Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-06-07
PROHIBITIONISTS AT WORK.


Cleveland Leader.
The members of the National Prohibit
tion Convention, which met at Indianap-
oils Wednesday, had a jolly time They
were all together in one hail with no out
siders to interfere, and they congratula-
ted each other on the good work T." of
their great party" and condemned Re-
publicanism to their hearts CONTENT
/ One of their speakers denounced the two
political parties, but the anathemas of
the convention were generally launched
at RepublicaniSm, the only party that has
ever done any substantial, practical work
| for the cause of temperance. Temporary
Chairman DelanO characterized the Re-
publican partyaS "a generation of vipers
that the ProhibitioniStS were warning to
flee from the wrath to come" Bishop
Turner, of the African Nj. f. Church,
now located in Georgia, went SO far out
of the way of what everybody knows to
be true as to declare that ''the Republi-
can party was now bOwing before king
alcohol" \ cartoon was displayed in
the main entrance to the building rep
resenting Mr.. Blaine as insisting upon
removing the tax from tobacco and rum,
while Republican paper was caricatur-
ed as waving the bloody shirt.
The meaning of all this is that the
Prohibitionists are going into the cam
paign with the resolution to do all in
their power to elect Democratic PreSi-
dent. The Republican party will be the
chief point of their attack and their
leaders will be sent into the close States
and work under the direction of Demo-
cratic managers. The followers of the
Prohibition banner are, as a rule, sin
cere and earnest Christians and good
citizens, and if they will only take a
practical view of the situation they will
underStand:that they are acting directly
contrary to the interests of temperance.
They are aiding the rum party. They
are helping to perpetuate the influence
of the saloons as political power, and
they are trying to destroy the only party
that has ever done anything towards re-
ducing the number of saloons, and les
sening the drink habit. The Repub-
lican party has closed up more saloons
within the last year than all other par
ties combined ever closed. 1t has un-
dertaken the work in practical man.
ner, and it has secured practical results.
Taxation and high license have done
more to curtail the sale of liquor than
prohibition. These are the weapons
which Republicans employ, and these
are the means that saloOn-keepers are
fighting. They are leagued with the
Democratic party.
If PrOhibitiOnists are in earnest in
their efforts they should put themselves
in the ranks of the party which the liquor
interests are fighting. They should
march under the Republican standard.
There they viii find themselves side by
side with the friends of every great
moral reform. If they insist on stand
ing alone they will have the help and
sympathy of every salOOn-keeper in the
Democratic party, and every vote they
poll will strengthen the cause of free
and unrestrained liquor traffic. This is
the real state of the case and it will be
so understood by the people of the coun-
try before this campaign is over. If
ProhibitiOnists make an active cam
paign, every one of their speakers must
be met by able Republican speakers
They will without doubt be most active
in New York and other close States.
The Republican managers should see
that every one of these Prohibition
speakers is followed by an able, earnest
Republican who will fully set forth the
work that the Republican party has done
in behalf of the great cause of temper
ance and unmask the pretensiOns of
these sham reformers. 1t will not be a
difficult task, and it will add greatly to
the interest of the campaign and make
Republican victory assured.
The convention nominated General
Clinton B. Fiske, of New jersey, for
President, obviously for the purpose Of
contributing as far as possible to Dem
ocratic success in the close and doubtful
States of New York and New Jersey,