The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-01-10

Of property, and, therefore, of influence
in their communities. Emerson, with
acute observation, declared that 'wha1
the owners wish to do, the whole power
of property will do, either through the
law or else in defiance of it" 1t is no!
that the men themselves wish to pat
ronize saloons, for not few active op-
ponents of prohibition are abstemious
but business men believe the liquor
traffic helps business" taxpayers be-
lieve licenses from saloons would light
en- the burden of direct taxation; and
landlords believe saloons would afford
profitable and punctual tenants for
now tenantleSS rooms and buildings.
Business men and lawyers, visited by
men Of consequence from other states
where drinking is fashionable, desire
In the interest of business to Hospitality
entertain their guests, and to this end
establish fashionable clubs where
liquors are dispensed. Many gentle
men who do not drink patroniZe these
clubs, as elegant places for talking
over business affairs with out-of-town
customers, dealers, or clients, and, OF
course, contribute toward paying for
the liquor brought in by express from
without the state. Prominent mem
berS and supporters of fashionable
churches belong to such clubs. Social
entertainments are given in the ciub
parlors. are attended by gentlemen
because of its social prestige, as well as
its opportunities for good fellowship,
membership is coveted by officers
charged with the laws administration,
nof-even judges Scorning the privilege
The public sentiment which stays the
hands of local officials is thus made
I'D. At bottom it is a business"
nnoney-making sentiment. 1t is not
whisky. but money-businesS-
which the war has now to be Waged.
Such q war can only be waged by
taking all profit out Of the liquor trafflc;
and this can be done only by having
the government become the sole dis
penser of liquors, selling them at actual
cost.
POOR METROPOLITAN POLICE.
"Prohibitory methods may be the
best methods for the present, but re-
cent experiences indicate that this law
was not intended to operate upon all
classes alike. The thoughtlesS failure
OF your executiveto make this import
ant distinction has led to great deal
of tribulation to police commissioners
and the policemen they appointed. In
one city especially, while the pulpit
and the press were clamoring for
stricter enforcement. Of this law, the
new chief of police, soon after his APP
pointment searched the premises of
certain club patroniZed by influential
gentlemen and arrested some OF the
managers and took them before the po-
lice judge in the most ordinary manner.
Immediately the city was in commo-
ton. The most ultra prohibition news
paper in the city bitterly denounced the
police for interfering with gentlemen,
for whom the law was not intended.
And the clergynen who had been most
clamorous for a Stricter law now
devoted themselves to the vitupera-
ton of the misguided officials who had
presumed to try to keep whisky out Of
saints who sat in the pews, and paid
TO sit there. A district judge decided
that as only a certain percentage of
the members used the club as a saloon,
the remaining, abstemious percentage
sanctifed the entire premises and ex-
tracted the evil principle of illegality
from the liquor dispensed there; and
that in not properly regarding this
plain distinction between this club and
other clubs, the police had acted ille-
gally. The police commissioners were
sued for damages enough
TO furnish the state house.
LORENZO GETS SARCASTIC.
The executive and attorney general
were guilty Of another serious blunder |
of similar character. Not dreaming !
crap-shooters and poker-players, the !
general, encouraged by the |
executive, proceeded to Kansas City |
Kan, and there caused the arrest and |
commitment of certain gentlemen |
whose gambling was to that of the or
binary gambler as the volume of the |
sugar trust business is to that of |
village bootblack; gentlemen who We're, |
in fact, conducting lotteries with large !
incomes and small outlay. But this, I
too, proved to be an outrage. The out |
ragged citizens whose business had thus |
been interfered with, obtained writs of |
habeaS corpus and were released; the !
local jurist decided that this profita BILE /
species Of gambling is not unlawful; |
that the gambling laws apply only to |
common gamblers.
Sheriffs and county attorneys within |
whose jurisdiction are the principal cit |
les Of the state seem for the two years !
last past to have entirely forgotten the |
existence of the prohibition law, until /
during the recent political campaign,
when they acted it all, did so as a rule /
in hostility to the police, instead of act
ing in harmony with them.
Indeed the experience OF the retir-
ing executive has been not different |
from what it might have been had he
been sent here by some alien power to |
govern the state as conquered prov
iHCe- he was eiecleO Dy a MAJORITY OF
the sovereign people yet not for a sin
gle hour has he had the loyal support /
Of all the citizens as the governor of |
the state. Proceedings in qua war
ranto had to be resorted to in order
to install appointees to the board of
railroad commissioners. Every attempt
by the executive to disband a company |
Of the national guard. as companies /
had been hitherto disbanded, and as
the supreme court afterwards declared
he had full right to disband them, was
met by mutiny, instigated by a pub
lished letter of the eX-adjutant gem
eral- In one instance a probate Judge !
assumed, by injunction, to stay the
arm of the supreme executive of the
state in the exercise of his power as
commander-in-chief of the militia
BLAMES COUNTY OFFICERS
In another case at Topeka, an in
junction was applied for but refused,