Mississippi leader., 1894-06-19

cuciuy VI tuc race. Inc evils OF IL are
upon us, and the way out must be our
chief concern. This must be through
concerted political action. The legal
protection given to this traffic is its bull
wark. This legal sanction must give
place to legal prohibition
The slave block existed as long as it
was intrenched behind law and upheld
by political parties. 1t disappeared only
when it was legally prohibited. So has
it been and SO will it be with the liquor
saloon. No amount of compromises in
the name of regulation" or ''restric-
ton, )" not the Mason and Dixon's line
nor the fugitive slave law, hindered or
weakened the arm of human slavery.
Abolition, with political party back
of it, alone did the work
Legislative compromises, in the name
of restriction and regulation" of the
poison traffic, are as numerous almost
as our statutes and all have proved to
be monumental failures We have tried
to curtail its growth by high and low
tax, high and low license; we have re-
quired Sunday and holiday, II o'clcock
and other day and o'clock closing; we
have prohibited saloons by so many feet
from schoolhouses, churches and grave
yards; we have tried the "mulct" plan,
which is only new name by which we
have rebaptized the same old curse Of
license; we have adopted prohibitory
laws in many states without electing
prohibition men or parties to enforce
them, only to see these laws partially
enforced for time, then overthrown,
that one of the two old parties might
gain supremacy in Office by making a
football of existing prohibition laws
All these experiments have proved in
efficient to fully settle the question
History and experience teach that if
we ever solve this national problem we
must have national political combina-
tion, or party, to write, execute and
maintain laws abolishing this traffic.
Let us review facts in proof of this de-
mand.
In the whole history of legislative
dealings with this question we have in
various states adopted state wide pro-
hibition 26 times OF these laws the
Democratic party has adopted 10 and
repealed 4; the Republican party has
adopted 8 and repealed z, with the par
ty now trying in Iowa to repeal the
present prohibitory law, in harmony
with its promise in return for the whis-
ky money and vote in the last election.
The Republican and Know Nothing
parties adopted 8; Wing, 2; American,
l., and the latter repealed law.
These facts are ample proof that po-
litieal party which considers prohibition
of the liquor traffic of so slight impor-
tance as to ignore it in the party plat
form cannot be trusted to settle the
question politically. Neither can par
ty that considers any other question par
work successfully and permanently
Therefore if we would forever settle this
question it must be done by political
party pledged especially to this service.
1t is recognized law of mechanics
that special tools and machinery must
be constructed to perform special work
This is as true Of political as of any 9TH
er work. Again, neither the Democratic
nor the Republican party could settle
this question if they would. In each
party there is majority of good, pa
triotic men, but there is also vicious
minority, this last largely composed of
rum dealers and their henchmen This
minority is bound to do the one thing,
protect the saloon interests by appropri-
ate legislation. 1t stands upon the full
crum between the two old parties, which
are SO evenly divided in numbers, and
throws itself on either side, first one,
then the other, all this time seizing
upon any issue that is at hand to inten-
sify the party spirit. They give the pow
er first to one and then to the other of
these parties, sure that as long as they
can keep up this seesaw the liquor traf
fic is comparatively safe from prohibit
i've legislation. Nor would the cause be
better served by the Populists, for they
are too compromising to make declara-
tions against the traffic or to promise,
if once in power, that they would out
law the whole business and keep it out
lawed
The Prohibition party was organized
Sept. /, 1869. From that day to the
present this ever increasing band has
withstood the terrible onslaughts of
those engaged in the traffic. Many have
lost their lives at the hands of rum as
sassins, while reputation and business
interests have been assailed without
stint or mercy. But these things are
naught when compared to the persecu-
ions heaped upon this band by the press
and leaders Of the Democratic and Re-
publican parties. As soon as men or
women of influence have presumed to
exercise the right of every American,
that of independent political action, al
most every sin in the category has been
charged to their hitherto blameless lives.
Notwithstanding all these things they
stand and are growing stronger and
stronger as the years roll by. 1t is uni
versally acknowledged that it is the
moral principle espoused by the Prohi-
bitionists that has held them together
throughout all these years of opposition.
At the hands of such voters must come
the solution Of the liquor question.
This party in control of the govern
ment would adopt absolute prohibition
for state and nation. Their executive
officers, believing in the policy, would
assure enforcement of laws and adequate
punishment for violation of the same
Every child would be taught in schools
the effect Of ALCOHOL upon the human
system, and these would 60 forth as
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