The Brookhaven leader., 1890-04-17
Not Authorized to Speak.

hCltlNihp W lut auuItsS isSuOu ".
the Prohibition Executive Committee,
the Clarion-Ledgcr says:.
This address will not he endorsed
by many of the leading Prohibitionists
of the State, who are satisfied with the
progress the movement is making.
The committee declares for can arti-
ele IN the Constitution to the effect
that no saloon shall ever be legalizcd
in this State" There are thousands
of people in Mississippi who do not
object to local option, but would bit
terly oppose any effort to force prohi-
bition on All the counties. Each
county should be allowed to settle
the question in its own way.
The Clarion Ledger, nor any other
paper occupying the position it does on
the liquor question, has any authority
to speak for 'the leading Prohibition
lists of the State" Moreover, when
the Clarion Ledger assumed to quote
the language of the Committees ad-
dress, it should have quoted it cor
rectly- and not garbled it to suit its
own purpose, even though by SO do
ing it might have given offense to the
lottery people whose advertisement
it carries. The quotation from the adj
dress which the CL. pretended to
to give, was as follows:
1--WE favor an article in the new
Constitution to the effect that no sa-
loon, gambling house, house of prosti-
tuition, or lottery shall over be legal
lied in the State"
Surely no "leading Prohibitionist,"
worthy the name, can refuse to sub
scribe to that. Ifhe does, his opposi-
ton will inevitably throw him into
fellowship on this question with all of
the saloon DULLES, gamblers, prosti-
tutes, lottery advocates, and other
evil forces of society, for they will all
oppose Constitutional Prohibition as
a unit. One cannot consistently oppose
gambling houses, lotteries and houses
of i'll fame, and yet oppose the out
having of the saloon, for, as the adj
dress well says, the saloon is the nest
ing place, the nursery of the whole
infamous brood.
Furthermore, in advocating Con-
stitutional Prohibition, its friends are
only supporting what has been the
declared policy of Prohibitionists
from the beginning, and it is the man
who opposes and not him who advo-
Gates it, that is inconsistent and false
to the cause. Politicians and trim
mcrs would stave the issue off until
Judgment day if they could.
What the Clarion Ledger says in
support of local option is simply lu-
dicrous, coming from such source.
Twice in local option contests, when
the social and political autonomy of
Kinds county was placed in immi-
nent peril by the massing of the igno
rant negroes and all the corrupt
forces of society on the side of the
saloon, and white supremacy itself
was trembling in the balance, that
paper sat crouched upon the fence in
terror of the liquor power, like the
moral craven that it was and island did
not dare to speak word for the right.
Now, under the guise of being the
friend, forsooth, oflocal option, it fain
would crawl down on the side of the
saloons and their natural associates,
and pretend that it is in company
with "many of the leading PrOhibi-
tiOnists of the State"
Tile following are the closing para
graphs of the Prohibition address, and
we ask, is there any self-respecting
Prohibtionist or other patriotic, NOR
al citizen, who cannot subscribe to
them:
We specifically recommend and urge:
l. Vote for no man whose character
and record is not approved by the
best people who know him.
2. Vote for no man who is in SYM
patty with the whisky combine, gam
bling bells, houses of Prostitution,
lottery swindles, or the saloon, the
foster mother of the quartette.
3. Vote for no man whose political
strength lies in his ability to mass and
WELD the ignorant, vicious negro vote