Huntsville gazette., 1888-08-11

LIOH DCftfb r 81 ENfJi CtIUUtIN:
NV DEAR SIR-With grateful sense Of the
honor conferred upon me by the Prohibition
party at its late Nationalgconvention, and with
equal appreciat ion Of the responsibilities in
volVed therein, ae pt the Nomination which
!. did rot Seek, ana which L earnestly desired
should pass me by, and with Gods help will
bear our standard of prohibition as best can
through this presidential campaign. And thus
| formally responding to the formal notification
received at your hands, it is fit and proper that
] add some FIR her words,
Within q few years the temperance reform
has altogether Changed front. In the great con-
Flct which has been, and is yet waging, temper
ance forces no longer face human appetite and
habit alone: they oppose legislation law, the pur
pose OF political parties the policy of state auc
Nation What law cfeates, law alone can kill.
Thetifathre flaw-the saloon, the liquor traffic
can die only at the laws hand, the hand
of laws executed. Conceived in avaricious
iniquity, born of sinful Legislative wedlock, the
licensed saloon, the legal zed liquor traffic,
bastard child of a civilization protesting purity
and virtue. must be strangled by the civiliaa-
tion which begot it, or that civilization must
go forever branded with the scarlet letter ef its
own shame.
1t is not enough that we reform the individu-
al; we must reform the State. The policy of
great commonwealths, of whole people, must
be remade and put in harmony with sound,
economic principles, the true cooperation Of
industrial effort, the essential condition of Ma
tional prosperity and genuine brotherhood of
man.
So broad demand as this can be met in but
one way. 1t has been said: "a political re-
form can become a fact in government only
through a political party that administers gov
ernment." reform so vast as this we advo-
cate, involving such radical changes in State
and National policy, is utterly dependent, for
itC oritn md pnTc r1I1tY1 nj inn
party agent or force. To give it success, to
make it indeed and indisputably q fact, that
party force or agent must be in full accord with
the reform and must have in itself the power
of successful achievement apart from those
elements and influences alien to the reform.
No party which is made public administrator
by the enemies of temperance, or which owes
the election of its candidate to saloon infiu-
ences, can ever establish prohibition as a bind
ing fact in government anywhere. The
National Democratic party in its platform
utters no word in condemnation of the greatest
foe to the Republic, the liquor traffic. That
party having steadfastly in its utterance at
National conventions maintained its allegiance
to the American saloons, it was no disap-
pointment to any one that at ST. Louis, in 1888,
it reaffirmed its old position this the great
est question now bel ng debated among men.
1t was with great reluctance that accepted
these conclusions and come TO admit the i'm
perative need of new party while yet the
party of my old choice, the National Republic
an party, maintained its organization l had
followed with pride and patriotic love that
party's flag while above it ioated the starry
banner for which so many brave patriots fell
I had seen that party established in fact, in
government, one political reform dear to me
from boyhood. a boon to millions in bondage
and d glory to us all A long, long time L
waited, against conviction and the logic of
4io 1Il
would take this old reform with changed front
and new conditions, and make it also the fact
so many millions craved and for which they
pleaded before men and God. 1t cost me the
sacrifice of cherished associations when four
years ago l enrolled myself to the ranks or
party Prohbitionists under the flag or prohibit
| ton, bleached snowy white by the tears of
smitten women and children through genera
| tions of sorrow and want. 1 have seen no
| hour OF regret. Every day since then has
shown yet more clearly the logic of my course,
| and the inevitable truth of my conclusions. In
Michigan, in Texas, in Tennessee and Oregon,
so-called non-partisan efforts to establish pro-
| hibition have failed through partisan necessity,
| born of liquor elements in old party compost
| ton. In Iowa. Rhode Island and Maine the
| laws have been shamelessly defed for like
| reason. The entire thread of things these last
| four years has proven hopeless; the broader
| range of prohibition effected through nOnpar-
tisan means and equally futile a final con
summation, the narrower methods of local OPP
i ton and high license; while from the Supreme
Court itself has come, with startling emphasis,
| a declaration so nationaliZing this reform that
| it can never be made of local or State limita-
! ton again. No lines of territorial wish or will
can hereafter bar the liquor traffic and its fear
| full brood while by National policy that traffic
| is recognized as legitimate and while under
| that policy the National Government derives
| revenue therefrom.
| ''1he first concern of good government" said
| the recent National Republican convention at
Chicago ''is the virtue and sobriety of the peo-
| pie and the purity of the home" Revenue,
| then, is not Governments chief concern, wheth-
| er coming from internal taxation or from q
| tariff on importations; and any source Of rev.
| enue which discounts the virtue and sObriety
| of the people and begets Impurity in the home,
should be the first object assailed by every
party processing TO seek good government,
while the revenue derived from special sources
should be the first to be foresworn-not alter
natively, for the sake of protective #, but
positively for the sake of protection dearer and
more vital than the tariff can ever yield
Had / not left the Republican party four years
ago. 1 should be compelled to leave it now
when, after reading the words | have quoted
from resolution supplemental to but not in-
cluded in its PLATFORM and find in these words