Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1889-08-15
in KANSAS.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
9s ssss ABOUT THE LAW.

s[From the New York Times. ]

tile Radicalism which has served tc
Sintrench prohibition in Kansas and
which promises to keep ii in opera.
stion indefinitely. Outside of Kan,
sas one finds no counterpart of this
spirit. It seems to be peculiarly a
product of the soil. 1t is as near
akin to Puritanism as anything
Can think of.
II Socially these Prohibitionists are
charming; in the ordinary business
walks they arc pleasant AMI attrac-
tive; but question the merits Of their
hobby and you arouse the spirit
which in so many seems fanatical,
They will listen to an anti-prohibi-
tion argument, but the person who
makes it is speedily made to feel
that he is an object of pity. Politi-
oally they arc backed by The Rcpub-
licans, who never fail to insert pro-
hibition planks in their platforms.
Every woman voter in Kansas is a
prohibitionist at heart, and it must
not be forgotten that the woman suf-
irage sentiment is constantly grow
ing here. Owing to the lack of
large cities in Kansas q community
feeling obtains, which is not disccrni-
bic in any Eastern State. Onc>un-
familiar with this feeling, and with
the other peculiar conditions attach
ing to Kansas resident
will never thoroughly understand
them-cannot be blamed for taking
stock in the present talk of rcsub-
mission, which was really started by
Missouri newspapers circulating in
this State.
! In order that the readers of the
Times may gain fair idea of the
dominant feeling in Kansas, l pro-
pose to introduce here typical
Kansas prohibitionist and permit
him to make arguments in behalf of
the institution he favors. Mr.. j. w.
Gleed has made a reputation at the
State bar, and was retained by the
State in the celebrated Mugler and
Walruff brewery cases before the
United States Supreme Court. He
has lived in Kansas since 1866, and
is a professor in the State Law
School. His views differ from those
of the average advocate Of prohibi-
tion only because they are deeply
tinged with philosophy, reinforced
by extensive knowledge of the law.
But they are interesting, even to an
anti-prohibitionist.
"Prohibition," said he, els here to
stay. The people Of Kansas will not
be very much affected by elections
adverse to prohibition in other States
They have tried prohibition and
found it good thing"
) "What basis have you for claim.
ing that prohibition is good for the
State?" asked.
"To begin with, those who main
tain that prohibition is wrong in prin.
ciple urge that it leads to hypocris,
and perjury; that it is an attempt
to make mon good by law; that il
invades without justification tho
realm of pure ethics; that it is q
blow at the moral dignity of man
that it creates a crime out of an ac-
ton which was not, before the law
was passed, crime, and which is not
naal,tne i,e Sc that it does violence to
personal liberties which ought to be
sacred, and that it ignores moral dis
tinction. Those who oppose prohi-
bition on the ground Of alleged prin-
ciple arc men whose thoughts run
mainly on abstract questions--mcn
who are unfamiliar with affairs-pro-
fessors in theological scminarics or
sociologists who form theories and
then hunt arguments and facts to
support them.
"Every section of the criminal
code leads to deceit, hypocrisy, per-
jury and other offences against the
moral and civil law. All municipal
law, civil or criminal, is an attempt
to make men good by compulsion in
the same sense that prohibitory laws
are attempts to make men good by
compulsion. All municipal laws in
wade the realms of ethics and are n
blow at the moral dignity OF men,
Nearly all criminal laws when first
enacted made acts criminal which
had not before been looked upon as
such. killing in a duel is a crime
now; it was not crime two hun
dred years ago. Under certain cir
cnmstanccs, to cause the death of q
fcllow-being by ones negligence is