The Magnolia gazette., 1888-05-26
On Which Side arc Your An Appeal to
Voters.
by rRANcla =. u1LLAnp.

No voter can help holding one Of the
tonr following relationships TO the aa
looms in his community: that Of iguu-
rance, apathy, compliciiy.o or protest. His
neighbore could tell him which OF the
four he holds, with but little hesitation.
"Ob, waI some power this giftio gle us,
30 see oursels ~ ithers SEQ u.s." But he
may be less clear than thoy, ard even
with the inteuiion Of being loyal to i'm
manity's bert Interests lie may be doing
quite the contrary. But no man Of the
smallest intelligence can be ignoraut Of
the fact that tho saloon il to.day the
chief destructive force ia society; that
the cumulative testimony Of Judge. jury
aud executive Officers Of law declares
that fifty per ceEt. Of the ilocy aud lu>
nacy, eighty per cent. Of the crimes, and
ninety per cent. Of the puuperism come
from strong drink :ihat the salunus holds
the balance Of power IN almost every
city of tsE thpuSan in habitantn; that il
Is the curse Of working men aud the
sw0fh Too Uf home.
Apathy will doubtless acoouut for the
strange attitude OF many voters. aud
PITY lis It's true" They know that III
flsse days OF frightful dauger aud ire
meliabls loss
''Fhcrc is no flock however watched aud
tended,
Bat one dead lamk IA thors:
There II no hrsade howsos' or defended.
but has One vacant chAir"
The voice of Rachaol crying for her
children, and refusing to he 60 nlforted
oeoause they are not; falls on their dull
earH. but ials to reach their hearts. The
physically weakcrand unreprseuted class
cfiet out, II 'ok thenl while the fin>
ger OF public rcorn points at the dram,
shops open door; and broken >hratt.d Il
women ask the unanswsrable question,
My 90 you permit this uwfnl iempin
tion--ou one corner of tho street the
church on another the schonl.house
between them our homes, the dearest
places upon earth, aud just across tho
street tue drSin-shop. tempting our best
beloved to ruin, nn2 hedgcd about by
the guarantees aud safs,guards IL the
ht? Why do yuu permit all this; why
must we Anffer il?'' | can but thluk The
men ate tew Who will remain much
longer shuinp in the stronghold OF their
apathy, regardless Of the plea anl pro /.
tpat OF Ampfintn tvnn,auho.,l
Conscious completely with the SALOONS
must certaiuly be rare among voters OF
Intelligence. but uneonscieuslv perbups.
feus OF lh housands stund ia this odion>
relationship TO the nccGrHe.I hquar
traffic, Perhaps au analogy may help
to make this clear In 1888, when |
was organizing the W, y. T. u. In Cali .
tornia. noticed the protest of the state
press against tue ordinance by which
the municipal authorities Of Sacramento
had licensed gambling. 1t was regarded
as dlsgraoA, and calculated il 10 briug
dIscredlt npon tho golden state" So
strong was public criticism that tho next
Legislature adopted general law for.
bidding any municipality TO legalize the
gambling curse. What was tho defense
set up by the city fathers OF sacrameu>
tol well" hey said, ''these men will
gamble anyway; they always bave, they
always will. We think they ought to
pay back portion at least Of lLolr ills
gotten gains iuto the pubhc treasury, by
way of helping TO meet the extra OK
pense caused by their ncfariens .rnde.
Besides" they added, in the old fam,l
lar language, "if we license ihis thing we
cau then regulate and huudle il indi.
cious sly."
How TINT last word sounds 10 the Nv
erage ear do not know, but have
heard 1t in 30 many party platforms aud
convention resolutions, where it .'made
n promise TO the ear, but broke it 10 the
hope" that III my dictionary siudi
cious" is set down as having its root iu
the word Judas. aud being she most hys
pocriticai aud coutemptible word Of onr
current vocsbulary. Suppose the quss
''Nt~ "-'o "NAN' - uu1 tcDHttitt Nntef.
"Wunld you cast your ballot for eau.
di,late who was pledged 10 .icense gamb.
lings" he would reply With ldignation.
III am insuliei by snch an implication.
License gamblingl Nevsr. by nv con,
sent" But If yon. NV friend. vote to
license the liquor traffic, l beg you tu
take notice that the saloon is the home
Of eambiing--its natural habitat, 1t is
the home OF every vile aud evil thing:
the greater includes the less. aud every
time yon vats TO license the saloon you
have deliberately voted to license eamb-
ling, immortality and every abomiua,iou
which Won san possibly imagine. You
have placed the royal peroeative Ct cit>
izenship. your ballai. as Ink in the
chain of causation. whic', shall leugthen
itself out into every misery and every