The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1889-12-27
A Review eff the Prohibitory Temper
anee Reformation fin Iowa.

eEGG AkAOKi kA
Des Aoines Register. sth:-It is a
healthful sign. that public discussion on
prohibition Is swinging back to early
principles. During the recent years
there has been a breaking away from the
cid moorings. There is a natural tea
dency of extremists to carry any reform
to the limit OF public patience. There
is danger of forgetting exactly what was
the sober underlying thought of the tenn
psrance movement that eliminated in a
prohibition law five years age. 1t is a
good time to be looking for the old land
marks. Some of them are pretty well
buried in tho rubbish of personal hobbies
that have seen piled upon them. 1t is
safe to say that q large per cent. of the
public irritation and discomfort with the
prehibitery law is not because OF the
original principles which were behind
that law, but because of Objectionable
and annoying ideas. practices and meth
DDS which have grown up around it
since it was frst proposed.
We believe we state the truth broadly
and fairly when we say that the prohibit
tory law was aimed at the saloon. The
chief argument In favor Of the law was
that II would close the nurseries ST vice.
the breeding places Of crime, the shelter
and refuge Of criminals. Good men and
women locked upon the saloon as an In
stitution dangerous to society. They
said that they had no val to make upon
any mans individual habits SO long as
he did not interfere with the rights OF
others, but that the saloon was an evil
institution from which came nothing
that was COED and everything that was
bad. People were divided as to the prac'
ticability of closing saloons and keeping
them closed. But no one was prepared
to defend the saloon as an Institution,
and give it n certificate of good charac
ter. No one was willing to sny that i
was as welceme to a business street as o
grocery store or a bakery. No on
would esneede that q saloon was a ut
ting or desirable neighbor for a home
No one would say that the saloon wa
anything else than mean. cowardly
cruel as the grave, aud the natural enem'
of all that was good. pure and noble j.
life. That was the deliberate opinion o
society after years OF observation of tn
saloon as twas conducted in this CORN
try. What it might be In Germany o
France was another thing and didn'
concern the situation .ere. The Ameri
can saloon was the subject, ana peopl
had come to regard it as harmful to sc
siety, evil in itself and evil in its asSe
Citations.
Those who oproted Prohibition pub
lisly did not defend the saloon. The
did not apologize for 1t. They simpl
called 1t a necessary evi, aud though
that men with apRetites for liquor woul
], be sure to drink anyway, ans to the.
mind 1t WAS better to throw Ane r,
strsint around drinking places anG.kee
them under some kiEd Of ceatrol thsEt
, pretend their were nena in the comm,
mites who were bound to have them sp
O thus leave the liquor traffic free and III
controlled. But when the question W,
submitted to popular vote in 1882 a Al
jority of the people favored the methc
of closing. wherever possible, the saleo;
the institution that bred vice aud che
tered crime. Those who were most a
tive in securing the passage OF the pr
G hibitory law stoutly insisted that thu
q social habits, so long as they did not i
~tsrfere with the public good. They "a
q they did not intend to dictate what
man should OF should net eat or drill
n at his W table. 1t was the public 5
"A loon they were lighting, not tha iuaiyi
ual taste or appetite. If 8 man hiss be
z accustomed to think that a bottle
beer occasionally was healthful, they d
not intend to interfere with bis havi
1t 1t. If a man has been accustomed to hs
8, ing liquor Ia his own house fer use
Of his table, they did not propose to take
Up way from him. however much tn
he might differ with him as to the wisds
ae of his course. 1t was the saloen tn
were after, the public drinking pla
with its traps and pitfalls and perils
n both young old.
r. We ask our prohibition friends if
at havn't stated their position fairly, a
ty we have truthfslly repeated what
at Register has continually urged in
re warfare upon the saloon. The people
x the greater part OF the state had bceo
be so~ disgusted with the brutality Of the
u. loen. with ite insolcnt. domineer
nj spirit. with lis impudent interference
IN. p~olitics, with its general eusssidps
an that they said the saloon must go. >
en- saloon as an institution has gone fr'
,ss more than three-fourtbs of the count
he OF Iowa How has tho assurance i
ad went with the demand been kept?
hs Some of those who made war upon.
t a saleon nave not stopped with that,
it. have attempted to do the very thing l.
lily they promised should not be done. II
I'D have attempted to Interfere with pers
to al habits over which the state has
proper control. They have Not dicta
what a man should drink at his c
ms table but they have practically said W
he should not drink. They have not