Omaha daily bee., 1889-01-22
A Tale of Woe.


| upon the streets, in the hotels and business
houses will unhesitatingly pour into your ear
the tale of woe that has become a song here,
and which had its origin in the so-called en-.
| forccment of the prohibitory law July 4, 1884
| What is meant By the warning elements
| is that for nearly three years after the pas
sage of this law the two factions, the PROFIT
| bitionsts and anti.prohibitions, were at dag
pers points, and the unceasing wrangle kept
up all but ruined the metropolis of the great
state of Iowa. Real estate valuations fell off
80 per cent, and traffic in all its ramifca-
tions, came to an absolute standstill. Hun
dreds of people emigrated, and in no time
the city was full OF vacant houses and va
cant rooms, and signs ITO let,', "for rent
and "for SALE plastered the burg over from
stem to stern and from keel to gunwale.
why" said a prominent and wealthy
citizen to me last evening "half of our cti-
zens, yes more than half of them, so dense
and forbidding was the prohlbitory cloud
that had enshroudcd our lovely city, would
stand on the street corners and butto n-hole
every stranger that came into the place, and
tell them of the dire disaster that had over
taken Des Moines-that she had been ruined
by u fanatical craze incontlnently and for
ever. And then to add to the generally cal
amtous aspect of affairs here, and as if in
vengencc upor the people for the course they
were pursuing, for three years subsequent
to the passage Of this law there
was almost total failure of
the crops throughout the state, and our
prospects were dark and disheartening to an
ndescriDable degree AS for Des Moines,
she was dead, and immigrants from the
eastern and New England states gave iowa
the go-by, passing through to Nebraska
Dakota and Wyoming, and the broader more
liberal fieus of the great west beyond no.
body seemed to have any business here or
any time for lettering lingering within
our prescribed territory. AS you will per-
ceive, this was decidedly despiriting status
of affairs for a community that had been ac-
customed to the thrift life, activity and pro-
gression that we had. Both sides,
the prohibs and the antts, after
Il time realized the anrihlatory outcome of
their war, and by common consent drew off
their forces and agreed to cease hostlhties
This was the philosophical outcroppng of
nearly three years of internecine strife The
antiprohibitionsts made up their minds that
the law had passed. and after farclcal fash
ion was being enforced and they were cut
ting off their own noses to spite themselves
in their impotent opposition, and they con-
clu1ed to gracefully accept the inevitable
and make the most out OF it. With this con-
clusion the old tide and flow began again d
phenomenal crop was bestowed upon us last
year. and once again a Respondent smile
seems to wreath the face of fair Iowa. How
ever, don't imagine that ! mean to convey
the idea that she is what she was, or ever
will be under this prohibition burden, but l
do mean that she has again resumed her old
stride forward and is improving, and will
continue to improve, despite any unwise
statutory restrictions or drawbacks. Our
splendid resources, Incompatible railroad
facilities, manufacturing and iobbing inter-
csts, agricultural and mineral wealth.
makes this progress inevitable. AT
first so overwhellng was the blow
of prohibition that our people did
not recognize this fact, and when they saw
their Notwithstanding, manufacturing and
merchandising-being ruined by legislative
act, they could not well help but kick, and
kick long and hard"
From Des Moines go to other principal
towns of the state, and win report the result
of my Investigations.
Hawkeyes Grow Interested.
DEs MONIES, Ia, Jan. 2l.-[Special Tele-
gram to THE BEE. THE report of the work.
ing of prohibition which appeared in THE
BEE to-day, has created great sensation
here and is the one topic of discussion upon
streets and in the hotel lobbes. 1t attracts
attention because the report is accurate, be-
cause names are called and because the
places mentioned are familiar to all FOUNDERS.
They are all here and many more in the vicin-
itics of the ones mentioned.
copy of THE BEE fell into the hands of
Rev. Hunting and Mr.. Harvey, Iowa's noted
prohibitionists on the incoming Northwest
ern train. Mr.. Hunting wanted Mr. Harvey
to see to at once that all the places named
were closed. He suggested that THE BEE
reporter could be captured before he got out
of the state and made to testify IN court. Mr..
Harvey drew deep breath and said Mayor
Carpenter had promised that the police force
would pull all the houses of prostitution at
once, for liquor was always found in such
places. In the same breath he remarked
that he had written the republican congress
men of Iowa urging the adoption by congress
of some measure that would enable this state
to determine the character Of its Imports
He was pleased to say that he had
received letters from some of them say
ing they would do their best to
further his scheme, and put legal barbed
wire fence around the state. So it appears
that this Iowa prohibition move has taken on
new phase through its accredited leader,
Mr.. Harvey, ana that he proposes to have
nothing shipped into Iowa unless it is smelled
by God fearing men and branded "a. P.,"
which means, approved by prohibitionists."
Mr.. Harvey says the sale of liquor cannot
be stopped in Des Moines while il can be
shipped in to private parties from Rock Island.
In commenting on The BEE article the Leader
tomorrow will say:
That liquor is sold here is undeuiaole.
That the methods adopted By officers desti-
tute of character were not to enforce the
laws but to enrich themselves is not dis
puted. That the growth of the city has been
injured will not be gainsaid. But that the
the city is at standstill is far from true In |
spite of the burden of the prOhIbtory law we |
are forging steadily ahead. Instead of real |
estate transfers being few and far between, |
they aggregated sl2O00,0J0 last year. Not |
city of equal population in the country |
records fewer failures during the year than |
Des Moines. |
The Deadlock Broker.
CHARLESTON, W. Va, Jan. 2l.-The dead
lock in the senate was broken late this even
ing by the election OF r. S. Carr, united
labor senator from this city president of the