The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-08-05

party may draw from the Republican
ranks. In view of this fact the follow
ing remarks of the Tribune upon "The
Duty of Prohibitionists'' is commended
to their thoughtful consideration. The
Tribune says:
For most citizens, even for those of
just minds and strong sympathy with
the cause of temperance it is difficult not
to regard the nominations of the Prohi-
bition party for President and Vice
President as farce. But this perform
ance has a sad and even tragic side. Here
are men numbering hundreds of thous-
ands, men of undoubted purity of pur-
pose, whose motives ale noble and
whose efforts cannot be ascribed to sell
fishness, deliberately throwing away the
noblest birthright of American citizen
ship, and divesting themselves as far as
they can of the duties and responsible
ties of sovereignty. In voting for candi-
dates who they well know cannot be
elected they deliberately make possible
the success of the worst and most dan
gerous party in the country, and for no
other reason than because a more
worthy party, the one which has done
for the cause of temperance all that ever
has been done, is not ready to go as fast
VI DIS ldI do JllcSG GdIHGSJ llGu WOulu 10.
mot one such citizen out of hun
dred thousand, it may be safely said,
fully realizes what grave results have
already come from the attitude of the
Prohibitionists. They are responsible,
more than all other persons in this coun-
try, for that alliance between the Demo-
cratic party and the saloons which has
given to New York, New Jersey and
some other states the most villainous
government they ever had. Prohibition
made possible the election of Demo
cratic legislators in those States, and
particularly the election of such un-
worthy and unscrupulous candidates as
that party nominated and elected under
the Gictation of the saloons. Democracy
was fighting desperately to win, and to
that end was forced to take such candi-
dates as the liquor interest would sup
port, and thus there came an epidemic
of rascality and corruption which has
frightfully burdened and plundered the
people, disgraced the States and brought
self-government into contempt In a
great many cases, more than enough to
turn the scale, the worst candidates were
elected because the Prohibitionists per-
sisted in throwing away their votes.
"Doing evil that good may come is
ever a costly business. A Democratic
President who had no sympathy what
ever with the cause of temperance was
the direct result of the waste of votes by
Prohibitionists. They thought, no
doubt, that it might help their cause to
defeat the Republicans, and punish them
for refusing to make all other interests
secondary to the enactment of prohibi-
tory liquor laws. But the punishment
has fallen upon those who consented to
do evil that good might come. The
cause of Prohibition has been set back
in every part of the country. The
thoughtful and candid Prohlbitionist
must realize that his cause has lost more
ground since the election of President
Cleveland that it had gained in many
years, or can hope to recover under ex-
isting conditions. So long as the two
great parties hold their present posi-
tions nine-tenths of the voters who de-
sire Prohibition will refuse to vote for a
third-party ticket, because they have
found that it Is in fact nothing but an
assistant Democratic ticket
"This year the Prohibition voters have
responsibility which they cannot avoid.
By wasting their votes they may give the
electoral votes of some states to the
Democratic candidate, who will also be
generally supported by the liquor inter
est. If they ask their consciences which
of the two possible candidates ought to
be elected, not one in twenty of them
can escape the conviction that his vote
should be cast for President Harrison"