The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1885-09-26

are made, which demoralize the peo-
pie, and place them in chronic antago-
nism to the law.
Smuggling and subtcrfuge Of every
kind are resorted to by the wholesale.
The habitual abuser of stimulants
finds a Zest added to his thirst by the
impediments thrown in his way, while
the reputable citizen, unnecessarily de-
privcd of grateful beverage, only too
often forgets the legal obligation, and
lends himself to a system which prac-
ticaIIy defeats the main object Of pros
hibition.
An eminent and impartial authority,
| in the latest edition of the American
Encyclopedia, sums up thus:
"The history of this legislation is
that of laws generally which are enact
ed rather from the high moral ends
they propose than from the sincere and
settled judgment of the legislators, and
which do not represent the average
moral sentiment actually prevailing
among the people in whose name they
are enacted and are to be enforced. \
The Maine law has not sup,
pressed drunkenness, or even liquor
selling, hut it has had a decided inilu-
ence in that direction. The people are
reluctant to abolish it until they can
SEQ something better to put in his
place."
Such being the net result of over
thirty years of prohibition, ii is some
what significant to find that during
that time the population and the gene
raj business interests of the State of
Maine have been practically al a stand
still, the former showing in thirty
years an increase of barely 10 per cent,
while there is heavy annual exodus
from Maine into other parts of the
country, which is only partially coun-
terbalanced by immigration from tho
adjoining provinces and from abroad.
Compare with these facts the pro-
gress of the States not blessed with
sumptuary Observation-Disclosures which
| have, during the same period, adj
| vanced both in population and in
wealth to an extent unparalleled in
the history of the world.
Kansas adopted a prohibitOry law a
few years ago. The following extract
from tho annual message OF the Cover
nor of the State to the Legislature OF
1882, speaks for itself:
"During the last year of local option
and Iicensc,t United States reven ue
officers of Kansas issued 1882 permits
to sell Intoxicating liquors, or one per.
NIT to SIS persons, placing Kansas as
the first temperance State in the Union;
while in the first year of prohibition
there were issued 1888 permits, an in.
crease of G5G, or IS per cent, taking
Kansas from the first and ranking her
as tho seventh temperance State
while in tho first forty-fve days OF the
second year of prohibition 11lS permits
were issued, sixteen more than in the
whole year Of local option and license.
If VIC consider these facts in connection
with the clandcstinc sale of intOXica-
ting liquors, and consider the vast
amount that is daily delivered to in
dividuals in concealed packages by OK
press companies, We arc forced to the
conclusion that the cause of temper
ancG has not progressed very rapidly
under our present cocrcivc SYSTEM"
The latest exponent is the State OF
Iowa, which by Il law enacted in 1886
and ratified in 1882, put an end to tho
manufacture and sale, within it's lim~
its, of every intoXicant rs n beverage
1t is of course too early to form just
estimate of the results, but there is {,
growing feeling, not only among tho
| Iowans but throughout the country,
! that Il mistake has been made.
Statistics show that in regard to the
| percentage Of its citizens who can read
and write Iowa is the foremost State III
the Union. Its Inhabitants have al
ways been law-ahiding aud prosperous
Containing no large cities to form
centres OF dissipation and crime, Iowa
was apparently exempt from much OF
the evil that prohibition seeks to re.
move. Now, however, everything is
upset. There has been large cmigra
ton Of substantial citizens, particularly
of Germans, and the State which can
afford to drive away its German popu-
lation must indeed be rich. In tho
brewing interest alone, with which
they arc largely identified, propcrty
and plant to the value of more than
81 200, 600 were ut stake. Nor has tho
destruction of these interests been
calmly accepted. In the larger towns,
saloon Keepers rcSOlutely refuse tC
close, and the constitutionality Of tho
law is being vigorously contested, with
results so far not discouraging to tho
APPELLANTS. Throughout the State, tho
drug stores, licensed by tho Lcgisla-
I