Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1893-08-29

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Prohibition. The union of the
foes of the saloon must be nation
wide and ready for a national bat
tie, because the evil itself is na-
tionwidc and its defenders organ
lied for national conflict.
Now a union may be made in
several ways. 1t may sometimes
be made by massing in
side one of the existing parties
and controlling the party. This
may be done and has been done
on this question in certain States,
and if the liquor-dealers had con-
fined their contest to the limits of
Iowa and Kansas and not endeav-
ored to exert their power on
those States through national pol
itics, such union within one of
the old parties might have been a
continuous success, though even
then, under our system of inter
State commerce, one State could
not prevent the shipment of Ii
quor into its bounds by another
State. But while it has been pos
sible to mass the foes of the sa-
loon, in certain States, within
one of the old parties with CON
success, it is not posi-
bic, as human nature is consti-
tuted, to do this on a national
scale. The foes of the saloon in
the South who are Democrats will
not agree to mass in the Republi-
can Party. The foes of the
saloon in the North who are Re
publicans would scout the pro
posal to mass in the Democratic
Party. The antisaloon Republi-
can cannot fairly propose to the
anti-saloon Democrat fer the lat
ter to give up every thing while
he gives up nothing. The fair
proposition is for each to meet
the other half way, as the anti
slavery Wing and the anti-slavery
Democrat did in 1856. That
means a new party.
Another way of massing voters
is in balance of power organi
zation, somewhat after the style
of the liquor dealers. But to de-
feat the liquor dealers in such Il
game we must have Il following
that is equally mscrupulous and
subservient to the will of
Il "boss.'' To play this balance
of-power game voters must eli
ther withdraw from the prima-
rics and conventions of the old
parties, or else, staying in them,
secretly knife the ticket on the
day of election in obedience to di-
rections. Prohibitionists can't
play that game successfully. Our
only hope is in driving the foe
out from under cover and forcing
an open fight. The civil service
reformers have maintained their
balancc-of-p power tactics honora
bly, and with much success but
they were successful only because
there was no opposing force en-
gagged in the same tactics.
Another proposition is to mass
the foes of the salooon in non
partisan organizations. This is
but another term for the balance
of-power organization, and, as in
the case of DIR. Kynett's organi-
zation in Pennsylvania, such pro-
iects break down upon the first
real test.
To recapitulate there must be
Il union of the foes of the saloon;
it must be union at the ballot
box; il must bA national in scope;
it must extend to the election of
law makers and administrators:
it cannot be successful as bal
ance-of-power or non-partisan
body; it cannot be effected with
in one of the old parties. This
leaves us nothing but new party
or an abandonment of the fight.
As matter of fact and as II re-
suit of experience, those who
have started in to fight the liquor
traffic either locally or in any 9th
er way have, almost without eX-
either abandoned the
fight or gone on into the Prohibi-
ton party. The strongest of all
for the party cannot
be stated ; it is the lesson of uni
form experience, with excise
leagues, voters unions, law and
order leagues, amendment organ
izations, etc.
Our correspondent assumes that
the object of the Prohibition Par
ty is to pass an amendment to the
Federal Constitution. We do not
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