Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-08-14
KEEP THE RECORD STRAIGHT.

ing a whisky party" in spite of the
fact that Democratic laws and Dem
ocratic votes have outlawed the saloon
in all but six counties in the State.
But then consistency is not part of
the Populist platform.--LincOln CouR-
tn Times.
The LEADER is not specially COM
missioned to fight the Populists's bat
ties, but it wants to keep the Prohibi-
ton record straight. In the first place,
the statement made by the Times and
other Democratic papers of late that
there are only six whisky counties left
in the State, and by which they try to
take credit to the Democratic party, is
not true. AS a matter of fact there
are Is license or saloon counties in
Mississippi at this time, to-wit: Han
cock, Harrison, jackson, Wilkinson,
Adams, Warren, Washington, Tunica,
Quitman, Grenada, Marshall, Madison
and Monroe. Possibly there may be
others still. The Democrats have
had the Governor and an overwhelm-
ing majority of the Legislature ever
since 1915, and they had the Constitu-
tional Convention of 1890. If the Dem
ocratic party is the friend of Prohibi-
ton the Times would have its readers
infer. why should there be one saloon
county left in the State, to say nothing
of 10?
THE LEADER has previously shown
how even such a halfway Prohibition
measure as the county local option
law was extorted from a Democratic
Legislature with the greatest Difficult
| ty, and only conceded at last to avert
impending party disruption and shift
the responsibility for prohibition off
on the people of the counties without
reference to their party affiliations.
In these local option campaigns, we
have usually had nearly all of the
Democratic party leaders and news
papers either occupying a position of
"bold neutrality, as the Clarion
Ledger did during the recent contest
in Kinds, or else openly siding with
| the saloons, buns and worst class of
negroes against the preachers, good
women and the most moral citizens of
the community. This is the record.
BY the way, will the Lincoln County
Times come out unequivocally and
say it favors and endorses the prohi-
bition of the liquor traffic, and if so
when it became convert to the doc
trine Can it point to one single ed
itorial endorsement of Prohibition in
| its columns and give che date? We do
not recall one, but we remember
many slurring and discrediting Prohi-
bition.
On the other hand, most of the men
who now constitute the Prohibition
and Populist parties of Mississippi
have been among the most potent fac
tors for prohibition in all local option
contests. Last year in Attala county,
Hon. w. p. Ratlif. Chairman &c the
Populist State Committee, with his
paper, the Alliance indicator, led the
fight which redeemed that county from
the saloon curse; while the Star, the
Democratic county paper, and most
of the county Democratic leaders sup
ported the saloon. In the adjoining
county of Holmes, little later, the
Peoples party paper, the Bulletin of
Reform, was outspoken and aggressive
for Prohibition; while the Democratic
Advertiser was neutral and the most
influential Democratic leader in the
county was an oatspoken anti. The
Populist paper and its allies carried
the day. Frank Burkitt worked the
rabbit foot" which carried Chicka-
saw into the dry column last year in
spite of the Democratic whisky ring of
Okolona 1t was upright and fearless
r. P. Barr, formerly Republican, but
now a Party Prohibitionist, who did
more than any other one man to place
Kinds ia the Prohibition column at
the late local option election. And
Rev. l.. S. Jones, of Canton, anct-lvr
Prohibition party man, is the moral
hero and loyal patriot who is now lead
ing the fight which ii is hoped will re-
deem Madison, while he is being op-
posed at every step by the saloons and
leading Democratic politicians of Can
ton.
Finally, coming nearer home again,
if that local option election had been
called to vote saloons back into Lin
coin (which the Times says in another
article was contemplated), who would
have been the first to raise the white
banner of Prohibition and champion
the cause of the women and children,
morality and right, as against that
blighting curse, the dram shop |?
Would it have been the Times or the
chief organ and leader of the Demo
cratic party of Lincoln, with their
well-known anti-prohibition records !?
We pause for reply.