Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1886-01-15
BIG DAY AT OLYMPIA.
A UNANIMOUS VOTE, AND LOCAL
OPTION CARRIED.
Legislative Proceedings.
Cheers aud applause.
[oregonian Jan uary 81

AhO SIodl cfCuC OL the SeSSiOn was
the passage In the house this morning
of the bill known as the "Local Option
Law, which has been agitating tue
legislative mind for the past few days,
and finally eliminating today in a vic
tory on the part Of the temperance ele-
ment. Previous to the hour appointed
for the special consideration of the bill,
both ladies and gentlemen (some of
them the most prominent citizens in
olynpia), continued crowding into
the house, the obliging and gentlemanly
sergeant-at-arms provided chairs with
in the bar.
Hon. j. r. Lewis set the ball roll
ing by offering few amendments to
the bill, but finding the house about
ready to vote he finally withdrew them
and the next item of interest was the
third reading of the bill. Previous to
the vote being taken Judge Lewis adj
dressed the house on the Importance
Of the measure before them, saying
that he did not doubt at all but that
the bill would pass, but he wanted it to
be recorded that the members Of the
house had passed the bill unanimously
Local option laws to-day have their
effect even In the courts. No respect
able court to-day will attempt to argue
that local option laws are unconstitu-
tional. This legislature has already
become famous by passing a law for
temperance education of the children
attending the public schools and it was
one step in the right direction. The
learned gentleman paid glowing trib-
ute of respect to President Cleveland
for refusing to appoint the great whis-
key king of Kentucky to prominent
office, and appointing thereto a strictly
temperance man. The honorable gcn-
tleman then referred to the first intro
duction of alcoholic liquors by the
monks and fathers Of the old churches,
and it gave him great pleasure to find
that the church and the pastors of the
churches were using every effort to
uproot the evil from the land. What
mean these petitions bearing the names
Of thousands Of our best citizens both
men and women? What is the mean
ing of those mass meetings held in
every town of any note in the terrific
ry2 Where are the remonstrances
that ono should naturally expect
against this most important measure.
With the exception Of little party Of
lobbyists from King county, who when
compared with the thousands of petit
TONERS whose names are before the
legislature praying for local option,
are but a very Insignificant drop in the
ocean of public opinion. "Thank Cod"
said the honorble gentleman, s'thas no
majority of this honorable house cal
be found spending their leisure mo-
ments in the gin-mills Of this city,"
The learned gentleman then proceeded
to show how important it is to encour-
age the building up Of an educational
establishment in preference to jails and
penitentiaries. By such movements
as the passage of local option laws,
women suffrage bills and Temperance
education bills, Washington Territory
is rapidly coming to the front, and will
soon place herself on the winning side.
No bill introduced in this or any other
legislature has caused such commo-
ton as the measure under considers
tion. Petitions have been presented
from every county in the Territory.
1t was the opinion Of the speaker that
the difference between the North and
the South will yet be cemented
through the instrumentallty of these
local option laws. Let the people
have the say in these matters-let
their voices be heard, and surely the
voice of the people will be the voice of
God. TGreat applause.
Hon. B. F. Denison, of Clarke then
took the floor and stated that he hoped
sincerely that the vote for the passage
of this bill would be unanimous. He
did not look on this as Mr. Lewis's bill.
or any other gentleman's bill, nor did
he favor It merely for personal motives.
Ear from IT. He favored it because it
was woman's bill, introduced behind
a power of the throne, aye, power
greater than the throne itself. It is
source of qualification to know that
the laws of the territory of Washing
ton allow women to stand erect and
free in the image of the God that made
her. For hundreds-ay, thousands of
years the women have been bound by
chains more CALLING than even the
chains that made the slave subject to
his master, and yet but two years age
that honorable body of men who sat
in legislative halls of this territory had
the courage and the manliness to step
forward and lift from her neck the
chains that held her down, and made
her las the creator intended she should
be) free agent. Next we find IN
temperance and all its attendent evils
sapping the very foundation of all
that is good in our laws, and the ques-