The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-06-25
JOURNAL.
Prohibition in Politics,

( There is little tina. is new to be said of the
late so-called Prohibition campaign, which was
alike unfortunate in its conceptions and in its
results. The treachery of St. John has been
fully ventilated and the estimation in which he
Is held at the present time is shown by the slim
audiences which listen to bis TRADES against the
North and his eulogies upon his new allies in
the solid South. John b. Finch openly avow ed
I himself during the campaign, and so cleared his
skirts of the imputation of having been bribed
by the rumseliers; but it is something of sur
prise to learn, as We do from Gail Hamilton's
article in the North American Review for June,
under the caption given above, that Miss Will
lard. the President of the National W. c. L. u,
Is Southern sympathiZer. That well-meaning
men and women were lead into this movement
Is very evident, and it is equally clear that 1t
WAS controlled and directed throughout by
agents Of the rum party. Gail Hamilton quotes
leading Prohibtionist as saying: The W. c.
7. l. during the last campaign descended from
its high position and became the willing ally
and unconscious tool of selfish politicians. 1t
did this deliberately. A careful eX-
animation of the statistics of the late campaign
completely eXplodes the claim to sagaeity or
honesty, perhaps both, in this deplorable move
ment." One illustration here of St. Johns
trickery, and which is characteristic of his con-
duct throughout. He proclaimed all over the
country that the Republican party in Kansas
had refused TO re-indorse the prohibitory Con-
stitutional amendment at their last State Con.
venion. The resolution adopted was:
! That We favor a faithful and honest enforce
ment of the Constitutional Amendment. that
the full effects of prohibition may be realized,
that the declared will of the people may be re-
spected and the majesty of the law yindicated.
And this st. John called rejection of the
Prohbitory Amendment But then he had to
earn his wages from the rum party 10 some
way, and probably took the easiest way-for
him. During the campaign St. John boosted
that be would receive million votes and some
of the prohibition organs claimed two million
votes. The total prohibition vote In all the
States was 45,000-no one sets it higher than
$50 000-out of a total vote of 10,036, 057. Says
Gail Hamton
Comparing this political Prohibition vote
with the Prohibition vote when it WAS not made
political issue, We ind that in four States
Maine, ONO. Iowa, and kansas-Prohibiton
has received 100000 votes political, against
10000 votes POLITICAL in thirty-four States. In
Iowa alone, after most persuasive and even
thrilling. but non-political campaign. Prohibit
ton received 5000 votes. The political cam
paign of 1884 reduced that Vote to Az Is this
AL onward movement? Does it indicate nice
general>hip!
Great things were predicted of the South
that is in the way of prohibition votes. Miss
Willard declared that it was "a ghost, and not
d canipa en- issue, that is paraded by cam
faign orators who dwell upon a solid South"
and talked glibly of the States and portions of
States in that section already under prohibition.
But of the States mentioned, South Carolina,
Mississippi, and Arkansas gave, according to
the official returns, no vote at all for the Pro-
hibition candidate. Alabama, reported as ''glo-
riousN stemmng the tide, gave the Democrat
ic candidate 92973 votes and the Prohibition
candidate go. Kentucky cast 3O06 votes for
Prohibition; against Prohibition. 2.1 ,433. Nine
Southern States, said to be largely prohibitory,
gave 1875 Prohibition votes I'm the whole
SOUTH says Gail Hamilton, Il do not tnd re-
corded $4,000 Prohibition votes. Every South
ern State went for unmitigated Democracy.
Miss Wizards ghost materialized on the 4th Of
November, into 1913 electoral votes solid for free
UNI and the lost cause