The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1885-09-10

The rrohibitionisss 10 Texas have |
rotten themselves into defiie, in |
Iced, complete corral, by their ON
aiverous ambition Sd TO regulate by
,ne fell swoop throughout the entire
State the liquor question as to inconti-
pently close out and close up
every Texas mandatory and saloon,
spifiluous, vinous and malt. Had
they been content to leave the whols
business severely alone whsio 1t had
been placed by tho law under the To-
cal option act, they might have Of
fectod much of good in such counties
where saloonsare an evil factor agains.
the general peace aud social order.
Tho people at largo were not like mel
low field, through which the prohibi-
ton, ploughshare might ba recklessly
run without resistance. They recog.
nize tho moral value Of the seed from
which much good might sprout II
duly sown into the social burrows, but
they with all propriety stoutly rejected
and turned up their noses at the Kind
of msnuring with which an un-
healthy stimulus was sought TO be
secured. Tho advocates Of the new
doctrines should have proceeded
slower and moro cautiously with the
work, after the fashion OF the glacial
movement, commencing with tho
purely local option effort until they
had reached tho ealier gulf-stresm of
widening popularity. The inspirors
from colder climes ia tho East, and
thoir followers here, have made O fata
blundor. Inetead OF being undertskers
for tho Democracy and a mid
wife to the prohibition party ia
Texas, they hsvo reversed tho
order, and mistaken their route un der
the light of this Western Lone Star;
and an lgnis iatuus has led them into
u wilderness of woo. They fought
hard and brought to the front ot only
oil their forces, including tho reserves,
but numbers nom the rank end file of
the Democracy who had not penetrated
beneath the insinuating surface Of
what seemed to be u solid substratum
OF genuine merit, but was Ia reality q
superficial covering for a reservoir OF
ruinous social radicalism. And
those latter were made, innocenlly and
ignorantly, to hold the csadle for tho
attractive game.
Not only did tho geroralisslmos
bring out their host men, but they
armed and equipped these with tho
most powerful and ingeniouso of amuni.
ton arguments. Their postulates
aoomed sound, but they made tho
pedestal to DO used for u preposterous
super-structmre which in good timo
disclosed its own weaknesses.
The returns from Fort Worth, and
from Camp, Van Xandt, ana other
counties received up to o'clock this
morning,added to those published yes
terday, must be as 20 many chilling
baths to the hot blood sponsors for the
now party, and must evidence TO
them that beneath seeming
zeal for their cause there must have
been q lurking opposition to It's sue.
cess, because of the intended and pos
slbio consequences to come out OF the
Twentieth Legislature. That "mustard
seed" will not now expand
into the vigorous tree hoped for,
however literally watorod 1t may have
boon by ceaseless efforts Of wniling or
ntors over the morals Of the country.
COKE, MILLS, REAGAN, and the 9TH
ers of the genuine Democratic house
hold, attacked tho Intruder like a hive |
OF hornets and II was driven back into |
q now doubtless permanent camping
ground on tho outskirts OF the arena.
There Ia weeping and gnashing OF
.eeth, since, instead Of floods of Clio.
rious sunlight from tho donuuclatory
Dallas convention prophecies they
nave met with tho darkest cloud
yet seen In any State, and |
,ho evening drift has been TO
.ho Red sea that has engulphed |
what the morning promised as safe |
resort. There may have been valuable |
ore in tho mine, but tho processes for
us extraction woro foarfully
faulty. Wo all lonrn by OK
perlence, and so these who
desire and design tho cessa.
tion Of saloon drinking, u most coui-
desire and design, will learn
that they must begin aright-hrst in
Tho home, next in tho community, and
than in the county, and then in tho
State.
But to denounce the Democracy, to
donounce the Legislatures, to revile at
the people who may not happen to
fall In love all Of sudden with objects
and methods, which, to say tho least,
are of questionable expodiency, If not
doprivatory OF personal rights, and not
even to clothe the abuse In the drapery
Of discroetness of discussion, is, In the
mildost language, toconvort our anx-
ious doubts into active disairaction
and pronounced opposition. At all
events prohibition sleopoth now, aud
under tho daisies lot itrost.