The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1890-08-15
ORIGINAL PACKAGES.
EX-GOVERNOR ST. JOHN ON
THE LOCALIZED INFAMY.

"A Decision Which DepriVes u state Of the
Right to Protect Its People Cannot Ee
"Hood Law'-The Liquor Question Was
Made National When the Government in
1862, Regardless of state Lines, Placed
Its Officers in Charge of the Distilleries.
IHE "original-package" decision is not
only in conflict with a long line of opin-
ions from eminent judicial tribunals.
said ex-Gov. John p. st. John to a New
York Voice reporter, but it is without
foundation in Justice or common sense.
1t was never intended by the trainers of
u Federal Constitution that power
should be lodged in Congress, or any
where else, to withhold from a State the
right to protect it's citizens against any
evil that destroys, as the liquor traffic
does, the peace, health, happiness and
morals OF the people. And n decision,
1t matters not from what court. that
holds that such power exists, is an out
rage upon the rights of the people.
II live in a Prohibition State. and if
there is any one thing above all others.
upon which the people of Kansas are
united, it is in their opposition to the
liquor business. Our laws against this
enemy of the human race are very
stringent. The Supreme Court of both
State and nation has time and again de-
clared that a State has the right to pro-
hibit the traffic. But after a hard fight
and a grand victory had been won for
the right and we were thanking God and
taking courage to go forward, this in
famous 'original-package' decision was
thrown across the pathway of human
progress and the laws of the State set at
defiance in the interest of a business that
debauches manhood, and thrives and fat
e upon the misery and degradation of
it's victims.
"The Supreme Court of the United
States, in a decision rendered two or
three years ago in a case that went up
from Kansas, said: Nor can we ignore
the fact, established by statistics. that
the disorder, paupcrism, and crime so
prevalent in the country is largely due
to the liquor traffic. 1t is declared in
the Constitution of our country that
government is organized to promote the
general welfare Of the people, Any
business, then, which produces disorder,
paupcrism, and crime, destroys the gen
eral welfare of the people,, and no num-
Der of original package decisions can
ever do away with this truth. Instead
OF treating such a decision as good law
and thanking God it had made the
liquor question NATIONAL it should have
been denounced from ocean to ocean as
an outrage against our homes and an ap-
peal taken at once to a higher tribunal.
But is there a higher tribunal? Certain
ly there is. This is a government .bv
the people, and the case should have
been at once appealed to the people, for
1t must be remembered that the people
make and unmake constitutions, laws,
ann avAn Rn11rtS Tn Shnrt tLo rooyJa -,
a republican government are supreme.
"But does not this decision make the
liquor question national? No. 1t has
been a national question ever since the
General Government, away back in 1852,
regardless of State lines or State laws.
placed its officers in charge of the distil-
leries and received the principal part of
the revenue derived from the business,
and allowed no n to sell liquor at re-
tall until they had procured and paid for
its permit to do so.
"The liquor traffic is about as much
under the control of our Government to-
day as the mail service is. Every man
who hands out your mail has the Gov
ernment's authority to do so. So is every
man who runs a saloon clothed with the
authority Of the same Government. Tho
only interest the two old parties have in
the business is the votes it controls.
"The only interest the Government has
Is the 500, 600, 900 revenue it pays The
Government never stoops to count the
destruction of homes and immortal souls,
for this, remember, is not u Christian
Government, and never will be. so long
as it takes a revenue from that which
debauches it's people.
"The more liquor-sellers, the greater
the revenue The 'original-package'
decision opens up Supreme Court saloons
all over the land, and is thus in perfect
harmony with the Governments policy,
under which 200, 900 liquor-dealers have
paid for and hold it's permit"