Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-05-30

Christian Voters Toward 1t?
No. 6 Of a Series Of Six Articles Written by J.
u. Smith, NJ. d., for the Tennessee Methodist
In my last article discussed briefly
the advantage to Prohibition of a polit-
zeal party press to be conducted in its
advantage could be secured to the
cause of Prohibition if all of the friends
of the measure were organized into a
political party. In this | shall discuss
some other reasons why there should
be a political party advocating the
abolition of the licensed beverage Ii
quor traffic and also why every Chris
tian voter should indemnity himself
with it.
One reason is, it would give us an
open discussion of the merits of the
question, not only through an active
secular press all the time, but upon the
rostrum as well, at every recurring po-
litical campaign, and would force a
joint discussion with the friends of the
traffic and an exposure of the rotten
ncSS VI buSlT ulcIuOuS, VI GiSt IL WOultl
drive them from the field of practical
politics, and brand them as moral COW
ards and political poltroons. This
would be worth as much educationally
to the cause of Prohibition every two
years as Prohibition amendment cam
paign, which we cannot hope to engi-
neer through liquor ruled legislatures
oftener than once in lifetime. Yes,
-, g 10 ,I
features of the question is what liquor
ruled politicians dread as the devil
breads holy water. The fear of it has
already put the whole batch of them
into long turkey trot and to force
would give nine -tenths of them the
jim jams. Who ever heard of Ten
nesSee or Kentucky politician refusing
to engage in a joint discussion of any
question until that of the Prohibition
of the licensed beverage liquor traffic
began to push itself to the front in pol
tiles 1t is the only question they
are afraid to discuss the only question
their political friends are afraid for
them to discuss &; and so much do they
fear its discussion that they have about
abandoned all joint discussions for fear
WILL up IIO" ~ ulldO
Christian men will commit themselves
to Church Conference resolutions con-
demning the traffic in the severeSt
terms possible, and then blindly follow
after and vote for such men to make
or perpetuate the very laws thus con-
demned, | can't understand unless it
is because we have failed to build up
party that correctly represents our
xyinu tha crlhinnf and IF 1hot iS II
who is to blame for such inaction in
this free country, where one man has
as much right and is under the same
obligations to act as another?
Another reason why we need such
party is that our worthy young men of
the Church may have the opportunity
of aspiring to positions of honor and
distinction in politics without being
compelled to first sell themselves out
to the liquor influence, which sale the
least informed of our people know to
be necessity in order to succeed in a
contest between our two old liquor Ii
censing parties. believe it was the
venerable Chancellor Garland, of Van
derbilt University, who, in his publish
ed review in the Nashville Banner of
Nov. I, 1890, of the trial of Rev. DR..
IA0llSy lOI tluO uS-
roic effort to assist in creating a purer
pool of politics, refers to that gentle
man as having been "ridiculed for hay
ing left the fountain of living waters
to dabble in the foul pools of party
politics." and then adds "All this
was to the injury of the Church and
the deep modification of it's members"
And yet these are the very pools upon
whose polluted waters that Venerable
Chancellor and Christian minister has,
for years, been casting his political
bread that it might be gathered up in
all its filthiness many days hence
Does he hope for his children or his
grandchildren to feast upon that pol
luted bread that he thus cast upon pol
luted waters, when it is thus gathered
up in the way of fat office If so,
they must not only eat it in all of it's
filthiness, but they must first sell them
selves to the liquor influence in order
to get it to eat. Who would not a
thousand times rather have his boy,
like d. G. Kelley, ridiculed for trying
to create a purer pool of politics, than
to have him like descendant of the
Venerable Chancellor eating the pol
luted political bread cast into the foul
pool for him by his father ? And yet
this precisely represents the politics