The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1888-04-05
A SECOND NATIONAL ANTI-SALOUN
REPURLICAN CONFERENCE.

September 10th, 1896. That conference
was a gathering of loyal, life long and
representative Republicans, who believ-
ed that, in the providence of God, the
hour had come for the Republican party
to face unitedly its next great duty, and
to enter unitedly upon Its next great
battle and victory. They remembered
its heroic origin, for many of them had
stood by its cradle. They were proud
of its hitherto continuous line of splen
did achievements and believed that that
line could be and ought to be kept un-
broken, They knew that a political
party, called together and held together
by moral ideas, must move ever for
ward, or cease to exist, With the civil
war triumphantly ended; with slavery
uprooted with the Union forever restor
ed; with American industry buttTessed
by wise laws, and started on course of
unexampled prosperity; with sweep
ing reform in the civil service inaugu-
rated the field seemed clear, and the
time ripe for another advance, which
should be the greatest of them all.
During the two decades embracing
the Anti-Slavery agitation, the war per.
iod and reconstruction, while the hands
and thoughts of our people were busy
with other imperative tasks, the nation =
al scourge of the liquor traffic had grown
with the Republics growth, and
strengthened with its strength, Adroit.
ly it had entrenChed itself in both polit
ical camps. Holding the Democratic
party as its open ally and aggressive
champion, it hoped to secure the perpet
ual neutrality OF the Republican organi
cation by seducing the least worthy of
its political managers with the bait of
power, or cOercing them with the whip
of intimidation, Too long this policy
succeeded. Too long cowardice, self
interest or apathy of false leaders rem
dered voiceless and ineffective the al
ways earnest and now resstless temper
ance sentiment among the Republican
masses. The Anti.saloon uprising with.
in the Republican party, which took
form at Chicago, broke the evil spell,
and marked the beginning of the end of
saloon domination in Republican cOun-
ellis,
The ground which that conference of
Republicans asked the Republican party
to take on the liquor question is thus
summarized.
(l) The saloon is the enemy of society
and ought to be suppressed; (2) the peo.
pie of each State and municipality
ought to have the opportunity, whenev-.
er desired, of decidug when and how
this shall be done; (3) until destroyed,
the saloon ought to be crippled by every
restraint and disability which local pub
lie sentiment will enforce, and made to
reimburse as much as possible of the
public loss it causes.
The Anti Saloon Republican move
ment has now reached magnitude and
a momentum which nothing can with
stand. 1t no longer pleads for a hear
ing. 1t commands compliance. Its pur
pose is to place the Republican party
where it belongs-positively and finally
on the side of the home and the public
safety, as against the saloon system and
its destructive work. This task is being
accomplished more widely and prompt.
y than even the sanguins expected. In
nearly every State under Republican
control, where saloons had not already
been abolished or outlawed, stringent
repressIve laws have recently been en-
acted in response to the unmistakable de
mand of the people, Everywhere the
best public opinion is reaching the con
clusion that the saloon system is incura
bly, and lntolerably bad, and must be
put out of existence.
Wherever these laws, prohibitve or
restrictive, have been enacted, they
have wrought complete and permanent
divorce between the Republican party
and the saloon. With local exceptions,
which only prove the rule, the saloon
vote has gone over bodily to the Demo
cratic side. 1t now remains for the Re.
publican party formally to recognize
and act upon this most welcome event;
to burn every remaining bridge between
itself and the liquor interest ito announce
Iauthentically its relentless hostility to
the saloon scourge, and its purpose to
make that hostility felt. There is no.
thing more to be lost; there is every
thing, including honor, to be gained.
1t is the duty, and the privilege of the
Republican party, to recover and hold
supremacy in this Nation. 1t can do
both by simply deserving such destiny.
1t can do neither, if henceforth its plat
forms and its management shall misrep-
resent and betray the mass of its vot-
ing members, and their solemn determ-
| hhIlDn W lCdCh anu oFlllO llllS lbSut Vi
the saloon against the home. Hence
forth, silence on this subject is imposs-
BILE; cowardice Is the gateway to assur-
ed, because merlted, defeat
attempted evasion is accomplished sui
eide.
The saloon vote, having gone where it
belongs, could not be reclaimed, even if
its leprous presence were desired. The
liquor power in State and Nation, has,
for good cause, declared war to the
knife against the Republican party.
Even where its representatives linger in
the Republican camp it is to confuse
our councils and defeat our plans. The
Democratic party has accepted its alli-
ance, and by that act has shut its gates
against every honest friend of temper
ance. With courage, principle and
common sense guiding its course, the
Republican party can now make good
thrice over, the numerical loss it has
sustained, and place itself on moral
plane which will render it lnvincible for
| the future, Partisan self-interest and
the highest and most sacred interests OF
mankind unite to point out common
path.
As the National Republican platforms
of the past have rung with denuncia-
tions of American slavery and polygamy
both of which, within the States, were
subject to State control, it is now prac-
ticalIy assured that the next National
Republican platform will contain a clear
and uDequivocal expression in oppos-
ton to that other bulwark of barbarism
the American saloon power. While the
] mo IF fhfa tnnnn1,nr.,
must mainly be waged through the ex-
ercse of the police power of the State,
yet the saloon is in National as well as
in State and local politics, and the Ma
ton, within its proper sphere, as in the
cases of slavery and polygamy, touches
this ubiquitous curse at thousand points
of contact,
We believe there will no longer be the
spectacle of a political party, which
stands for all that is best in the political
life of our people, ignoring in its Ma
tional utterances a political conflict
which annually stirs every community
to its depths, which dwarfs every issue
and the result of which involves the
future of human society on this Cont
nent.
To assure and signalize the complete
withdrawal of the National Republican
party from all completely with the sa-
loon infamy, and TO emphasize its posi-
tive antagonism thereto, a National
Anti Saloon Republican Conference il
hereby called to assemble in New York
city at II o'clock a. M, April IS, 1888,
and continue in session two DAYS. This
invitation is addressed to all Republicans
in the United States who sy.DDathize
with this movement and purpose, and
to all members of other parties and un-
attached voters who are willing TO ACT