The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-04-17
rHEIArEsr ourRAGE.

From an advance proof Of the wichita Eagle)
Another crime against the liberty
of the individual has been committed.
Again the relentless. tyrannical, big
oted enforcement of law is sacrificing
Wichita, the peerless princess of the
plains. Her industries are stopped,
merchants are closing up their doors,
manufacturers are fleeing from the
scene of desolation and owls and bats
are making their homes in the once
busy scenes of commerce. Once more
the devoted citizens who have been
battling for freedom, buelness aud
beer are compelled to rend their
clothes, put on sack clothes and ashes
and go down in the basement to take
q drink.
The outrage was as follows: Three
of the leading citizens of Wichita were
quietly pursuing their accustomed
avocatlon of breaking the law. They
were not only doing this for their own
profit but also for the good of the city
and the morals of the community.
They had been instructed that the
prosperity of Wichita depended upon
this work and the more frequent the
violations the happier and richer
every body would be. These three
prominent citizens were ruthlessly
held up by the chief of police, robbed
of 800 each and notified that if they
again presumed to sell liquor on Sun
day their fixtures would be broken
and their doors hammered in.
And that is why Wichita is in
mourning today. That is why the
streets are deserted, the banks are
closed, the hearts of the people bro
ken and even the little birds refuse to
sing.
Just as we had shown to the world
that Wichita is above law, just as we
had taken the governor of Kansas by
the slack of the breeches and hurled
his emissaries over the wall, and he
had crept back begging our pardon
for his presumption in attempting to
carry out his official oath, just at this
time when we had demonstrated
that city must violate the law in
order to prosper, we are confronted
with the insidiOus attack upon the
material welfare, The spiritual happi-
ness, the commercial interests of the
peerless princess.
If this attack on our peculiar civili-
cation is not met and vanquished, the
people of Wichita will have to obey
the law just like common citizens of
Kansas. 1t will soon come to pass
that supreme court decision or a
Kansas statute will be Obeyed. And
such prospect is enough to make
freedom shrek until the Arkansas
valley is filed with her cry, and it
runs over into the Walnut and the
Minnesota.
Some one may say that violating
the law six days in a week ought to
be sufficient. But we say mo" Ten
thousand times no." and a few to
carry. 1t is not reasonable to say it
is right to violate law six days and
obey one day. Yes, more, it is treas
enable. 1t is a crime against the
liberty loving people who came to the
sun-kissed prairies expressly to drink
draughts of freedom and red-eye. 1t
is the most stupendous wong of the
century-the most obnoxious act of a
law-obeying spirit which threatens
the foundation of society.
Let the citizens of Wichita unite in
one mighty effort, organize myster-
ious lodges and pass ordinances of
secession and. notification. Let US
remember that the way to build up a
city is to put a saloon on every hill
and another one in the valley. Let
us stand for our rights, and remem-
Der that if we admit a law must be
obeyed one day we cannot help but
admit it ought to be Obeyed the next.
! Hutchinson NeWs.