Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1888-02-09
AN INEVITABLE NECESSITY.

AN INEVITABLE NECESSITY.
fhs Saloon Mast 90 IN Order to save Our
Country From bsssruestea.
We are living In one Of lie most
eventful periods in the history
of the world, and the most mos
mentous question that ever occupied
the attention of people is now up for
consideration. On its proper solution
depends more Of the virtue and well
fare Of the community than on all
other questions Of secular character
combined. The magnitude and diaboli-
cal character Of the liquor traffic is
such as to make it apparent and newt
able that unless overcome by the vir.
tue, intelligence. Christian zeal and
heroic determination Of the people.
our country. with all its great and
glorious history, this beautiful land.
the home and asylum Of the oppressed
of all other lands. our boosted Chris
tan civilization, with its schools and
churches, its numerous charities, its
advanced claims to enlightened liberty.
must soon 60 down in vortex of de-
structiOn. and become another SOdom
and Gomorrah to engulf all that is
good. true and beautiful in our yet
glorious country.
We have only to look over the land
and see what must be evident to the
most ebtuse mind, that the country is
rapidly drifting toward a maelstrom of
perverted politics and moral Acbauch-
cry. We have only to examine the sta
tistics to see the startling array of sa-
loon influences. tho accumulation of
crime and pauperism. We have only
to watch the bold, defiant and aggres-
sive claims OF these privateers on the
sea of public plumber, the liquor-deal-
ers. We have only to use our oppor-
tunities. to see them occupying the
most conspicuous places of honor and
power, to know the amount of alcoholic
poison that is used by the people, and
its constantly increasing consumption,
and the startling question will meet us
with an appalling significance: Where
and when is this colossal evil going to
stop?
The allurements of the saloon, the
the clamor of depraved appetites, and
large invested interests dominate
every where, and have so effectively
fastened their claims on us that our
Country to-day stands on the brink of
a volcano, and nothing short Of moral
revolution crystalizcd into law can re-
tard this downward lava tide now
crowding us toward the gulf of anarchy
and final perdition of all that is worth
living for.
The saloon must go in order to save
our country and its institutions from
this maelstrom of destruction that now
threatens to engulph us. The horrors
of anarchy are only the premonitions
of the coming deluge. The people
must be aroused to a sense of the dam
gers which threaten our civilization.
and to their personal responsibilities
on this most important question. be-
fore it is too late. The church and its
ministers must be brought to see that
on them and their opportunities we
are dependent for the development Of
such means and such an avalanche of
moral sentiment and enthusiasm. such
an expression of honest indignation, as
will shut up and destroy the saloon.
The danger must be made so apparent
that it will arouse the people to an ap-
probation that their political duty is
to crush out and demolish this insidious
and awful enemy of our race. The
people must be made to see that only
by the exercise of their political rights
with the ballot, for entire prohibition,
can they destroy this hydra-headed
monster of crime and corruption that
now holds such dominant sway over
large portion of the country.
It is an earnest, strong faith in the
business of the cause, and q determine
ton to exercise the physical and moral
courage, that are now called for, and
also justified by the encouragement in
the signs of the times. together with .
clear conception of the stupendous re-
suits that will follow and bring peace,
plenty and salvation to thousands that
are now suffering untold agony all over
the land, and save our country from
the horrors Of crime and pauperism
that now threaten our homes and our
We know that this grand work. the
destruction of the liquor traffic. would
be the greatest moral and material
triumph of modern times, a triumph
of goodwill, and a heroic expression
of noble manhood that would call
down the blessings of Heaven in .
fruitful harvest of moral purity. Chris
tan character, and National prosperity;
. glorious harvest to enrich our coun-
try and show to the world an example
of patriotic moral heroism unprece-
denied in the annals of time. There
fore all that is good in this world and
the world to come pleads with the peo-
pie to rise in their moral purpose and
power, combine in q new movement
with new leaders, throw of the incubus
Of old party ties, that delude and cheat |
them into a state of apathy and nom
Intervention, and join the ranks Of
those who are determined to crush this |
evil Let US show that we are
men. and dare to use the only possible
means. the ballot, for entire prohibi-