Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1886-12-31

III Interested put DOn-partlzan ObserveI
II any contest OF oplIi0a often carrie,
more weight than the most eloquent ap-
peal or piercing d~enunciation of th.
heated ard excited adherents of a cause
Ii he tterances of enthusiastic temper
ance advocates seen, at times, somewha,
hysterlcal, the excess of feeling finds lts
warrant in the supreme and far-reaohinp
Importance of the theme. 1t is, never.
theless, q welcome relief to come acrose
now and then, a quiet, judicial CONSIDER
alton of the subject from a "looker-on in
Venice" A staff correspondent of the
Chicago News, after giving an analysis of
the motives which actuste temperance
people-truthful in the main, no doubt.
but too sweeping, because it takes no
account OF exceptions-presents q "Study
of the Situation in Iowa" that is worth
reading:
Temperance people are misunderstood.
So are prohibitionists, and among both
there are really fewer fanatics than YOU
find in any moral movement of modern
times. The enthusiasm of temperance
folk commonly supposed to be ~extrava-
giant. is not; it IS cold, deadly earnest.
ness. The motive has less of philan-'
thory than OF personal concern; more of
actual selfshness than of pure humans
tarianism. Touch q temperance en-
thusiast and you flush q sufferer. Tear off
the austere mask of the prohibitionist
and You stand confronted by a p,tifuI
face. Reach into the vitals of the much
reviled total-abstinence crank and Won
uncover the bleeding heart of one who.
has endured great grief from the whisky
evil. As empires and nations have
fought, not to conquer but to preserve.
and history tells uH that these have been
the most desperate of human conflicts
30 American men and women are now
fighting TO save their own from de.
generaoy and degradation. IT you doubt
this, win the confidence of your nearest
Temperance neiRhbor and learn for O
self the anguish and dread, humiliation
and shame often, that are enveloped in
the brave, warning exterior. It may be
merely o memory, but it is the
memory OF o specter. l have heard
persons accredited with per-
ception . marvel at the force
OF the prohibition wave that is sweeping
over the south, and express mystiica.
ton that, in o section where intoxicants
have been for years the deliGacies of the
social feast, where votive irienishlpa
wers serenaded with blinking glasses,
and where whisky has been regarded as
a product Of such utility and virtue as
to be properly beyond the restrictions Of
revenue laws, there could be mustered
any successful resistance to its manufac-
ture and use. Consider for q moment
tke ssse Gff tsIis southern families, count
less and illustrioas, that have declined
aimost from view within the last quarter
of q century and you discern the cause.
The obscure few left to deplore the EAST
are united by the potential bond of self
interest to redeem the future. Prohibit
ion at the south means regeneration, and
none can realize the hops hall so vlvidly
as the survivors who look back with
horror on the ruins OF q custom which
has developed conviYiai desires into
hereditary hunger. The self-same
feeling il the vell-spring of prohibition
at the north. 1t is simply demonstrated.
Among more than 100 prominent pro-
h%ibitionists recently interviewed in
Iowa, l failed to discover one whose en-
listment was not inspired by the down
fall of blood relations and the intent to
defend against further family decay.
Yet these very same prohibitionista,
though held accountable for the pur-
pose to totally exterminate alcoholic
stimulants, seem to entertain no snch
e%xtravagent idea. 1t 10 to first remove
the temptation they aim.
Judge Nourse, Of Des Moines, than
whom it is impossible to fad O more ra-
tional man, has led the temperance
battle in Iowa for years, and gained
some considerable distinction among
the drinkers as a fanatic. IT is wholly
nndeserved. Mark what he says: .We
do not expect to extirpate the manu-
.facture or prevent the minute use Of
spirituous liquors. / think you will find
no sane prohibitionits of that mind.
OF course splrituous liquors have their
uses. We do not claim that we should
be enabled by any power to walk into
a mans house and snatch the whisky
glass from his lips. The real purpose OF
prohibition is precisely what the best
difinition of the word would indicate
TO hinder. What We are aiming at here
in Iowa, and what we are assuredly ac.
compllshing, is the determination Of the
saloon and the stockading OF the LIQUOR
traffic. We propose, while not design,
ing extinction, to invest the procuring
of intoxioants with such hardships that
their fascination will be LIST. When
you have e Law .hat virtually
classes the saloon-keener with the
fence keeper and his surreptitlons pat.
ron with the sneak. thief you are
rearing a Chinese wall arnnnd tbou.-
ands who are toe week to resist the
licensed opportunity to do wrong, or who,
by reason of convivial inclinings, would
be started on the downward path, tx
their indnlgenees were approved by law.
The open saloon is the up as Of
American society, as well the parasite
Of American politics. 1t is q mennaoe to
posterl9y, and We are just beginning to-
find that out. Not long ago ~intoxica-
ton was o social humor: now it ia a
social SID. It is only q few years sInes
q mans genius in commerce and the
professions was measured by his
convivial capacity; now it Is emphasized
by his sobriety. Such lie the moral
evolution OF the question. Morality no
longer winks at the drinking vice, and
what morality dlsapproves must event
ualIy be expressed by law. Behind ell
this. of course IN grim perspective. we.
see the growing millions of families
whose cioseted skeletons are the dead OF
the drunkard's feast. To this great
increasing force the temperance move
ment is the hope Of blood salvation,
and when you realize that prohibition
means 30 much to SO many, sanguine
nffnfpofynn Of yfo ,rttsroo<a v,ro-z-f