Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-02-10
RUMMlES ON the RUN.
Rev. D. r. DUNCAN on the
Progress of Prohibition in
the Hawkeye State.
Eighty-five Iowa Counties Without
.Saloons-Less Crime and
Poverty.
Driving Out the Observation-Disclosures
bitable Evidence that Prohibition
Does Prohibit.
from the Chicago Herald, I

Though have been connected with the pro-
llDltlon struggle from the first. will try to
MAKE as mild u statement us possible for am
aware that when have done the best can in
the way of moderation many good people will
regard the exposition rs the Exaggerated views
OF one who is wholly interested on one side of
the question. So many statements have been
made from the other side of the issue That feel
n ut 81 in supposing that the average man.
out OF the State of Iowa, will feel that Justice
demands that he strike the difference between
what say and tho strongest presentation of
, ,ne matter matte by my opponents of the law. do
but shall not state anything which do rot
oeleve to be true in every particular.
I've, livery law before 1t IS condemned ought to
nave 'folr trial. new law Ias rot only
Weaknesses of its own to hinder it's success
Dut much outward opposition. 1t is not under
$1,000 BY T the people SO that it's friends do not
hnoW now they can enforce it. The standing
customs of the people are in the way The men
VINO are in office We're elected on another plat
form, and many of them are not i'll sympathy
with the new regulation and will do as little
as they Gun toward enforcing it as their con-
sciences will permit and the hope of office in
wa, was on the ground. One hundred and fifty
Dreweries and ABB drinking houses We're in-
tr f1, behind custom, appetite, money and
skill. Iowa is not wholly wanting in the an
archist clement Several of the river counties
are controlled by men who have come to our
country 70 have liberty, which they interpret to
mean license They do not propose to obey any
law @hict they donot prefer. They came to us
with drinking habits, and with desire to make
money mon from the manufacture and sale of in
toXlcatinS drinks Such men never submit to
any law obnoxious to themselves till fear or
force brings consent. Until recently we have
t hos ina, mad party in power that was in favor of
Constitution there was not oven a nurse pres
e e in the form of political organization. Tho
hepubllcan party had submitted the question
to be vote1 upon at u nom partisan election. )"
But no party in power had said that prohibit
ton was tight. Hence no one felt bound to
give the, the waif shelter Indeed, it lived but
few brief months, when the Supreme Court of
the State assigned it to the waste basket This
was done With but one dissenting vote, and
for reasons that have never beer, satisfactory
to the people of tho State. I do not deny that
these gentlemen We're honest and able, but
| heard the trial, read their dec son, and am not
yet able to SEQ how it could have been rem
uered AS these Judges were all Republicans,
the next Election came nearly defeating that
party On the motion to engross tho prohib-
tory Dlll q feeble prohibition law they had
just a minority OF one.
No temperance mau expected any very great
results in favor Of right through the law. 1t
was weak in itself, without sufficient means for
the apprehension Of offenders; its penalties
were not commensurate with the crime that
was sought to be suppressed, and the pharInn-
ceutlcal, feature of tho law strangely out of
harno:ny With any reasonable expectation of
removing the drink curse in the State Still as
1t gave some opportunities for the friends of
prohibition to do some work for that cause, the
law was not wholly q failure III tho interior
OF the Safe, where thu people more generally
favor the law, very much accomplished.
