Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1892-06-30
A REMARKABLE DECLARATION
or Illegal, for supplying the DE
mand for strong Drink"


or Illegal, for supplying the DE
mand for Strong Drink"
The foregoing declaration on the
liquor question is extracted from an
article in the Clarion of the 10th inst.
It has the merit of being terse and I'M
euuivocal and our esteemed contem-
porary will not be heard to say that it
is so taken from the context aS do
violence to his deliverance. 1t Is an
formula of current opinion
in both the Democratic and RepubG-
can parties. It is the mildest form in
which the liquor traffic puts its creed,
and it is the common platform for the
outspoken and aggressive advocates OF
the traffic as well as for its apologistS.
Like the Dutch peddler's suspenders,
that we're short enough for any boy,
and long enough for any man. this sue
cinct statement of the case by the
Clarion is comprehensive enough to
suit the purpose of the dive-keep"r
and to satisfy the proprietor of the
rilded saloon. What more need be
said for the perpetuation of the traffic
than that ut must De-"
Here is IA paper which is par erect
leRce the organ of the Democratic par
ty in this State 1t has the confidence
of the leaders of the party and the ear
of the public as no other paper has i'll
Mississippi. What does it say?
There must be an agency, either legal
or Illegal, for supplying the demand for
strong drink
Now if the Clarion had said there
will always be found class of men
who will indulge the drink habit and
the vice can never be eradicated from
the body polite. we would no more
deny the assertion than we would deny
that there always has been and there
always will be found in every com
munity thieves. but the point i'll ques-
ton. the thing to be considered is this:
Is there any more necessity for the law
to create an agency to minister to the
depraved appetite i'll the one case than
an agency to crafty the kleptomaniac-
al tendencies of the other. There must
be an agency" says the Clarion. Then
there is positively no deliverance from
this awful pest in all the tide of time.
"There mast be-
The Clarion may voice the sentiment
of the majority of the voters. but we
doubt it. We admit that on one side
of the line stands the Democratic poll
ticianS and the saloon element. But
outside of this coterie and on the other
side stands. or should stand, every man
who has boy that may be tempted,
and. for that matter, every man who
has daughter. for it is about as bad
to have drunken son-in-law as a
drunken son. Men who have the itch
or public place are afraid of the ques-
ion and are. as a rule. on the fence
about one half the Aldermen in the
,reat citieSare keepers of saloons Half
he late delegation from the State of
<ew York to the Chicago convention
we're directly or indirectly interested
)ecuniarily interested. in the liquor
rattle. They owned saloons or they
we're partners in the liquor and brew
ng business. There is nothing
startling i'll the fact. that they, to
nan, affect to believe or do believe that
here must be an agency, either legal
or illegal. for supplying the demand for
strong drink. They probably believe
hat this demand" is as legitimate as
hat which exists for the common CON
reniences of life. Now will they be-
lieve that it can be lessened by laws
that abolish the saloon. 1t has not oc-
Cured to them that they themselves,
under the laws that protect them, are
creating the very demand which it is
there must be an agency" to
supply.
Now the difference between the poll
ticians and the saloon element on the
Dne side and part of the people on
5he other is that the people do not be-
ieve that there must be an agency to
this traffic. The difference
$ as wide and as definite as the Gulf
stream. There can be no shaking hands
,cross the chasm. 1t is too broad to be
,ridged by compromise. The people
must surrender to the saloon or the sa-
Don itself must surrender to the peo-
Die.