People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-01-26
Sainons I'm .ksnsaS.
The following letter appeared in tli'

The following letter appeared in the
New York Witness of Bee. q;
To THE EDITOR: Having just re-
turned from a three months stay in
the West, portion of which time
was spent 10 the State of Kansas,
and seeing upon myTeturn from that
State an article in a Chicago paper,
purpOrting to come from one Fl. G..
Stringer, headed. prohibition in
Kansas Faroe"--will yau permit me
to give plain statement of facts as
they really exist in that State?
! went there for the express pur-
pose of investigating the truth in re-
gard to the effect of the prOhibitOry
law. | did not go in the employ of
any government or Company? as Mr..
Stringer did, but solely on my own re-
SpOnsibility; and am prepared to bear
testimony to the truth of what | say.
have heard such statme1tS as Mr.
Stringer's before, from those who
never saw Kansas: and who are only
too willing to lend themselves to the
enemy, and give encouragement to
those who are opposed to any healthy
law.
There are two meanings to the word
prohibit. First, the same as forbid;
and second, the same as prevent.
Prohibition always fOrbidS. but it
does not always prevent. Why not
always prevent? For much the same
reason that an ak does not always
chop: for the same reason that any
law against crime does not always
prevent the crime. A law is simply
an instrument. and will no more en-
force itself than an instrument like
an ak will WELD itself.
There is a law against bribery; is it
enforced? Sometimes it sand at other
times tits not; its efficiency depending
entirely upon the character of the
officials whose duty it is TO enforce it.
This is true also in regard to the laws
that prohibit stealing and murder.
If those in authority do their duty
and sees that these laws are properly
enforced they will prevent a great
deal of stealing and murder, but will
not prevent it all.
A law prohibiting the sale of liquor
will not enforce itself. When it is
not enforced it will not prevent sales
of liquor any more than law against
stealing, when not enforced will pre-
vent stealing.
Probably nowhere in this country
can you find more striking illustra-
tion of the practical results of pro-
hibition as compared with the license
system, than in the twin cities Of
Kansas City, Me-, and Kansas City,
Kan.
l find they are practically one, ex-
cept as regards the laws and their ad-
ministratiOn; the only separation be-
tween them being State line" be-
tween high license Missouri and pro-
hibition Kansas. The two cities are
SOlidly built up and connected by an
excellent street car system.
In Kansas City, Mo. there are about
10000 inhabitants and and any num-
Der of saloons under high license.
Kansas City, Kan, has about 10000
population and no licensed liquor
traffice. lbeleiveitis true that there
is what is called "joints" in Kansas
City, Kan, where liquor can be had
to a limited extent, but they are SO
harassed and driven about that the
business is not very profitable tothem.
made a special effort during my
stay there to find even one Of these
places by myself, but could not. The
nearest / came to it was while talk.
ing to a gentleman out upon the street
upon the subject, he pointed to long
dark hall way and intimated that
somewhere in there | might find such
a place.
After having Travelled the entire
length of one of the business street!
with the above result, | concluded thai
ifsuch places, did exist, they were 81
hidden away, and under such cOndi
tiOns that there could be no more I'm
certainty in anyone's mind as to the
fact that the saloon was Outlawed.
Feeling satisfied with the result o.
my Investigations in prOhibitatioI
Kansas, l concluded to see the othe
side, consequently | stepped over tn,
line into high license Missouri. Nov
this line is nothing more nor less thai
a two inch plank set on edge and run
ming through the centre of one of tn
business streets and sticking abov
the ground not more than one and
half inches. / took but six step
from this line when ran against al
open saloon, and in one short block
counted twelve drunkard factories.
/ continued my journey to tn
Southern border Of the State, stOl
ping in the city Of Wellington, Kan
still unable to find a liquor saloon i