Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-08-29
A POINTED QUESTION.
Is the National Prohibition Par
ty Il Mistake q?
The Voice Answers I'm the Neg
atiyc and Gives Strong Rea-
sons Why 1t Is Not.
From Tho Voice.
The following letter comes to

From The Voice.
The following letter comes to
us for reply:
EDITOR OF The VoICE.-I have been
careful reader of your paper for
some time and prize it highly, as it has
been the means of so thoroughly con-
verting me over to Prohibition that ]
shall not only pray for it, but work for
1t as we'll. ! have never seen any
thing in the Voice that would enlight-
en- me on a certain question that has
worried me. Are we using our best
Judgment in working for Prohibition
party success ? Is it not a fact that
before we can succeed in the national
struggle we must have two-thirds of
the States? Could we not gain
strength more rapidly by dropping the
national party feature and apply our
work in the counties and States And
when we have elected legislators
throughout two-thirds of the States
that will be firm for Prohibition, we
can then demand that the National
Legislature amend the Constitution
accordingly. / am Prohibitionist,
radically 50, aud vote for the Prohibi-
ton party, but are we not wasting our
strength Why not concentrate it in
the State work l should like to be
enlightened. j. r. TROxEL.
Illinois City, Ill. ...
The National Prohibition Party
is not a mistake. 1t is Il ncccssi-
ty. The nature of the evil as
sailed and the nature of our po-
litical institutions render it ne
cessity. We cannot present, in
an editorial, any thing like Il COM
prehensive argument except in
outline.
The argument, to our mind,
starts with the reasonable as
sumption that to overthrow such
an evil as the liquor traffic there
must be a union of its enemies.
That union, to be effective, must
be at the ballot box. The liquor
traffic is supported by law. The
law can be reached only through
the ballot box. 1t may, howcv-
or. be reached in one of two
ways; (1) directly in vote on a
constitutional amendment (2) in
directly by a vote on legislators.
We have aREPREsENTATIvE form
of government. The people do
not make nor administer their
laws, nor, except in cases of CON
stitutional amendments, do they
vote on laws. The ballot ordi-
narily has nothing on it in refer
encc to laws: it contains simply
the names of men. The vote is
cast for representatives, through
whom the laws are to be made
and administered. If constitu-
tional amendments would reach
the case there might be no need of
Il Prohibition Party. But such
amendments do not answer the
purpose. TO be made effective,
statutory laws must be made to
carry such an amendment into
effect. Without such statutory
laws an amendment is imperative,
a simple record of the will of the
people. The statutory laws must
be made by legislators elected at
the ballot box, and, what is
equally important, those laws
must be administered by officials
elected at the ballot box.
Now it is not necessary, ordi-
narily, to organize a new party
in order to secure the passage and
enforcement of a new law. The
nature and extent of the organi-
zation necessary to secure a new
law and its enforcement depend
upon the nature and extent of the
opposition to such law. If the
law affects single municipality
and the opposition is confined to
that municipality, it is not likely
that it will be necessary to form
IA State organization to overcome
the opposition. If, however, the
opposition extends its power
throughout the State and reaches
into the Legislature, the infu-
ences in favor of the law must be
correspondingly extended. And
if the opposition extends itself
into Congress and affects the ma
tiQnal elections, the influences in
favor must be likewise extended.
The liquor traffic is organized
in the municipalities, i'll the States
and in the Nation. Defeat it in a
lnsnicipality and it extends the
scene of conflict to the State, as
has been shown in a striking man
ner recently in New Jersey,
where no-iccnse communities
have been flooded with mills
through the county commission
ors' law, and in New York, where
the certorari law has been passed
for the same purpose. Defeated
in State, the traffic extends its