Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-12-26
THE LIQUOR QUESTION.
1T is THE MOST URGENT ISSUE
I'm AMERICAN POLITICS.

Tho Saloon tho Dehauc!,er Of Politics.
Niunicipai Government, and Legislnt-
mos. as We'll as OF Notwithstanding
Yhermopyl,.' of Reform.
From tho Voice.
The pass at Thermopylas has been his
toric ever since history has been written.
One million Pnrsians were on the march,
uiGer NerNcS, to obtain possession of
Greece The only entrance from North
ern to Southern Greece was through that
narrow pass, guarded by Leonidas and
his 300 Spar,ans. Before that pass the
great host had to halt, and before an
othcr step in advance could DO taken,
before ono OF the fur provinces OF
Greece could be taken, Thermopyl;e had
To be conquered
All tho progressive nations of the civ
iliZad world arc to-day restless and
dissatisfied under the present social and
industrial conditions. This is true for
frce-tradc England and for protective
America; for the dcspotism of Russia,
the patcrnal government of Germany,
and tho Republic of France. 1t is an
era in which social and industrial "re-
form" is in the very atmosphere, per-
vading every public meeting, finding
expression of some sort in nearly every
journal. Tho clamor for change Is heard
at every throne, and, in America, is re-
sounding every year at each State Leg
isiat,lrc. Rcformers of every kind are
pointing out Eldorados just ahead, and
urging the army of civilization to march
forward and take possession. We believe
that our nation-and, for that matter,
most of the civilized natiOnS-is on the
eve of considerable change in industrial
conditions. We are convinced that a
march forward will be seen all along the
inc &c no very distant date. But there
is u Ther.nopyl;n to be conquered before
any considerable advance can be made,
before any of those fair Eldorados can
be won. Every day that passes strength
ems our conviction that the saloon blocks
the very gateway to reform, battles
every effort to advance in any direction,
and will render comparatively useless
all schemes, whether of labor organiZa-
tiOns or of farmers associations, whether
OF the church or of the Legislature, that
seek tho progress of humanity. We be-
lieve more and more every day that the
first thing that must be done is to crush
the saloon power out of politics, out of
society, out of industry, and our chief
reasons for so believing are:
1. Tho saloon debauchcs the individu-
ais, out OF whom all organized society
must be built Let man undertake to
erect a temple, and find when it is half
completed that the materials with which
he is working arc unsound and weak,
that the stones arc soft and crumbing,
that the bricks arc not well burnt, that
tho timbers arc rotting. What good
will it do for him to sit down and con-
INV So
wrong and needs revising. He might
change his plan every week. and if his
material continued the same his building
would be failure Let a church be
constructed out of men and women of
impure minds, of selfish hearts, of inn
moral habits, and it is of no use to
change the creed or change the scheme
of dogmatic theology. 1t is so of society
and of government. If the individuals.
the material out of which the so
clal fabric must DO constructed, be de-
bauched, no schemes of government. no
new social Utopia. can save it. The
saloon strikes at the worry material out
of which any form of society, any form
of industrial organization, any kind of
government must be constructed. You
may get new designs from the socialist
architect, from the nationalist architect,
from the single-taX architect, from the
frec-trade architect-from any or all
architects; but if you allow the materials
out of which the building is constructed
to be rotted steadily, the architects can
not save you. In this nation to-day, on
a close estimate, there are 2,5OO,cO0 hard
drinkcrs-men and women who drink
age of one to every five families in the
ND m INF inl, 10
thus dcbauching the units of society is
gaining in strength every day. The
church cannot regcnerate one where
the saloon debauches ten. The need is
not-at least, the most urgent need is
motor new architects, but for the
destruction of that which is rendering
all social architecture more and more a
failure.
.. The saloon dcbauchcs politics,
through which alone any important
changes must come. Itnot only corrupts
the material out of which any state
must be built but it corrupts those who
have charge and oversight of the build
ing operations. The saloon is the dOmi-
nant power-not merely dominant
power, but the dominant power-in the
municipal government of all large cities;
and through them controlling balance
of power in State and national politics.
Let man or a group of men go to q
State Legislature such as We have in
New York, a majority of whose mem
bers owe their election to the saloons and
tho corrupt methods worked through the
saloons. and what chance will measure
stand which has nothing ain it" for the
legislator? Whatever changes for the
better are made in our governmental
system must be made by our law makers,
and while tho saloon makeS and unmakes
the Lawmakers no reform appealing
merely to patriotism and intelligence is
likely to succeed Take New York's
Board of Doodle Aldermen o few years
ago. with a majority of it's members
liquor dealers or saloon politicians,
and what chance would a re-
form measure stand before them for
even hearing unless the bribe-g ivcr
had prepared the way beforehand?
Take this city itself, with 633 ont of
LOOP primaries held by the old parties in
1884 in saloons or rooms adjacent to and
connecting with saloons, and what
scheme of reform In any direction can be
trusted to amount to ANYTHING nurturod