The Monitor., 1888-11-02

This is the last issue of the MONITOR be-
fore election. When next we address our
readers the heat and turmoil az The 2oliti-
cal canvass will have died out, and one
party or the other will be trying 70 iigure
out how it ali happened. Is Is quite likely
that the result is already settled. The
quiet voter has made up his mlad and il
needs only that the popular verdict at ihe
polls be rendered aud recorded We have
few words to say 10 our'pnehibition
brethren.
In no campaign since the Prohibition
party of New jersey was Organized has
there been more desperate effort to break
it up and scatter its veee than in the one
lust closing. The vote of20. 600 in 1886 for
Fisk for Governor was menace to the old
parties. and operated as a notice to them
that the Prohibitionists meant business.
| The Democratic party saw fit to disrega rd
| this notice and as party stand arrayed on
| the side of rum, in the sense that they
| favor or advocate no interference with the
| traffic. either in their platform utterances
| or on the rostrum. The Republican party
! has seen fit to take notice Of the rising OF
Prohibition sentiment and has sought to
conciliate 1t by measures which, from a
Republican point of view, seem best adapt
ed to the end sought--to check the stam-
pede of temperance voters to the Prohibi-
| ton ranks. These measures, or rather
| this measure (for the whole fight is made
| on the high license local optionlaw which
sums up Republican effort and is made the
shbboleth of the party on the temperance
question: is Il compound of high license,
so-called, but which is unworthy the name
and county local option feature. for
which it is claimed that in counties voting
dry it is practically prohibition. let
when examined. this local option feature
| is found to operate only to the Withholding
of license to be drunk on tie premises. 1t
is not in any sense of the word a pr0hibi.
tory law, and it only succeeded in passing
the gauntlet of the Supreme Court on the
question of its consttutionality by the mar
row margin of one vote on the express
| ground that it was not intended to prohibit,
| but only to regulate, and 50 was in harmo-
nv with It's title, which was AN act to
regulate the sale of intoxicating and
brewed liquors"
Now the fundamental principle of the
Prohibition party is against all license of
the rum traffic, high or low, and against
all regulation of the business, and in favor
of it's entire outlawry, prohibition and ex-
termination. If the rum traffic is good
thing it ought to be left Oh its merits, the
same as any other good and lawful traffic;
| if it is a bad thing it becomes crime
against society, and is entitled to no more
favor than is shown to other crimes-abSo-
Lutte prohibition and punishment. There
is no middle ground on this question on
which Prohibtionists can stand-no mid
die course to be adopted. Prohibitionists
either believe in this or they do not. If
they do, they cannot consistently be led
aside from the support of these principles
at the ballot box for the political s@pport
of any party or any measure that falls
short of upholding these principles. Yet
in New Jersey at this very time every ell
fort is being made by the Republican par
ty to shake their allegiance to principles
by the cry that the local option law is en-
dangered, and that the support of Prohi-
bitionists is needed for Republican candi-
dates lest it be repealed. If the law is
what Prohbitionists wanted there would
be sense in this appeal. As the case stands
it is the sheerest demagoguery, with which
no Prohibitionist will allow himself to be
misled And more especially so because
it is we'll known that the passage of the
law was brought about by no moral con-
sideration whatever, but simply as par
tsan measure of self-preservation. We
have seen this practically admitted by the
party organs, but we have nowhere seen it
contradcted. On that point they are
dumb. These things being so, it remains
the clear duty of Prohibitionists to sup
port unfinchingly their whole ticket from
President down, and lend no allegiance,
however temporary, to any other party
that falls short of adopting the entire
principle of Prohibition. If the Prohibit
ton party has ever done any good, ifitwas
ever worthy Of support, if its principles
ever had a right to claim the advocacy of
voters at the ballot box, that is the case III
this campaign At no time will waver-
| ing of it's friends have a more disastrous
effect than at the present for whenever
the party allows it to be understood that it
can be turned aside from its purpose by
whatever any other party chooses to des-
| ignate as temperance legislation, at that
moment its moral force as factor in
American politics is gone forever. 1t is
not only in this campaign but for all the
future that the Prohibition yotel needs to
take thought in this year of grace, 1888.
| The true measure of mans strength
and usefulness is to be taken when he ar
rives at manhood's stature and years of
discretion. The growing boy may give
abundant promise of future usefulness, or
he may promise little, but the test comes