But in counties nnd communities less favorable
to prohibition but very little chunse resultd
from the passage of the law
Many OF our people began to think that the
law was necessarily q failure, for il very mild
| TO enact severer measures. Still the wiser por-
ton demanded the increase of prohbitory
| measures and the strengthening of the penal
| ties, knowing that o. feeble law is much more
dltcut TO enforce than stronger one that q S
(, the law is to control the lawless and the DISC
bedient, it must provide tho mems for its own
| enforcement. In this condition VIC came to
| ths election of 1855, when the divergence be-
tween the two old parties became more appar-
emit than before, The Democrats declared for
| license and the Republicans said in their
platform that we ought to let the law live
until it would have better chance to indicate
its claims before the people. This platform
| was too strong for the drnk-loving members
| of that party, but too weak to win pronib ition
Democrats from their old 1noocnss CT to COM
mand the respect Of the more ultra prohibit
| tionists. After the many half measures of that
| party and failure in fultilment ana the killing
| Of the constitutional amendment by the SUI
preme Court tho third party continued opera
| tons as before. Still, there was a fair working
| majority of Republicans in both houses who
| felt that 1T was necessary not only to prevent
the repeal OF the law, but to remove many
| OF the elements OF weakness from it as possible
| The fight was severe one. The zephyrs say
| that large moneys wero obtanable for u very
| few votes in the House, but men would net or
| dared not sell. The result was the passage of
what is known here as the Clarke law, IL bill in
| troduced by Senator Clarke. This law was a
| great improvement on the former, and it was
hoped that it would prove ut least to be the be-
| ginning of the end. The enactment of this law
| greatly eubo!lencd the friends of prohibition
| in the state, and measures We're ut once begun
| to enforce the law. OF course, tho begin
| ming was not very promising. The officers of
| the law, many of them, We're on the other side
OF the suplect. ms was especially truo of the
City officers in all of the larger towns 1t is not
| too much to say that nine policemen cut of
I! every ten i'll the State would make haste not to
| any intraction of tho law, and IN Any of the
n
/, men who nssstc cd in their former nomination.
Tho law, however, that passed enrly in the Gus,
| that made the constable q county officer, gave
some relief, for it was found to be in tho power
of the surrounding pre-. incts to assist in the
| forcemen5 of the law in the cities. This, of
| course, brought u breeze, and has occas oned u
| Very great many exaggerated statements con-
corning the working OF the prohibitory law.
Still, by the aid Of u few fnithful shcritfs and
| country justices, constant inroads have been
made, so that the last eighteen months, along
with the beginning that had been made in the
two years before, have brought us great relief
A few Circuit Judges were in the way of the en-
forcement of the law, and have kept the people
in suspense as to whether they really had any
law or not. And in those districts in which our
Judges were faithful'tO the law, and the people,
and their oaths, almost everything has been ap-
penled, and the people have been compelled to
wait for the sitting of the Supreme Court, that
they might know whether they were injurng
the rum trade or only neapins up costs for
| themselves. Hence, in the meantime, they
We're not careful to follow up the business with
more than three fourths of the cases thnt might
have been prosecuted have been allowed to
pass without notice.
In the communities that have been moro fa-
vorable II better state OF things hus prevailed
And it has seemed to many thut, after nll
about the only prohibition that was possible
was that which can be had through some form
of local option, mud that the proposition OF the
Democratic pnrty this yenr WAS Just as favoru-
BILE for prohibition MS the other that it would
save litigation in those districts ana counties
where the people did not want it, and woll; Sc
cure for the others just what they would obtain
in the other WY. Hence i'll the last election
many men i'll that party who are really p. ohib-
itioniats remained in their old party. Conlpar-
atively few lett it for the difference between
the two old parties. On the other hand most
OF the third purity men believed it to he the L
duty to support the Republican party. This
made up for the loss OF large number that
left that party for the Democratic ranks on
account of prohibition. 1t is believed by
some that the prohibit on sentiment is rot US
strong i'll the State us it was when tho nmeud-
ment was passed. sec no sufficient reas Il
for this position And yet it wouli not be
strange ii such We're really the cnso, The
friends Of the law have worked at q great dis
advantage in their efforts to enforce it, There
are many good people who do not seem to
know thit u law will not enforce itself, md
that many preliminary questions have always
to be settled before it can be known whether
we have q law or not. Because the law was
not at once executed against oil offenders they
were ready to adjudgo the whole thing full
IRE. They want prohibition, but h We been
led to suppose that it is impossible. Besides