The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1889-06-21
the pennsy,yania Election.


The prohibitory amendment to the CON
stitution of Pennsylvania, voted on at a
special election held on Tuesday last,
was defeated, the majority against the
adoption of the same being about 100, 900.
The following interview with E. j. Wheel
er, of Philadelphia, published in the Cam
den Post, of Tuesday, in which the defeat
is predicted, is such a complete and thor
ough explanation of the causes that lead to
its rejection, that we publish it.
The reporter drew from Mr.. Wheeler
what follows:
GLOW about the prohibitory amendment
IN Pennsylvania :" "Well, | am afraid it
is showed under. | am not a Presbyterian,
but | do believe that so far as the leading
politicians are concerned, the amendment
was at least two years ago f~oreordained to
defeat. The only question is the major
ity against it, and that depends on the
number of stay-at-hOmes who will not
vote. There will be a good many of these
| imagine"
Now you want to know my reasons for
believing the political leaders have played
false, don't you? Well you can't demon
strate a thing like that as you would a
proposition in Euclid. A man must be-
lieve a good many things he can't prove.
All I can do is to give the reasons for my
belief. In the first place the amendment
was submitted by the Legislature out of
fear for the Prohibition vote, which had
run up to over 5000 in the Wolfe cam
paign, and not out of any regard for Pro-
hibition. Why, look at the hypocrisy Of
the thing. Chairman Cooper, of the Re-
publican State Committee, in that Wolfe
campaign flooded the State with anti-Pro-
hibition tracts and pamphlets. Thu COM
mittee was a regular Cooper Tract Society.
And yet in the next Legislature the same
power hat had been fighting against Pro-
hibition decided that the amendment must
be submitted, though before the Wolfe
vote they had refused time and again to
submit one. And when the vote had been
taken the politicians many Of them ad-
journed themselves to the nearest saloon
to drink the health of the amendment.
"Then that High License law was put
through, Surely no man in Pennsylvania
can have the nerve to say, after this, that
High License is a step toward Prohibition.
1t has been to the liquor traffic their only
salvation in ibis fight. And | believe, as
much as | believe in life beyond the grave,
that the High License law of Pennsylvania
was passed to bar the progress of Prohi-
bition. The longest-headed liquor dealers
understood that perfectly, and Chairman
Fresney, of the State Liquor League, had
himself, in his address before the league,
made most emphatic declarations for a
High License law, saying: What we want
is a law that will regulate and elevate the
liquor traffic."
Then the time fixed for a vote on the
question-just the time Of all the year
when the farmers are the busiest.
Where do you go, if you want to find
out the spirit and purpose of the politi-
clans? To the papers that they manIpu-
late, don't you? Well if you know a
daily paper in this State, of more than
mere local importance, that has helped on
the amendment fight, YOU know more than
/ do. Senator Quay, it is reported, told
Chairman Palmer he was going to vote for
the amendment, but wonld not use any of
his Influence" in its behalf. All the
boys understood what that meant; and
then, in the very thick of the fight, Senator
Quay secured the appointment of Martin
as collector, one of the most active and
outspoken opponents of Prohibition in the
State, and the very man who, it was under
stood, has been the disburser OF the funds
of the Liquor League. Even Postmaster
General Wanamaker, while he came out
squarely and boldly for the amendment in
his Sunday school, did not allow his zeal
to carry him any further. | understand
that he failed to contribute to the funds
of the amendment committee, and | know
he refused to allow his name to be put on
the list of vice presidents for the meeting
in the Academy presided over by Governor
Beaver. In fact, with the exception of the
honest and hearty support given to the
amendment by Governor Beaver and Gen
eral Palmer, and a very few others, there
has been no active support from any of the
politicians of note in either Old party,
while plenty of them, aud all the daily
papers have been actively in opposition.
/. for one, therefore, am not in the least
disappointed. Three years ago | predic-
ted that we would never win another nou-