The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-04-24


held il this state, in which prohibition
sentiments were in full control, out of
! total 81 500 delegates, fully seventy
were clergymen. hold in my hand
. liat Of the delegates Who attended
the prohibition convention in Topeka
ID Saptamber last. Thirty-seven del
eaationa are named in said list. Of
khSse III but three OF four are the &C
credited representatives, Of some
church or Of the Sunday school Of
Ddme church, and the remainder are
representatives Of good templars or
tempsrance lodges, among whose del
egateithe names Of clergymen appear.
No masonic lodge il represented,
no lodge Of odd fellows or Of red men;
there are no representatives Of the
knights Of honor, or of the order Of
workmen, MOI Of! any FIRE com
pany or printers union, or Of any mil
ltary company, nor Of any charitable
or benevolent society, nor Of any sec
ular league or society w~hatsoever.
The entire impulse Of that convention
1prings from the church and the
church alone. Prohibition is the
child and creature Of the church, and
It precipitatss' the issue directly be-
tween tie church aud the secular COM
hunity. These people believe as sta
ted, in the divine right Of man to rule
his fellow man in accordance with
their conception Of the divine will.
This proposition I unqualifiedly de-
nv; and with perfect respect for those
who entertain il, / submit that it is the
most dangerous heresy, the most hurt
fal idea that ever found a Judgment
in American politics. But you say,
What evidence is there that prohibi-
tionists regard the Almighty % the
source Of civil power. The evidence
IL their own declaration. The prohi-
bition national convention that nomi-
mated ST. John for president, declared
40 follows in its platform:
sThe prohibition, home-protection
party, in national convention assem-
bled, acknowledge the almighty God
o the rightful sovereign Of all men,
from whom the just powers Of the
koySrnment are derived" Thatr''at-
form received the endorsement of ev.
cry honest prohibitionist in the Unit,
Cd Statss. It received also the en-
sdorsement Of the Woman's Christian
Temperance Union, an actively, and
chief promoter Of prohibition, and the
pliaat instrument Of the clergy. Here,
permit me 70 say, whenever q cause
receives the votes Of 100000 voters,
its authoritative declarations are en-
titled to serious consideration. And
permit me furthur to say, notwith-
standing recent events, with which
all arc familiar, that John p. st John
ID not q person that is SO small that he
can be whistled down the wind or be
slightly put aside. He represents an
idea radical and fundamental, which,
il the near future, we must espouse
or antagonize. That idea is express.
ed in the resolution just read, that God
ID the author Of civil government; and
Ia its practical application must effect,
not only the subject Of prohibition,
but exery place and every relation Of
human life. But You say, is not that
idea nght3 answer. that depends
upon which Of Two great schools of
thinkers You belong. Il you believe
in absolutism, it il wrong. There are,
and for more than two thousand years
h4Ye been, two great parties ID the
world, the n asserting that man de-
fives his authority to rule his fellow
man from God, and the other ASSERT
fng'that lie requires that right from.
man. Kings, Popes, high churchmen,
the believsR Of God in the constitu-
lion, the advocatea Of God in the on
Stfthtf0n, md the prohibitlonists, hold
to the former view. The opponents
of monarchy and ecclesiasticism, nat
iiral republicans, natural democrats,
Ind the liberal elements cf all shades
of the people;of Ill cqpptriss in which
the light Of liberty has ever shone at
Nxill, Sspbuse the latter.
A23Yb back in the twilight If his
tory dan began 10 ask his fellow man,
bYJwhAt right do You govern me?
BY sathority do you tar and co
eros me, and by compulsion control
my sctionsf Whence comes your
commission 30 TO dc. His brother
answered, from above. Do You not
know fhat orr great an :estor, whose
Slineai defendant / Vas blessed BY the
holy minister OF God, and that by
Gods servant he was thus invested
Nth the right, through all succeeding
S1Arstions, 70 rule the people. I'm
def tbat explanation the civilization
3cf MI Mil, the Euphrates and the
farther ~ rose and declined. The
aseonle fcs Mkose benefit aa1 protec-
ton alone, governments should exist,
under this Interpretation Of authority.
aM1SfS tHs mott 4diect slsses; their
lives Ngts liyss 81 sessfatnrds and deg
jxHasdstion; apdsit was MT until com,
sneIpeA INA emigration carried mankindaj
westward out sof IthAsGxKes and chains.
re p0sEer, that men began think,