with which
| voted for years for all that it has
done in Kansas and Iowa. But the
time has come to look with both eyes.
And when my correspondent insists
that TO this party belongs the credit OF
"giviug such temperance legislation as
we have in the different states,"
must point to facts. In the District oi
Columbia, the republican party has
denied the people the right even to
vote on the question of local option, ol
whether they desired the continued
/ tyranny of the saloon or not. In Hi
nnis, New York, Wisconsin and Michi-
gan, it has repeatedly and Obstinately
refused the people permission to say
4 10y vote, whether they favored or OPP
posed the abolition of the rum traffic.
On coming into power, it found pro-
hibitory laws in Maine, New Hamp
shire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Con
nccticut and Michigan. 1t repealed
I these laws in Massachusetts, Connects
cut and Michigan. In North Carolina
it is the republican party, controlling
the ignorant and largely drunken ne
grocs, which to- day stands against the
T. sober white democrats to prevent the
: cnacting of pr0hibitory laws.
With this candid view of the field
it will appear that my friends assump
ton that the republican party is tn,
temperance party is not true. In til,
north the strength of the temperance
y sentiment lies undoubtedly with tina
paIty; inthe south it lies with equa
certainty
WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Now, in reply to my friends ques
ton, ''What effect will the prohibition,
vote drawn from the republican part,
have upon the approaching election ?
am no prophet, and can only refe
my querist to the answer which he viii
get in the returns of next November
Perhaps the effect will he this: Tha
70 the "noble party of moral ideas" vii
hear something that will wake it frGu
it's Rip Van Wrinkle sleep on the great
est moral issue that has ever stirred
nation, and eXclaim: "Fellow- -parti
4 sans, we must do'sOmething about thi
4 matter or we are ourselves undone ]"
"But why withdraw your vote fror
the republican party and so give al
and comfort to the enemy 2" is tn
substance of the question of my CORES
nnnHant | answer Snuaraly
S, |, with thousands of others, asked til
privilege of voting with the republica
party in this election, and was denie
{. the opportunity. AT the convention
r Chicago, our representatives wei
= present, not to beg aid. but to profit
aid And what had they to offer
They could point to the rising tide
prohibition sentiment visible in almO
!, every state in the Union they coul
hold up the magnificent returns
l Ohio at its last election of 323 ,0C
Ia, votes for constitutional prohibition q
the first trial of the question the
could pledge the aid and prayers an
pathetic pleadings of that noble arm
of women who are banded together
every city and principal town i'll Il
IN, Union, determined to take no deni
from God and to give no rest to our lie;
islatures till their homes are protect,
II against the saloon and their heart
- stones against the obstruction tn
wasteth at MONDAY and the pestilen,
!. that walketh in darkness" And mo
est than this, they come forward with d
ee offer of great moral issue, the thir
led above all others which the party neet
,ut to keep it from disintegratiOn. Al
op, all that was asked was that the co
eh vention would declare its willingne
for to let the people say, by their vote
! whether they desired the rumselleI