Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-06-13
GOVERNMENT SALOONS.
st. John, Dickie, Black, Smith,
Dow and Russell Denounce
the Proposition.
STRONG AND EARNEST WORDS THAT
HAVE No DOUBTFUL MEANING.

Would Destroy Prohibition" Says Gov.
81. 5ohn--Ths Most Harebrained and
Impossible of All the Absurd Make
shifts Ever Devised Declares Our Ma
tionnl Chairman "Prohibitionists
Cease to be Such" when They Favor
substituting Governmental Manage
ment" Urges Judge Black II Will
Make No Treaty Nor Truce With the
Gigantic Crime of Grimes" Says General
Neal Dow.
New YORK C1TY-tSpecial correspond
ence)-In view of the general discus
sion now going on regarding the prop
osition to nationalize the liquor traffic,
I thought letter on the subject would
be of interest to your readers About
the strongest advocate of the scheme
Is the New York Voice, as will be seen
from the following extracts taken from
an editorial entitled, Public Control
of the Liquor Business" published in
its issue of April SOth The article
was a reply to a correspondents objec-
tions to the scheme of government
liquor selling
The feature in the state control plan which
arouSes our correspondents chief protest Is
the fact that il provides for the sale of LIQUOR
a. a beverage by the state Is not that wrong:
OF course it is wrong but it is not new
wrong.
II we have the power TO stop part of that
wrong and refuse to exercise that power, we
arc responsible for that part of the wrong
which we might have stopped, but which we
did not stop.
, 1t is wrong for the government to sell pois-
enous drinks as n beverage, but 1t is worse for
il not only to sell them but to make money
out of the sale and suffer all manner of allure
ments to vice to accompany the sale
But il is well TO remember. rs tho Lever
saws. that John B. Finch thought the same OF
high license. We may make mistake, but we
DO not need to shut our eyes te the possible
good that the future may reveal in state con-
troi and set our teeth against il i'll advance.
On the same page was another edi-
torial bearing the encouraging head
ing The Turning Tide, which de-
clared that victory is coming, and
urged renewed vigor and conservation
One paragraph began this is no time
for faltering," and the last paragraph
contained the following:
PrOhiDitiOniStS. II is an hour of nope, OF IN
spration. The heart Of the great plain people
of America never heat more In sympathy
with the reforms demanded by the pioneers
who llaxcd the way under the leadership OF
James Rlack, Green Clay Smith, Neal Dow
and ST. John than II docs to-day. Take cour-
age. and with it take wisdom.
To ascertain the opinions of these
trusty, tried and true leaders on the
question of public control" or rather
government liquor selling, John Lloyd
Thomas, editor OF The Anti-Nuisance
journal, wrote to each, asking for a
letter for publication. The answers
were so inspiring and of such timely
interest that Mr.. Thomas has given
your correspondent the privilege of
giving these letters to the public in
advance of the publication of The Anti
Nuisance journal.
A sTUPENDOUS BLVNDER
1t is my opinion that the nationaliza-
ton of the liquor traffic would destroy
Prohibition, manufacture drunkards at
cost, disgrace the government and end
in general decentralization.
JOHN p. ST. JOHN.