Wichita daily eagle., 1886-01-05
PROHIBITION VS.. HIoH LICENSE.

PROHIBITION VS.. HIoH LICENSE.
The above was the theme of Mrs. Helen
N. Gouger's lecture at the First Methodist
church last Sunday night, but she turned 1t
into her favorits female suffrage theme be-
fore she got through with it. Judging from
the press reports of Helen's lectures this
wear, notwithstanding that she lectures os-
tensibly in the Interest of prohibition and
under the auspices of the W. c. 7. o., she
manages TO slide of onto tie woman's rights
racket under the pretext that nothing good
can be expected of men! The way she goes
for the masculine Villains is not apt to i'm
press one with the notion that the happies;
man on earth is Helen's husband, yet Helen
has husband who along with her skidadles
away from Indiana and lives at irstclass ho-
tells out west.
Notwithstanding the inclemency of the
weather the church was well filled. She
began by saying that to-day the whole civil
ized world was asking the question. "What
is TO be done with the liquor traffic!" The
car Of Russia had issued an edict commenc-
ing the first of the year closing 10000 sa-
looms. This is 10000 more than We said the
county attorney had recommended. Switz-
erland had also passed law against all
liquors but wine. The liquor problem WAS
also engaging The attention of other govern
ments, but when these countries came under
the Influence of the w. c. 7. o., as they un-
doubtedly would, even wine will have to
60. The question now in this country
is between prohibition and high
license. Considering high license as
means of curtailing the consumption Of IL
quor was building on wrong basis and was
certain to be followed by bad results. She
characterized the National Liquor league as
the most villsinous band of traitors in the
land She eulogized Kansas as the first
state that gave constitutional prohibition,
and said the eyes Of the whole country
were upon this STATE, looking to her to main-
tain the law against the power of the Ma
tional Liquor league. She said there was
nothing TO be expected from either of the
political parties. as they were simply organ
lied for office. In refutstion of the argu-
| ment so often advanced, thst prohibition
was failure because it could not be en-
forced, she found that the saloons were all
closed in Kansas and the sale of liquor coz
fined to the drug stores. People had told
her there were joints and that liquor was
sold in livery stables and back yards. She
thanked God for law that drove the LIQUOR
traffic into hav stacks. People had told her
that we were worse off in Kansas to-day in
| the matter of controlling the traffic than
before We had prohibition, but she found as
muchditference betweenthis state and her own
| (Indians) in that respect as there ia between
heaven and hell, and she came do yn on the
hell with a muscular emphasis that did
not sound we'll in church. She went for In
diana at a terrible rate, and it is difficult to
understand why she lives there. The men
there were towards and dare not antagonize
the liquor league. They said the revenue
derived from the traffic helped build their
sidewalks and kept up their cities. Some
| good gentleman in Wichita who had been a
| prohibitionist had told her that We were
| worse off now than before We had the pro-
hibitory law, and that he thought high
Incense was best for all practical purposes.
She advocates taking the sale of liquor ont
of the druggists hands and putting it into
the hands of government agent. She did
not seem to comprehend that such scheme
would be but adding one more to the places
where liquors are sold. The present law
takes the sale out of the hands of the saloon
keeper and gives i. to the druggist, but that
only increased the drinking places. The
| Joints and drug stores are all selling. II
there WAS licensed government agent II
would be only adding another joint to the
present system. She quoted statistics from
Illinois, Nebraska and Missouri TO prove
that high license did not decrease :he con-
sumption of liquor, and We agree with her
that it does not. In Chicago high
license had killed cut what they
we're pleased to call the low doggeries
and reduced the number of saloons from
| l3. 900 to 1000, but it did not decrease the
consumption of liquor. She ridicuied the
term respectable ss!oon," and says re-
spectacle hell" with masculine emphssi:
characteristic of political stump-speakers
and which lily comports with that Christian
womanly modesty which one expects in
lady moral reformer.
Mrs.Gougar does not make favorable i'm
preston. Her style savors Of the campaign
orator, and her sarcastic, fippant filings a,
the men in her female suffrage arguments
are not well calculated 10 prenossess The
masculine mind in favor of woman's rights
Zone of the chief causes of mans love fol
woman is because she is SO unlike man, anc
they are not apt to favor anything calculated
to lessen the dissimilsrity. Generally he
positions on the liquor question are sound
and she has a long array of figures and ar
guments at hand. and she is ready, fuen
speaker, yet she fails to leave profound
impression, such as a modest. earnest
SNrisLdlU -ihe fpedhCT "cuiu ic"'c. Asc'
Mr.. Hodgson or any of our ministers coult
use her arguments with far greater efiect,ant
make a more lasting impression. Mrs. Gou
gar has accomplished little in her own state
according TO her own admissions, and 1t !
doubtful if she will here. She advance
nothing new. She furnishes no new plal
for suppressing the liquor traffic. Everyon
understood the evils of intemperance befor
she came as well as they do now, and every
one knows that the probibitory law is no
strictly enforced, and that she suggests NJ
practical plan forenforcing it.
PEN PICTURES OF THE G. A. r. ENTER
| TAINMENT.
Col. Jerry Wilson will be on deck witt
his thrilling narrative of "How he marched
| around the field twice and camped on tn