Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-11-10
PROHIBITION.
A GLANCE AT THE SITUATION REGARDING
THE AMENDMENT.
4 Few Short Talks With Gentleman on Bon SIDES
Of the easton-What Thsy Attribute The De-
Test b-Supriss at The Big Majority.

In the general tumult and eaeitemenb
incident up,n the election, the rsuls OIL
the vote upon the prohibition amendment
was almost lost sight OF, eIcspt BY saose
directly interested. But now that the
crash Of parties sud the awful chaos fol-
owing it hiss eomewhat sut'siced, the pro
hibition amendment, or what is left of 1t,
rises up to the light Of day, and is defeat
is effected by at least 10000 votes, from
what can b, learned 20 far.
The men who worked for its success ave
not surprised at tSe defeat, but they are
somewhat astonishsd at the overwhelming
msjority against IL, and this is attributed
to various causes. Ths men to whose in
terest II was to havs il de-
feated feel somewhat gratifed, ST.
though they, too, are surprised al
the big vote against it, not anticipating
ons-quarter that majority. Auadmit that
six months ago the amendment would
have gone through with little opposition,
but rone expected it to carry for some
weeks bsfure the election, IS the popu,ar
sentiment for various reasons GRADUALLY
turned against it, until men who at nrst
determined to vote for the Amendment, ana
who really believed, and still believe, that
prohibition if properly enforced, is the true
method of restricting the liquor trsmc,
announced openly that they would woe
sgainst it on account of the Importantly
that it would have the desired effect IN
the face of circumstances.
A REGISTER reporter in his rounds, yes.
terday, picked mp some few EXPRESSIONS OF
gentlemen on both sides, which Ere as fol-
lows: .
Aut:n ~Reymann-I feel grstided, OF
course, that the amendment is defeated,
because il means a great dell to me. l
naturally felt somewhat anxious about the
matter when it was first pat before the pep
pie, but as the weeks went by and tie peo'
pie of the State, especially the farmers, who
saw that it wo1ld even prevent them man
ufacturipg and selling cider, got q clear
view of the effect of the law ii passed, l
saw that the amendment was almost ture
to be defeated, and for some weeks before
the election I felt confident it would te.
However. l did not think ths ma.
iority against it would be more
than about 5000 to 5000. can see no
other cause for its overwhelming defeat
than the fact that the people came TO the
conclusion that it was n bad m for
their interests and for the Interests OF the
State at large.
Peter W.lty-Yes; we feel much graft
fed with the result, bat were somewhat
surprised that the amendment was defeated
by such a large Easj ority. We are glad that
the question was put before the people, ss
their overwhelming expression regarding it
doubtless settles tie matter for a lor g time
to come. There wsS no under influence
brought to bear and the result is the un-
biased sentiment of tie people.
Rev. NJ. F. D.yien said: 81 think the
amendment was knitted by the two old
parties. | don't think the nomination OF
the third party ticket had anything to do
with the defeat of prohibition, but
that the old parties combined to defeat it.
We have always koown where the Demo-
crscy stood on the matter, but the Rspub'
lican party has been clsimirg 10 be the
party of moral ideas"
Rev. W. II. Cooke said: The cause of
Temperance has hid a bacSSe. which will
require many years to ne. l think
it is the deliberate judgment of the people
that the amendment was impracticable.
TIE new ~prohib.tory laws have bean a
failure in Marie and the Western States,
and peoplesee noIeason to hope for snythir &
better here in West Virginia. Tee mis-
lake was in attempting too ioog a step for
ward. 1t would have been very much
better to have gained a little, and then
tried for something more"
J. T. CartTight-I attribute the defeat
of the amendment to several causes, one OF
which war the soreness against the prohi-
bitionists ord the fear that third party
would iuiure them. They wanted to get
even with tiat party and they sucC eeded
in doing SO. Tia returns show that they
voted pretty unanimously sgiinst the
amendment, while tie Democratic PARTY
about held their own. There is one thing
snre and that is that the pretenses Of the
Republican party that it is q tenp:ra1ce
party, is thoroughly exploded. Mr.. At
kinson also sunk his to'ors and We cannot
claim him any longer as n Of our
kind. | knew before the election that we
would not do much and didn't have much
hope, as the fight between the two great
parties was bitter and we were unable to
hold many Of our men from both sides
IN lire. Howeye-, we did much better
than we had elson to expect urder the
circumst1ncss and PEELED q larges vote
than we did in 'Si. So we have every
reason to feel encouraged, and will work
right along. / nave doubt myself that II
would have availed Us much if the amend
ment had passed, because the Legislature
could have handicapped its efficiency. In
| Connecticut We made a four.fftbs gain 10
the Third party vote, and in Maryland
the vote was doubled. At a me ting OF
the Prohibition Club held Thursday even
Jog there was sn earnest and general TX.
preston of c,nfidence and q determination
to continue the work"
Several other prohibition leaders were
spoken to about the re ult Of the voting
upO1 the amendment. Hardly any two oil
them agreed as to the cause CT the down
fall of tie proposition. Some ascTibed il
to a popular belief that the thing wouldu',
work, others to the fact that it was q Pres
identiAl year, and a bad time, therefore, to
procure the sense OF the votes upon @
question of that sort; Others believed The
amendment was killed jointly by the twl
parties, and others still that there wa, a
popular feeling in favor Of high license,
One gentleman said q great many people
had evidently looked at the matter fiom a
practical dollars and cents standpoint, al,
though heartily in favor Of temperance,
They had argued that, on the one nnnd, il
the an e1dment carried, it would not be
enforced, while on the other the Stat and
city would lose many thousands Of dollart
of uuch-needed revenue. In their 6ilem'
ma they voted against the proposition.