Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-08-19
A ReprehensibIe AppeaL

A ReprehensibIe Appeal
L, G. Richmond, in a letter to us on this mat
ter, says: ''rhe writer of this had the pleasure
of stumpinE Wisconsin in the interest of pro
| hibition five years ago in company with Mr.
Hadaock. grander truer, drawer man than
| Mr.. Haddock never addressed our people. If
the report that we are speaking of should
/ prove true, every minister in the state and es-
pecaly every Methodist minister should Join
more heartily in the present crusade against
the saloon and we should take up this fall in
Wisconsin as our battle-cry, Remember Had
dock - The ProA,biti0nist.
1t is to be hoped that not only
every Methodist minister but every
other minister will everywhere and
always do what he can TO restrain
intemperance and limit the growth
of the saloon influence in the social
and political life of the people. The
cowardly assassination of Mr.. Had
dock for his activity in prosecuting
law breakers adds nothing TO the re-
sponsibiity of ministers in this mat
ter. Ii indicates the desperate char
acter Of the law breakers Of Iowa
who continue their unlawful traffic
and hope to intimidate those who
are engaged in an endeavor TO en-
force the law.
But that it should be used to adj
vance the interests of a political
party in this state, where the situa
ton is entirely different, is both
absurd and reprehensible In Iowa
there is Il prohibition law, enacted
without the organization of polit-
icaI party. In that state prohibition
has never been a party issue. Mr..
Haddock was engaged not in a par
tisan political movement, but in an
effort to assist in the enforcement IF
a law, and it is unjust to his memo
ny to attempt to make it appear that
he sacrificed his life as partisan
politician. "The present crusade
against the saloon" in Wisconsin is
not in fact prohibition movement,
but partisan political movement
with avowed purposes other than
that of Prohibition. 1t is fostered
by Democratic politicians, who are
not 10 favor of prohibition, because
1t is factor in partisan politics, aud
in no way advances the cause of
prohibition and in no way affects the
saloons.
The assassination of Mr.. lIaddock
does not change any of the facts in
relation to the question of prohibit
ton. Methodist ministers who have
held aloof from the Prohibition
political party in this state, because
II is a political party which offers no
prospect of influencing the adoption
of prohibition laws, can find no rea-
son in the murder of Mr.. Haddock
for changing their views as TO the
character of this third political
party; those who are convinced that
prohibition is impracti cable and the
attempt TO enforce it only involves
state in endless social turbulence
which in no way advances the NOR.
ais or socla, condition of the people,
! but gives rise to animosities which
lead to murder, can find no reason to
/ change their opinion in the murder
of Mr.. Haddock; those who believe
that incompetence has increased in
Iowa as a consequence of the prohi-
bltlon laws-a fact avowed by Mr..
Haddock himself-and that the evils
which grew out of the open viola
tons of the law by the saloons do
not diminish the main evils which
1t IL the aim of prohibition to abol-
lsh, lind no new argument against
their views in the assassination of a
Methodist preacher; and those who
are confident that the character of
the population of Wisconsin at this
time is such as to make any attempt
at prohibition not merely Intellectual
but mischievous, and who deprecate
the perversion of the purpose of the
pulpit in the interests of a partisan
political organization, can find no
sufficient answer to their arguments
in this murder
The appeal to class to discard
their principles and avenge the
death of Mr.. Haddock at whatever
expense to the cause of temperance
itself, and at whatever cost to the
political well-being of the state, is
not in harmony with the teachings
of the pulpit or the duties of good
citizenship. M,oGukee Sentinel.
w. I'll. STONE, the Lancaster drug
gist who has been running the West
err Good 1enplar as the official
organ OF the Good Templars OF
! Wisconsin and Illinois has reached