New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-07-23
THE NITION1L PROHIBITION CONVEN-
TJON

| Office.
! THE NITION1L PROHIBITION CONVEN-
rios.
Pitsburg has been chosen this time as the
! seat of the National Prohibition Convention,
which will open there to-day. The cause which
| the PrOhibiti0nIsts nave at heart, namely, the
/ diminutOn of incompetence, is one with which
! TnE TRIBUNE has always sympathlzcd, ana 1t
! j. because it SympathIzcs with that cause
! that it regrets to see the followers OF II pur-
! suing course which experience has already
! shown to be incompatible with the attainment
of the results they seek They say that pro-
! hibiton is gaining ground year by year, and
! they argue from this that it is both advisable
and necessary to run Il Presidential ticket. But
! q careful study of the returns III the past Will
reveal very significant fact, and one which
! has IA vital bearing upon the programme for
| Prohibition Presidential campaign. The fact is
! that the gains of the ProhbitionistS have been
! made in of years, and that in Presidential years
they have never succeeded in caSlnga con-
| siderable vote. Their total vote in 1872, in the
! States, six III number, for which alone returns
were given, WAS: State officers G,739 PreSi-
| dental, J,50S. In 1876, with returns from
! nineteen States, the vote was: State officers,
! 2G.OI4; Presidential, 9,757. In 1850 with
returns from seventeen States, the vote was
| State officers. 10. j92 Presidential, 1880.
Ii will be seen from these figures that when
ever the Presidential question has been III
issue, the ProhIbitionjsts themselves have
| ceased to vote with their organization, and
| have remained with their original party, OBJ
| yiously prcfcrrin. to utilize their ballots a
| Republicans or Democrats. That the nyariable
| falling OF of the Prohibition strength in Presi-
! Dental years j, due to the superior force of the
political convictions entertained by the Pro-
! hibitionists themselves is proved b. the re-
markablc OK ibilonS of strength they have
| given at State elections in of years. Take
Iowa as an example In 1876, at the Picsi-
dental election, that State only cast 80 Pro-
hibltion votes. In 1877, on a constitutional
amendment, the PIohibitionlSts Of the same
State cast 10, $50 votes. Again, while the Ohio
Prohibitioni,ts in 1873 cast 1927 votes, in
| 1876 they could only muster 1886 and in
1880 only 2,GlG for Presidential candidates.
In 1882 the total Prohibition vote for State
officers was 75,S22. and for Congressman
! $1,000. In 1883 the party pollcd $500
votes But il is perfectly clear that these votes
! in OH years afford no criterion for estimating
the vote in Pre- .dcntial years, while a COMPARE
son between the two kinds of elections cOmpcs
| the inference that the party strength cannot be
| held together in Presidential campaigns.
Now, since the ayowcd purpose of the Pro-
| hibltiOnjsts il to secure the largest possible
vote" and thus by indiIcction to influence pub
lie opinion and forward the ultimate object of
the organization, it follows that the failure to
draw olt anything Ike the real party strength
! in Presidential years i, calculated to give the
public a false idea of the weight and consc-
ducncc Of the movement. To advertise the i'll
tcnton of making a Presidential campaign to
call attention to the movement conSpicnouSly,
and then to record only ten or twenty thousand
votes in the whole country, is to uiurc the
prestige Of the organization make the public
! believe that il does not amount to much, and
encourage the elements against which the Pro-
| hihitioni>ts are mraycd
1t is complained that the Republican party
has not helped them. But the way to get Re-
publican help is to stay in the party, vote with
| if and support it. If its leaders are not pro-
grc.siye enough for the Prohibitionsts, it is not
| by abandoning all attempts to influence them
! that they viii be rendered more so and the
! bulk of the temperance people evidently realize
! and act upon TINS reasoning III Presidential
! years. 1t is always pity To throw away votes,
| and il i. a special pity when good, earnest men,
whose influence and example are needed, and
who by putting forth half the effort within the
Republican party could do ten times the good,
! insist ON going of by themselves and sacrificing
their political weight to an idea OF duty which,
~ we have shown. cannot benefit the cause in
| any way, but on the contrary is calculated to
| hurt it. The figures show that Prohibition
work has thus far all been done in of years, in
! fact, and the figures ought to be accepted as
trustworthy guides i'll Il case of this kind