New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1886-09-15


THE VERDICT OF TRUE PROHIBiTIONIST%
The Maine election tells assistant Democrats
that Prohibition voters, even In Maine, the
original Prohibition State, refuse to be dupcd
by their pretences and decline to follow them
in a course clearly hurtful to the cause they
pretend to serve. The men who have been
CRYING "Kill the Republican party" can learn
from the returns that they have taken the
right course to kill the Prohibition party, and
that nineteen-twentieths Of the Prohibition
voters sec the fact Mcssrs. Dow and St. John
appealed this year to 7O,7S3 voters who car
ri,,d the Prohibition amendment in September,
1854, with only 23,S11 votes opposed to 1t.
Out Of the 10000 they appear to have about
$500 to support their warfare against
the Republican party 1t is personally humll-
iatinp to them, because they have boosted
loudly, displayed most vicious temper, and
called all the world TO witness their dcstruc-
ton Of the Republican organization. The end
is thar the Republican party prevails, and by
a larger majority than is usual in other than
Presidential years.
This does not mean that the voters of Maine
abandon Prohibition. 1t means that they re-
iect az really hostile to Prohibition, the
methods chosen by pretended PrOabitiOnists.
II does not mean that the 10000 voters OF
Maine approve practical publication of Pro-
hjbitory statutes. On the contrary, it means that
they lebuke Neal Dow for the uuwarranted
assertion that those statutes are practically
nullifed. 1t does not mean that real friends or
temperance in Maine care little for the cause
but they see that the surcst way to defeat 1t Is
To make it paid ally of the selling party.
nh L. ., Of hn1n Ia
likely to have far-reachng influence in other
States. 1t shows that there, where the practical
benefits of Prohibitory legislation have been
longest tried and are best known, an attempt
to put Prohibition in antagOnsm to the Repuo-
lican party results in lOss OF nineteen
twentieths of the Prohibition voters. 1t leaves
a pitifu minority pretending to represent that
cause, instead of the overwhelming majority
of three to one by which the amendment was
carried two years ago.
If the sincere ProhibitiOnists of New-YOrk,
New-Jersey and other States give this lesson
the al ienton it deserves, they will put an end
to thiid-party movements which have no other
object than to aid the Democratic party at tine
expense of the temperance cause. They VIII
relegate Mr.. St. John, and other hired ennis
sares TO the company of the rum sellers whose
ends they serve, and make it clear as daylight
that honest Prohibiti0nIsts do not intend to
begin by putting Democrats into power.
Nearly all the Republicans who believe III Pro-
hibiton vii! be governed by the assurance tha'
they cannol help that cause by surrendering
their convictions on National questions, or by
putting the enemies of Prohibition into once
He who insists upon policy which puts
twentieth Of the Prohibitionists against nine
teen -tw enteths should hereafter be recognized
as an enemy of the temperance cause.
The Republican party has net only passed
this crisis with success, hut has shown ITSELF
stronger than it was before It's National defeat.
Four years ago there was State and Con-
gressioDal election in Maine such as there has
been this year. Then, a. now, the chief interest
of the election sprang from the desire OF some
To kill of Mr.. Blaine. prominent Republican
candidate, and the determination OF others to
sustain him. There was not then the excite
ment of Presidential election 10 call out a
full vote. as there was not on Monday last.
The COngres sional i-sue WIS the same in both
cases, and the anxiety of the opposition to
pave the way for Republican defeat gave to
both campaigns the same peculiar character.
| Four years ago tho Repu Olcans had plurality
| of S,S72 votes, the Greenback candidates hiv-
ing 1902 votes, and the Prohibition vote being
| insignificant. This year, the Republican plural
ity ascending to latest dispatches appears to
be fully $4,000; the entire vote is about
II, 900 less than it was four years ago; the
Democrats aud Greenbackers have lost about
10000 and the Republicans about 1900; but
$500 have been cast for Prohibition candidate.
| These figures put the Name result in its true
| light, comparing "a State ana Congressional
election. not in Presidential year, with an
otner of the same character, when the same
influences prevailed. If those who hope TO
III the Repub lean party" can draw any
comfort from the result, they are quite welcome
tot