The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-03-21
PROHIBITION IN KANSAS.

j. M. Horner on prohibition in z. ]
c. Advertiser of Mar 4 says; Zone /
has proved beyond Il doubt that pro-
hibition does not entirely prohibit
etc. If Mr.. Horner had penned some
thing like the following he would
have struck the truth square amid
ships. One has proved to the salts
faction of every sane mind, that pro-
hibition of drink in prohibition States,
is on par with the prohibition of
opium in Hawaii; which is, that
everybody gets all they want, with
plenty to spare. | will now refer
Mr.. Horner to the following he will
there find prohibition stripped of its
mask, and exposed to public view,
Mr.. S. X. Shepherd, eX~Sccretary
of State of Kansas, and many years
editor of the old Topeka Tribune,
sends the following communication
to the Omaha Bee:
"Leavenworth, Kan, Sept. %
To the editor of the Bee: Having
hundred or more relatives in Neb-
raska, quite a number of them have
written to me for such facts and con-
illusions as l might be able and will
ing TO give them concerning prohibi-
ton in Kansas. With your permis-
sion l will reply through the columns
of The Bee. For twenty years prior
to prohibition in Kansas was an
active good templar and worker in
the temperance cause in Topeka,
Valley Falls, and Troy, in this
State. When the prohibition
craze struck Kansas ten years ago,
there were about four hundred
lodges and organizations of various
kinds in the State devoted to temper
ance work. In six months they were
all dead. Prohibition killed them.
Moral, social and educational tenn
perance work was wholly abandoned,
and compulsion, litigation and hell
raising inaugurated in its stead. The
infamous spy, spotter and informer
system was adopted, and secret, star
chamber, inquisltorial law and order
leagues Matched conspiracies, waged
bitter and vindictive prosecutions,
piled costs mountain-high upon the
taxpayers, and converted society into
a seething cauldron of warning ele-
ments. The golden era of sobriety
was just beginning to dawn in Kansas
when the pernicious contagion of pro-
hibition broke out like a raging pes
thence and spread over the land, de-
stroying temperance work and leav-
ing moral desolatiOn in its path. The
consumption of liquor has been in
creased rather than diminished, and
men have been made worse instead
of better Prohibition has debauched
our State. The attempted enforce
ment has brought out the worst Gle
ments of human character on both
sides of the question. Men who
once had respect for the law have
grown to hate and despise it, and
their sons are following in their foot
steps. In place of honest, old-fash-
Toned saloons we have drug stores,
joints, club rooms, and secret hell
holes, where vicious stuff is sold to
all who want it, old or young.
"For one, | am not worship
per. never did believe in paddock
virtue, legal righteousness, sheriff
honor, execution honesty, Comstock
purity, or constable temperance.
do not believe that state guardian
ship of mems appettes and morals
and the removal of all temptation
from them is conducive to the best
results in developing human charac,
ter. l do not believe in putting 8
bib on man and shutting him up in
the nursery with old grannies, church
and state, for his wet and dry nurses.
: l do not believe in trailing him up tc
the Legislative porch like a morning
glory, cultivating no power within
himself to stand alone, and sure tC
be cut down by the first chill vino
or autumn frost.
"To sum up the case, prohibition
is only another name for puritanic
hydrophobia. In principle it is
false, irrational and unjust; in spi,
rlt it is aggressive, ferocious and
vindctive. 1t is the assassin of lib.
eTIy; Iue lOC Oh Tree moral agency
and the destroyer of temperance. Ii
is social plague, moral pestilence,
political contagion, commercial fam
inc, and financial ruin. 1t is degrad,
ing, enslaving and demoralizing to 8
free and intelligent people. 1t be.
gets disrespect for all law; it offer;
a premium upon vice and crime, anC
turns men into sneaks, spies, spot
tiers and perjurers.
, "Its enactment and attempted en-
forcement in the States of Kansas
and Iowa have been an infamous out
rage upon the natural and civil rights
of the people opposed to it. 1t i.
: the pIogenitor of discord, hatred anc
bitterness, the instigator of conten
ton, enmity and rancor, and the pro
pagator of strife, discussions anC
violence. 1t is base conspiracy OF
| raving cranlls, frothing fanatics, glib
bering lunatcs, frenzied bigots, de
signing knaves, rotten demagogues
and unprincipled politicians WHIT
would opnly tba torch of a0nnonro