Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-09-21

T. c. Crawford, staff correspondent of
the New York World, is personally mvesti-
eating the operations and results Of temper
ance Legislation in the northern and west
ern states. Kansas, he says. is the only
one in which there is any pretenSe of en-
forcing the law. Michigan has wasted
wears in experimentation. and has finally
liOpted tax law. Indiana looks toward
a local option law, d" hut As YET has done
nothing. Minnesota and Illinois have
adopted local option in some counties, while
Ohio has tax and local option law. Mr..
Crawford considers the liquor reform move
ment in the north genuine agitation, but
in the south he considers il mere Subter-
fuge. lie says: The temperance agita-
ton in the south is merely white mans
movement fer the better control of the
negroes, And after a careful inveStiga-
tion of the anti-saloOn plans endorsed by
various states and their results rendered in
person on the respective fields of operation,
Mr. Crawford concludes: The opinion of
the best men with whom | have talked is
that the temperance question can be best
settled by the adoption of high-license
law, with local-Option feature. Ii shall
be for each community TO say whether liq-
uor shall be sold or not In its locality, and
if sold it should be made to pay a revenue.
The tax should be made large enough tO
keep the trade in the hands of respectable
people. who will themselves form an active
police against irregular selling without Ii
cense." Mr.. Crawford gives his reasons
for his assertion that prohibition has failed
in Iowa, but shows that there has been a
great growth of public sentiment i'll the
state in favor of regulating the liquor
trade" He says:
There is no third party movement in this
state. | have questioned number of the
members Of the Temperance Alliance upon
this subject. They say that they intend 10
work with the republican party. That party
in this state has done for them all that they
have asked thus far and they think that II
would be very foolish for them 10 talk about u
third party. They would regard such course
AS fatal to the interests Of the Alliance. st.
John has no followers among the members of
this organization. They credit his course TO
dissatisfied political ambition. They say that
he had ne thoughts OF any third party until
the republican party failed 20 elect him gov
ernOr for a third term. They say that his
course now is simply calculated to pull down
and destroy without doing any good.
We cannot agree with ali of Mr.. Craw-
ford's conclusions, but his statements are
interesting and of considerable value, when
one considers the source
Senator Sherman's great speech at the
state fair has attracted attention abroad and
served as protection keynote. The New
York Tribune devoted a whole column TO
comment on the speech. and the following
paragraphs from its editorial will prove in
teresting reading, both TO farmers and man
ufacturerS:
Senator Sherman'S latest speech deserves es-
pecial attention. What helps the farmers,
helps the country. Government of the maj
ity, which seeks the greatest good of the great
est number, is based upon the belief that in the
long run the whole body will be benefited by a
policy which directly benefits the majority. In
this country the farmers are the majority and
when Senator Sherman spoke at the Ohio state
fair of the sort of government which farmers
need. he had no occasion to reason before an
American audience that the whole country
would he more prosperous, II they were more
prosperous IL the policies advocated by the
senator are calculated to benefit the farmers
as a whole, the burden Of proof rests with those
who may oppose those policies to show that
nevertheless they Will do more harm than good.
The senator urges the protection OF home in
dustry against foreign competition. 1t is but
just to him 70 say that his earnest advocacy OF
this policy has done much TO bring TO its sup
port the farmers of Ohio, many of whom were
formerly inclined to regard the protective tar
III as a taxation OF farmers for the benefit of
manufacturers. Experience in Ohio has pow
erfuIly aided reasoning. The people Of that
state have seen cities and manufacturing and
mining districts developed under the influence
of protection and have realized the beGeft
t. them of an enormously enlarged and sure
home market for their products. The increase
in the value of farms, the steady advance of
the agricultural interests in that great central
state. notwithstanding the severe competition
which has come from new states and new
farms in the far west. has convinced thousands
Of farmers IN Ohio that the protective policy
d res give 10 the agricultural population per
manent and efficient aid.