Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-08-02


SELVES.
You expect to succeed by detaching
the better element from these old parties
and attsching it 20 your own. You must
wreck and rob these old parties, so TO
speak, in order to equip your own. You
go to the Democratic Party in the South
and say: Your Ship is a rascally old hulk;
ours is new, albeit very tiny craft.
Go to; we will batter your man-of-war to
pieces, and then we will take of the pieces
and make our own vessel strong and en-
during. You assume that 1t will never
occur to the veterans who man the old
ship to protect themselves from the at
tacks of your little canoe. It does not
seem to occur to you that the Republican
Party in the North may be wise enough
and strong enough to circumvent your
plans and resist your attacks. It does
not seem TO occur to you that both of
these old parties must be credited at
least with the instinct of self-preserva-
ton. And is it not perfectly plain that,
possessing this instinct, which belongs to
everything that has life, both the old
parties will know how to protect them
selves when the danger becomes mani
fest? Let me illustrate. We will take
the State OF New York. Here the two
OLD parties are nearly evenly divided, and
it requires no verv large change of votes
TO give the victory to either party. In
the Republican Party there is very
large temperance element, which is grow
ing more and more promo every
year and more stenuous in its demands
for proper temperance legislation. Let
US suppose that thu Republican Party
chooses to ignore or resist these demands.
Your party would probably grow, gentle
men; and the growth of your party
would be at the expense of the Republi
can Party, and that party would find, by
and by, that its campaigns were wel-nigh
hopeless, and it would see that it was the
temperance detection that was crlppling
it.
The liquor interests being safely hoUs-
ed in the Democratic Party it would under
stand that its return to power could only
be effected by taking strong temperance
ground. When it did that, as it surely
would, where would your party be? Gone
like Whit of smoke in clear Novem-
Der air. Applause. So it will be in
other States. The pressure of the tera-
perance element from within the Republi-
can Party IN the North and from within the
Democratic Party in the South is a resist
less pressure, and Instead of coming TO
you, as you imagine, this element will Sc
cure what it wants where it IS. How can
you reasonably expect that it will be 9th
erwise? The Temperance movement was
not born with your organization. There
was Prohibition in force before you
named yodr first presidential candidate
and all the recent magnificent advance in
temperance legislation was not only due
to your influence, it was, in some cases
despite your influence. What reasonable
prospect have you that you will come into
political power by fighting and destroying
the old parties? Not the slightest. APP
plause.
But you say you have a strong hope
grounded in the history of political anti
slavery; and that al slavery was abolished
by a special party, growing out of the
little Liberty Party of 1910 TO the mighty
Republican Party of 1860, SO Prohibition
will triumph by your party. But Unfor-
tunately for you, the analogy breaks down
at the critical points. Neither of the two
political parties of those days was willing
to do anything to oppose or restrict
slavery. In no State did either the Wing
or the Democratic Party make any at
tempt to abolish slavery. The relation
of the old parties to Prohibition is as
different as possible. There is hardly a
State, North or South, in which the one
or the other of the old parties has not
adopted restrictive or prohibitory legls-
lation. They are giving US such legisla-
ton constantly. What the old anti-sIav-
cry heroes wanted was restriction or
abolition, not party triumph. You are
not satisfied to get Prohibition; you want
your partisan organization and the
triumph of your party.
THE PROHIBITION PARTY DIVIDES AND ANTAG-
oNIzEs THE FRIENDS OF TEMPERANCE.
In the second place, you make your
own success impossible by dividing and
antagoniziDg the friends of Temperar &c,
1t is just as bad generalship in politics
as in war to divide and distract your own
forces. Your movement creates three
distinct camps, while there is only one of
the enemy, There are Republican Prohi-
bitiOnists, Democratic Prohibitionists and
Prohibition Prohibitionists. And, gentle
men of these three divisions of Prohibi-
tionlsts, yours is the smallest, most aecid-
eddy. This is easily demonstrated. In Mas
sachusetts the total vote in cities and
towns against license was, in 1886, about
100000. The Third Party vote for Gov
ernOr the same year was only 1921. The
vote for Prohibition in Michigan last
year was 17S,0O0. The vote for the Third
Party candidate for the Supreme court
was only 1880. In Texas, the vote for
the Prohibition Amendment last year was
no fhn I'd
| ty vote for Governor was 1876. In
Georgia 112 of the 1877 counties have
adopted Prohibition. In the same State
the Third Party presidential candidate
got 16S votes, a little more than one for
| each county. The election returns
abound in illustrations like these. Your
Prohibition Party does not draw the
Prohibition voters, either in the North OF
| South. And the reason is in plain sight
of everybody. 1t is because your policy
| antagonizes them. You run your candi-
dates against their candidates; you do
| what you can to defeat their candidates
and elect the candidates-often rum can
didates-of the other party; you harrass
worry and annoy them, aud tell them, as
you did in New Jersey, that they are sac.
| cessory 10 the liquor crime and equally
guilty with the man who carries on the
traffic" You do all this, and rouse their
political passion ana then expect them &c
break their party ties, and kneel as penl
| tent converts at your political shrine
| And you are so earnest in this warfare
agsinst the Republican Party in particu
| lar that you seem almost TO forget thai
| your sole aim is not to wreck parties, but
TO establish Prohibition.
A CASE OF ILLUSTRATION IN NEW JERSEY
| In 1886, you waged hot camp aign il
New Jersey. In Morris county, the Re