Nevada County picayune., 1888-02-22

more strictly enforced than they arc. l do not believe we would have any. Prohibition people in our State if our High License law was more rigidly enforced.
 I enclose you herewith il copy of our State law regulating the liquor business, which will give you an idea of the kind of law we have. Anything caa do for you at any time, please command me.
 Yours truly,
 PETER k. HER, (Prc-t.)
 The Atlanta Constitution says: "It i- remarkable how loudly the members of the whisky ring clamor against free whisky. when there k an effort made to repeal the inter nal revenue laws. The trouble k that under the present revenue SyS- tenn they have huge monopoly They wield an immense power; they corrupt legislation opprcss the peo- pie divert money from its proper channels and do many things under cover of high duty on liquor that can and will be prevented. if the States are allowed to control the matter.
 Dr. Josiah Strong i'll his work. Our Country. says of the whiSkey and beer manufactorics "Accord- ing to the census of lSso. the capital invested in their manufacture is sl32.- O5l 900. So great wealth in the hands of one class. having common interest and a common purpose. k mighty power. And this power does not lack organization. There is combination of all the distillcries north of the Ohio from Pittsburg to the Pacific. Their success at Wash ington few years ago, in securing legislation which granted to whisky makers peculiar privileges accorded to no other tax payers. is sufficient evidence of their power.
 NIT. (. B. Cation. in communl- cation to the Voice. Feb. ,. lSSo, state. that .'the lobby of congress has used millions of money in cor rupt bargaining and bribery and never has made a secret of the fact.
 This consolidated and powerful monopoly has its tap-root m hlgh H. cense. Nothing stands more i'll the way of prohibition. Revenue k the most powerful and convincing argu- ment urged by the friends of whls- key. The argument appeals to the cupidity and avarice of the tax payer. Mir. !. B. Finch, the most active and influential agent in having the sl.ooo license law enacted in the Ne braska legislature. pronounced 1t the yreatest mistake of his life. He had built up wall against prohibition that he could not batter down. The cry of revenue is constantly heard Tn our midst. and is destined to prove the very greatest obstacle to prohibit ton.
 Local option is accepted ny pro- hibitionists as q compromise. It nev- CT did satisfy any out and out prohl- hitioniSt. In some states. our own for instance, the work is to be done over every general election, which k very objectionable feature. In other States, Georgia. for instance. the question i> constantly liable to be re-opened as in Fulton county, of which Atlanta k the capital. when asked for hv one tenth of the voters. In other states, Maine, formerly Y for instance, statutory prohibition oh- tains. On account of the GckleneSs and compatibility of legislatures. this is objectionable. We want and are working for state and federal constitutional prohibition. l predict that this question will never he set tied in the United States and in no state until this point is reached. lt is renewal on other grounds of the ',irrcpressihle conflict.
 Nor can il he denied that consti- tutional prohibition has. to some eX- tent. been failure. Ii was great failure in Michigan about the time of the great Civil War. That k not to be wondered at Every enterprise was merged into this great and all ab- sorhng subject. Nor -haS statutory nor constitutional prohibition been a complete success in Maine. But this failure k limited to q few large cit ies. where public sentiment did not strongly support the law, and when the liquor influence nominated the politicians and officers.
 The same k true of Rhode Island. The same was once true of Kansas and Iowa, But it is quite different to-day. The operations of the law in both those states were held in abeyancc by the interference of the federal courts and ny some cases appealed to the Federal Supreme court. By most remarkable deciS- ion of the Federal Supreme court, all these obstacles have now been re- moved. and prohibition is moving grandly on. The last swill-tuh k