West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1884-11-26
Must We Fight the Battle Over.

This question is suggested by
the seeming attitude of some who
have heretofore claimed to be Tenn
perance men and even Prohibition
lists. l. men are this from princi-
pie ;" long as the principle exists
they continue true to it. The prohi-
bitiunists Of w. Va. officially did
nothing to aid the candidacy of st.
John. Perhaps one thousand of them
as individuals voted for him. Any
man has a right to be candidate
and anybody has a right to vote
for him if in his judgement and
conscience he decides to do so. In
this no one has right to modest
him. Many persons however seem
to feel that indirectly this prohi-
bition vote defeated the man whom
they desired should be President
the man for whom they voted.
Because of this, some, perhaps
many, say they will not sign pc
titions nor vote for an amendment
should it be sent down.
Church members and even
church officers are taking this pos
ition. Stripped to the bone, the
meaning is this: they iatend to not
only abandon a righteous cause
simply on the ground that some
one as they think las made an
improper use of it, but to oppose
it. The Liquor traffic is huge
barbarism, the natural enemy of
the State, the home, and the
church, but they propose notwith-
standing this to stand at the open
door of the saloon and see to it that
it is kept open until a greater
work of death is wrought. And
when it is all over, they expect to
be able to look God in the face and
have him say, "Well done thou
good and faithful servant" In
order to make the latter possible
God himself must become thor
oughly bad and abandon without
cause the throne of Eternal recti-
tude. "He that knoweth to do good
and doeth it not, to him it is sin"
are the words of Jesus and their
truth will never be revoked.
The discussion OF the question
of prohibition will always create
a class of independent voters.
This cannot be prevented shall the
discussion therefore cease and the
saloon power be free to go on with
it's fearful work :? No thoughtful
man will favor this. 1t would be
better for some party to broaden its
policy so as to take in this new
element and utilize it at once.
This question cannot be kept out
of politics and should not be.
Eight years from now, if not
sooner, the tariffquestion will have
passed out Of political discussion
and prohibition will be the issue.
The party that adopts it will earn
immortality. No party that stands
in the way of this reform can live.
A party is needed to champion
moral questions, as far as they be-
come matters of legislation. Such
a party should be in existence to-
day. If it is not, one will be born
in "due time" and some party will
die at the time of its birth.
The worst party does not always
die to give place to a new and
broader one, but this is no valid
objection to a new party coming
into being, provided it does a bet
ter and broader work. 1t will be
a sad matter indeed if it sholld
be true that among the present
political parties there is no home
for prohibition or opportunity for
it's friends to vote. The Republi-
can members of our coming Legis-
lature are being advised to oppose
the snbmiss of the amendment
to a vote of the people. To do this
nearly every one of them would
violate a pledge made before the
election. This would be dishonor-
able to them as individuals and
ruiEous to the party to which they
belong. There is one sad lesson
that comes out of this attitude of
the defeated, and that is that there
is no such thing as free ballot in