Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-04-17
A GALL IU ACIlON s.
An Address by the State PrOhi-
bitiOn Executive COM
mittec.
A Strong and Clear Present
mcnt of II Great Issue.
Political Action the Only Solu-
ton of the Problem.
The Liquor Record of the Old
Parties Reviewed.
The Democracy in Open League
with the Liquor Power.
Thorough Organization of the Prohibi
tion Party the Need of the Hour
A State Convention Called for
Wednesday, June 9th.
70 the Prohibitionists of Mississippi

To the Prohbtionists of Mississippi
The State Executive Committee of
the Prohibition party of Mississippi,
with a view to securing the thorough
and effective organization of all citi-
zens of the State in sympathy with the
objects and principles of the National
Prohibition party, have deemed this
an oppoItune time to address you and
present some of the most impor-
tant reasons for party action.
The last partisan Prohibition
State Convention held in Mississippi,
composed of men of variant political
affiliations and religious creeds, ar
raigned the lcgalized liquor traffic in
the following
STRONG AND SIGNIFICANT LANGUAGE s:
We affirm that the saloon is an un-
mltigated moral, social, financial and
political evil. 1t is at war with all the
religious forces which tend to build
men up into better lives. 1t breeds
every social disorder and wars persist
emily on the home and all organized
society 1t wastes the living of depen-
dent women and children and destroys
the productive energies of the people.
1t seeks to control for corrupt purpos-
es political parties. 1t enslaves many
public men, subverts public justice,
debauches the public conscience, trains
its patrons to per jury, and is the i'm
State. We declare that every effort to
been a failure. That while the law
forbids any one to engage in the traffic
who is not of good moral character, the
business has drifted into the hands of
the very worst class of men in the
country, mostly foreign born. and
without love for American institutions.
And, further, in the main, efforts to
enforce the provisions of the laws
against the traffic have failed for the
reason that the corrupting influence
of the saloon reaches the inner courts
of justice and subverts all law. The
license system has built up a great
monopoly in our midst which is strong
er than law, contrary to all sound
principles of government and repug-
nant to the spirit of free institutions.
High license we condemn as snare
and delusion. It has had only one eff
feet and that is to make the traffic more
powerful and more dangerous. We
declare it to be the only wise policy
for the State to withdraw from all
partnership with the saloon, to put it
under ban of law, to turn the whole
power of the State against it as a COM
mon enemy, not only bad itself but
the ally of all other evils which affiict
society; the habitat of the thief, the
gambler, the thug, the prostitute, and
strong factor in all corrupt combines.
We declare that no christian or hu-
manitarian or patriot can consistently
support the saloon by word, vote or act,
and that it is the part of patriotism to
hold public men to "a strict account
for their completely with this great
public enemy.
A deliverance published within the
past few weeks over the names of
Mississippians, prominent in both
Church and State, denounces the IL
quor traffic as "the greatest eUil of the
age"
Indictments similar to the tore
going by Prohibition conventions,
temperance societies, church confer
ences, conventions, associations, etc,
might be quoted by the scores and
hundreds. We quote from but one
other here, which presents in another
phase, some conception of
TIE MAGNITUDE OF THE QUESTION
FINANCIALLY
According to the most reliable sta
tistics obtainable, the people of this
Christian nation spend every year, for
bread, $505, 900, 900; for meat, 1915,
600, 900; for sugar and molasses, $3.50,
100000; for cotton goods, 1920, 900,
600; boots and shoes, $3.50, ,000, 900; for
education, $S5 200, 900; for missions,
(Home and Foreign) $5,500,O00; and
for liquor, direct cost, 81 100000, 200
The liquor traffic costs every year
more than our whole civil service, oul
army, our navy, our Congress-, includ-
ing internal improvements and
pen sion bills, our wasteful local
gov ernments; and all National
State, county and municipal debts
In tact, this country pays more
annually for liquor than for every
function of every kind of government
The two leading political parties in
the last National campaign made the
tariff the chief issue. The total value
of du.iable merchandise imported into
the United States for the fiscal yeal
1891, was $47S,674, 4,S44; the total
amount of customs duties collected