Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-11-22

any OF lAHht, I'M hAHil II wa NtAi'N bh'
penalty OF its trausgcssion
REPUBLICANS CONSJDERING 4
NEW DEPARTURE.
That the bloody-shirt has Lost its po-
tency as a political factor is too well
shown in the recent election returns to
admit OF denial The sectional feeling is
dying out. 1t is no longer the North
against the South. The rcscntments en-
gcndcrcd by warfare can no longer govern
the political action OF men. Pcrcelving
this change OF feeling, political leaders
arc looking cut for new issues to meet
that change. word comes from washing
ton, the center of political action and in
triguo, that the Republican leaders are
seriously thinking Of an entirely new de-
( paEturc, which, when presented before
:hc country, is to make up new politi-
cal issue, OF q moral nature rather than a
sectional one Temperance is the chosen
issue which they propose to make, claim
ing that II is a platform which needs no
explanation, and that it Will excite the
moral sense OF the country as the slavery
agitation did, and which will enlist from
the outset the support Of a large and most
respectable class.
There is nothing very improbable in this
news, though it is doubtless premature.
Many of the Republican leaders incline TO
the advocacy Of prohibition as Il national
rulc. The three strongest Republican
states, Kansas, Iowa and Maine, have
adopted prohibition in their constitutions,
and in those states the issue Of prohibit
ton is joined between Democrats and
1 Republicans at each election, and it is
made successful and sustained by the
preponderance OF Republican votes in its
favor.
When the question is made national as
it will be If the Republican party should
adopt it in its national platform, it will
have to be met and discussed in Demo
cratic as well as Republican states.
Then, what? win the simple fact that
a man has been Republican cause him
to accept the new Republican doctrine of
prohibition? And win oid-tlme ucmo-
Gratis oppose it because it Ia advanced by
the party that they have fought on other
principles? Probably not; though we know
that in the recent local prohibition cleo
tons in this state the attempt was made
to demonstrate that prohibition was I'M
Democratic because the states where il
prevailed were Republican, and on that
score Democrats were warned to vote
against it. This was denied, and ii had
/ lille effect upon sensible men, who con.
tended that it was private matter of
conscience and public question of expc-
dicncy whether they should vote for or
against prohibition, and generally they
voted rs they thought best, without re-
gard to whcthcra majority of Republicans
advocated it, or the mass Of Democrats
opposed It,
Prohibition Will dcscctionalilc politics
1t is the only political question vet
brought before the people upon which
there can be no sectional feeling or lii
vision. The agitation Of the abolition of
slavery united the South against the
North, because 1t threatened Southern
Institution. The tariff question uuitcs
the West against the East for the inter.
csts OF the West are with free trade, and
those of the Fast with protection. But
there Is no special interest in the South
or in the North for oragainst prohibition,
except the dealers in the articles sought
to be prohibited, and they are not pecu.
/ liar either TO the North or the South.
Yet, II national prohibition were thrust
as an active question into political cam.
paign, and supported by the Republicans,
there is no question that the Democratic
party would oppose 1t in its party capaci-
ty. Democrats national conventions have
uniformly pronounced against sumptuary
laws which ycN ,ac citizen, meaning the
prohibitory laws that interfere with the
individual privilege of drinking and eat
Ing whatever one chooses 10 drink and cal,
aud can pay for It is said that Georgia
is a. strong u prohibition state as Kansas,
and IL is true that q majority of the
counties in that state are now undcr the
Z locai-option prohibition law, but that is
not conclusive thatin national contest
Gcoraia's vote wogld be In favor of a pro
hihltion candidate for president The
teachings OF ye Democratic party would
hold the SOUTH. against prohibition, even
when released from old-tlmc party preiu.
diccS. On the other hand, several OF
the Western states, now Republican
would be carried against prohibition by
the strong foreign clement resident in
them, which is generally Republican.
Wri.ten On Returning from the Cupboard.
New Orleans t',cSyurc.
An empty hottie is the place for ghost
OF smile,