St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-04

morning at all hOur so unSeemly that
even the saloons were closed, as he SO
greatly desires. Now let the Repub-
licans settle their row by indOrsing Col.
JAIN.
THE STRAIT.JACKET POLICY.
A considerable portion of the people
of the present day appear to regard it
as their duty to make strait jackets
FOR the rest Of their kind. and to com:
pei the wearing of the garment. They
regard themselves as their brothers.
keeper in more senses than one. While
they repudiate responsibility for his
acts, they insist that those acts be per-
formed in conformity with certain rules
and regulations prescribed by law, and
that any deviation from the letter or
spirit OF those regulations shall lie pun
lshed with the utmost severity. They
seem to think that all men are made in
the same mould, that they should have
the same appetiteS, the same ambitions,
the same desires.
This idea is at the bottom of all the
restrictive and sumptuary legislation so
popular nowadays. Some men feel no
need of artificial stimulants. They may
be abundantly supplied by nature, or
they may be Dhlegmatic. and care moth
ing for the eXcitements that are pro-
duced by Stimulation. They think the
rest of mankind should be like them.
and they enact laws for the repression
OF all natural impulses, for the regula-
ton of natural appetites. for the sup
preston of inordinate desires or harm
less pleasures. For however much we
may Geprecate intemperance and con-
denim tippling, the fact cannot be over
looked that occasional indulgence in
alcoholic stimulants is not only neces-
Sary, but beneficial to some men. Those
OF nervous disposition require no eXcit-
ing potions; nature las supplied them
with all that Is necessary; but many
men are lethargic. dull-even stupid
without them. and cannot be aroused to
action; cannot show the mettle of which
they are made, unless artificially
aroused.
1t is not the province of the law to
prescribe that a man shall not drink
alcoholic StImuiantS. 1t would be just
as competent to dictate that man should
eat nothing but corned beef and cabbage
as to say that he shall drink nothing
stronger than Lake Phalen water or tea
and coffee. And, indeed, it is quite as
harmful for some people to indulge in
tea and coffee as it is for others to drink
whisky, wine or beer.
All sumptuary legislation is PERM
cious. 1t interferes with the personal
liberty of the citizen. and is ut war with
our theories of government The law
is not to blame for the existence of
drunkards any more than it is for the
existence of gluttouS. aud libertines,
and paupers. 1t cannot make man
industrious against his will; it cannot
make him vIrtuOus when nature has
created him otherwise; 1t cannot create
new desires nor eradicate old ones that
may be inherited or of long standing.
Ehe Ethiopian cannot change his skin
nor the leopard his spots at the behest
of a legislative enactment. And a man
will never be made temperate or virtu-
Gus by placing him in strait Jacket.
Fine restraint will make him only the
Inore defiant and disregardful OF the
law and more resentful of the men who
make it.
The strait-jacket policy has been
tried in this city and in many of the
ueighboring states, with results that all
men are familiar with. Drunkenness
was never as prevalent in Iowa as since
the effort was made to prohibit the
manufacture and sale of liquor. In
Kansas and the Dakotas repreSSlve leg
islation has had the effect of increasing
rather than diminishing the vice. and
the people are in rebellion against the
laws. Wherever elections have been
held this spring a loud protest has
arisen against prohibitory laws. With
scarcely an exception, all the Minnesota
towns that have been heard from have
voted i'll favor of the licensing of the
liquor traffic. This does not argue that
the people are advocates of intemper-
ance OF of liquor drinking. but that they
are opposed to making strait Jackets
or themselves and their neighbors to
wear Occasions ARISE when even the
most big0ted prohibitiOniSt is in need
of alcoholic stimulation. He wants the
privilege of procuring it when such
times come There is, besides, a grow
ing conviction that all attempts to regu-
late the human appetite by law are
bound to fail. and that the best means
to promote intemperance is by prohibit
Ing the sale or consumption of alcoholic
beverages. 1t is natural to mankind to
eat of forbidden fruit, and useless to at
tempt to cure the fault. A lack of
knowledge OF human nature Is at the
root of all sumptuary legislation. 1t
would be we'll for all concerned to bea::
in mind that knowledge of natural dis
position is necessary to all Intelligent
treatment of a social evil; and before
they labor to cure the sin, they should
labor to comprehend it.
THE bigoted and unlawful A. P. A.
organization occasioned loss of four
lives at Kansas City yesterday. The
'scene" was gotten up IOr the benefit
of the Republican party.
NI'KINLEYISM UP TO DATE.
The Minneapolis Tribune is not up to
date in McKinleyism. 1t insists that
the increase of wages in this country,
that is, ''some of this increase, may be
the incident and some the consequence
of import duties" Mr.. voorhees,, whose
speech it is criticising, says that ''di-
rectly the reverse is true, but he does