Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-06-12
CONSERVATISM VS.. A CHANGE
OF AFFAIRS.


TO the enactment of the statute look
ing TO the suppression of the liquor
traffic, the argument of the prohibi.
.ionist summed up was "a school
house on every Hill top and no saloon
in the valley" the argument of the
opposition was, ''Gi'me liberty oil
gi'me DEATH" and "rbe state is in
ruin. the church is in jars. soon well
have decisions, expressions. and muir
derous wars and the final squelchel
that the state would be depopulated
property become valueless and ouI
grand prairies become as it was ere
the fiat of commerce issued to grid
iron Kansas with railroad iron, and
the future historian would, as he sal
on the decayed trunk of a cottonwood
king, which once standing Oil the
bank of The ''Palengenic Nile" reared
its proud head above its fellows and
scattered seeds of cottonwood DER
Sedgwick; thus muses.:
"Yon waste, where roaming pole-cats
howl,
Yon aisle, where means the gray-eyed
owl;
Was the kansans proud ak ode,
Where sceptered once an earthly God,
His power-clad arm controlled each
happier CLINE,
Where sports the warbiing muse, and
fancy scars sublime"
The prohibitionist's argument was
addressed to the heart aud 10 the re-
straining of mankIn;l from doing on
sugering TO be done ANYTHING hurtful
to mankind. Ii was the language of
the pulpit transferred to the stump"
The opposition remembering that,
Where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also," harped long, loud,
continuously aud unremittisgly on
emigration and the worldly treasure,
md touched every chord, sounded
.,yery depth, in the human diapason
,hat responded in sympathy to selfish
1ess, ]: e., liberty, taxes, prosperity,
property, emigration, together with
nough abuse to make il reasonable to
the listener.
The amendment the law, and the
amendments thereto are things of the
asst. Let us sum up the result: Gar
cid said not in storm but in calm
re measure the depths of the sea.
Now is the time to figure the result
n Kansas morally and financially.
he prohibitionist hunt up moral stat
sites and believe that Kansas morals
re quoted at Sl.36, same as G. & A..
abroad stocks. The opposition
uotes morals at $00.03 IL along with
Wabash stock, but the real question
ne question that interests us all-is
low has the law affected the people,
ne state, not as question of morals,
ut as q question of CASH.
This question has been overlooked
: both sides, and yet TO the majority
q. is the controlling idea.
Kansas has doomed since the amend
sent as il never before doomed :.
lithout conceding that the amend
ient caused the boom, we can at least
Init that il has not checked our
rowth, retarded our prosperity or
epreciated our values. Our prosper
y has forever dissipated the argu-
'ent and dispelled the doubt that pro-
bition would damage the state as a
lancMl success.
The writer hereof without being
lie to combat the argument, could
IT understand how an evil cause
,uld produce a beneficial result. and
one crowd talked cold morals and
ie other hard cash, he gave
.sh the benefit of ali doubt
I'd voted with the MINOR
2 and has patiently waited
n a bankrupt act" that he might
bust" honorably, and with gentilitv,
I'd not make a vulgar assignment for
= e benefit of his family and friends.
Prohibition has not injured us
d isncially. We could not have been
, much better shape if the amend
'ent had been defeated; and though
ere is some inconvenience in "get-
n licker,' and no revenue from the
.afiic, the conservative element in
'ciety viii acquiesce in the new con-
ton of things rather than have four
ore years of political turmoil in the
submission of this amendment,
len the real financial benefit from
submission will be reaped only by
loon keepers and few tax PAYERS.
le conservative element in society
trs agitation, turmoil, debate. dis
rbance of tranquility of mind. If
2 blotiing out of either the prohi-
ZIONIST or the anti-prohibitionist as
lass would forever settle the liquor
estion-the conservative clement
d draw straws for which should go,
4 90 on attending to business.
The writer hereof has mo AK 10 |
nd" has no selfish motive one way |
the other Except as the pros
riitv of Kansas affects his
operty) and from purely con-
rvative standpoint has arrived
the conclusion that the growth
the state since May, 1881, having
'monstraied that the great argument
the anti-prohibi,ionist q. e.: the in
nv TO the state by the amendmenO is
fallacy-the amendment can never
wiped out, nor can this state ever
cain be wrought up 10 fever heat
er the liquor question.
The conservative clement did not
tie either "for or against the amend
ent." Ii voted for continuation of
settled order of things aud against a
apge of affairs, aud on a resubmis-
IN il will again vote the same way.
endell Phillips, during the agitation
the slavery question in 1855, said:
There is class among us so consery-
i've that they are afraid the roof will
me if you sweep of the cobwebs." ,
mis- element has stood ia the way of
sery new movement from the begin {
ng of time, aud ell changes have
zen made without its aid. Its value
2 society is that every new question
rs TO be profoundly agitated until
majority of the voters of the state
I'VE deliberately come 10 the conclu-
On that change must or must not
:. IL this element did not exist
aDges would he common, because .