Dodge City times., 1888-01-12
A DEATH BLOW.

a DEATH BLOW.
Power and Majesty Of the Law-Supreine
Authority from Which There Is No APP
peal.
The saloon reels under the terrific
blow dealt by the Supreme Court of
the United States in the Kansas cases.
1t reels to and fro and staggers like a
drunken man. and is at its wits end.
Its swagg:r is for the moment gone.
Its loud, boastful tones have fallen
into hoal Sc whisper, and it's imper-
tinent challenge to the American peo-
pie has lost its defiant ring. The power
and majesty Of law which it has so
often scorned, inspire it with an awe
it never felt before. 1t has made its
final appeal and has found that there
is no way of escape for it from the
mighty grip of law Any State may
now declare it nuisance and proceed
to abatc it. and it has no remedy ex-
cept in rebellion. Every phase of the
saloon-the brewery. the distillery,
the groggery, is subject to the exer-
else of this sovereign power; and the
manufacture and the wholesale and
the retail of intoxicants may be as
vigorously suppressed as any other
form of nuisance deemed detrimental
to health or morals.
The decision of the Supreme Court
declares that compensation for dam
age to property can not be exacted
from the State when the manufacture
and sale of intOxicants are prohibited.
This is the great point decided. Every
man, henceforth, who enters into. or
continues in, the business of making
OF selling intoxicants in any State,
does so at his own risk. His business
may at any time, either by legislative
enactment or constitutional provision,
be declared a nuisance and be sup
pressed as in Kansas or be prohib-
tied as in Maine and other States. 1t
is in effect notice to every brewer
and distiller and dealer that he must
be prepared to give up this business
whenever his State commands him to.
Formal action by the popular voice or
by Legislative pr ocess outlaws his busi-
ness, and turns the criminal machinery
OF the State against him. The moral
force of this fact is irresistible. 1t will
crush the saloon us slavery was
crushed. The supreme interpreter of
Our Supreme Law has given us this
mighty weapon of warfare. Let us
WELD it with all our power.
The decision has robbed the saloon
of a strorg hope. 1t "annihilates at
once and forever" says the St. Louis
Anzeiger des Wesicaas. all hope of pro-
lection against the suppression by in
dividual States of the liquor traffic, and
''extinguishcs irrevocably" all expecta-
tions of indemnity. 1t is mot only a
heavy blow to the business interests
directly concerned" says the Balti-
more Duetsche Correspondent, ''but
also to the whole movement for the
maintenance of personal liberty" Mr..
Thoman, one of the chief writer's for
tie brewers. says he has lost "all con-
fidence in the Supreme Court" Louis
Schade, attorney for the Brewers As
sociation of the United States, says it
is terrrille blow, but the brewers
must submit 1t bars them out of all
Prohibition States and local-option
counties. Liquor dealers all agree
that it settles the question forever so
far as the courts arc concerned, and
that all they can do is to resist the
progress of Prohibition.
The contest Is narrowed down and
simplified by this decision. The sa-
loon, with its whole business is, in
effect, delivered into the hands of the
people. The people may do what they
will with it They may support it or
they may tolerate it; they may cripple
it or they may destroy it. Their right
to deal with it is henccforth unques-
toned
The lessons for Temperance men are
these: 1st. Be of good cheer. Let this
victory inspire you with larger hope
and with greater courage. Make the
most of it, both for the help of your
own cause and the hindrance of that
of the saloon. I'd. Do all that is possi-
BILE to educate and strengthen public
sentiment against the saloon. This
extremely important work may be
pushed by manifold processes. Sd.
Combine wherever you can and as far
as you can for the good of the
cause. Combine to cripple as well
as to destroy. combine in ward ard
village and town, as well as in county
and State. Combine in legal action,
in Legislative work. in political en-
deavor. in social work. and in religious
and other organized movements in
tended to restrict and save from the
curse. 4th. Do not drive those who
do not agree with you in methods into
the ranks of the enemy. There are
some phases of the conflict in which
they can be used. Make them allies in
the educational work, if they can go no
further; in the effort to rescue and re-
form, if they will not oppose license.
5th. Shut mp saloon wherever you
can. Bring every provision Of exist
ing laws to bear against the business,