Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-09-27
cants has enormously decreased. Int

not be less than Se"enty-hVe. he IN
crease in the number of internal revenu.
stamps sold by the collector from year t.
year, is explained by the fact that they arr
required by all druggists, and many o.
them are repetitions and renewals 70,
short terms. The places where liquors
are sold, legally and Illegally have been
reduced from one for every GA of the en-
tire population in 1850, to one for every
2. 22o in 1883,
Since the adoption of the amendment,
four general electors have been held, and
at each OF them the people have repeated
their adhesion to the principle by the cleo
ton of legislatures pledged to prohibition.
The result is generally accepted as an ac-
compished fact Hostility has practically
been subdued. Prohibition prohibits.
The prediction of its opponents has not
been verified; immigration has no, been
repealed. nor has capital been diverted from
the state. The period has been one of
nnexampled growth and development.
Whether post hoe or P,obte,- hoe coinci-
ASiiNS Va SdtSS, 10 ltCt ildlclidl. ne evils
prophesied have not come to pass
One of the most significant and extra
ordinary results is the diminution of crime
n the state. AT the January term Of the
district court of the county in which the
capital is situated there was not single
criminal cause on the docket. Many city
and county prisons are without a tenant
The number and percentage of the con-
vets IN the state penitentiary have been
remarkably diminished Upon the first
lay OF January, 1870, the prisoners, not
including those of the United States,
numbered 2lS, or one for every 1871 in
habltants; at the same date in 1875 they
numbered 435, or one to every 1,214 in
habitants. In 1850 the number was G33,
Or one to every 1873 inhabitants; in 1885
it was 673, or one to every 1855 inhabi-
tants; on the first day of January, 1850, it
was Sol, or one to every 1921 inhabitants.
On the first day of January, 1857, there
we're SOS state prisoners in the peni-
Tertiary; on the first day of January, 1888,
$1,000 WIZ oSoI c1l1 III luC lOllOWlnS wear
there was reduction of 81 in number,
although the population of the state had
largely increased.
In the various prisons throughout the
United States. about 60, 900 criminals are
serving sentences for felonies, being abou!
one prisoner for every thousand inhabi.
tants; the same ratio in Kansas would give
total OF 1,651, which is so per cent more
than the number actually confined In
the United States at large there is one
pauper to $50 inhabitants; carefully CON-
Piled statistics show that Kansas has but
one to about 1900 of its population.
The representations of disaster so free
~ expressed at the outset, have all been
negahved. Local disturbances we're in
evltable, but in most instances the read
Justment has already occurred. The gain
in population since 1880 has not been less
than 700, ooo This has been distributed.
partially among the cities and towns, but
more largely over an area previously not
inhabited, comprising not less than one
amount OF agricultural products and live
STOCK the assessed value of property, the
mileage of railroads, the number of cult
waited farms, of newspapers, of school,
houses of churches, have proportionate,v
increased, making the history of the
colonization of Kansas marvel,
Anythingis possible in American politics,
but nothing is certain. The rout in Mas
sachusetts, Rhode Island and PENNSYLVANIA
may retard, but cannot prevent the dis
cusslon and final adjudication of the LIQUOR
trattc in its relations to government and
society. The tragedies of intemDerance
are too fatal its hurts too intolerable its
burdens too costly, to permit its ravages
to go unchecked License or prohibition
are the alternatives; between them is M
middle ground
The history of the modern Temperance
agitation IS succession of vicissitudes
ne greatest movement of this kind ever
naugurated was by Father Matthew. who
extended his labors from Ireland 10
-AS'eeiiSA aiio tuS OHlleQ States. number-
ing his adherents by millions It seemed
Almost like the dawn Of new epoch in
ne history OF man; but reaction followed
md society relapsed into torpor and in
inference from which it has again been
oused by the agsressions of the LIQUOR
influence
The American people have determined
o secure the most thorough restriction Of
he liquor traffic consistent with the pre- {
ervation OF the personal liberty which our
Institutions were established to protect and ,
In the last three years the pro- '
'tblt'on policy has been rejected nine G
INES by as many different states in tha $
'nton' but this does not prove that it will a