The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-02-13

number of drug stores of any state of
its population. To inhibit an unmiti-
gated evil no exceptions can be permits
sible. The law in legalizing the traf-
fic in drug stores, and prohibiting it in
saloons simply encouraged the competi-
ton of the Join" Hence the legaliZ-
ing of exceptions broad enough 10 cover
any ordinary traffic has led municipal
| authorities in the larger cities 10 seek
public revenue from it, which such
traffic seems ever able 10 bear. This
condition in turn has given rise to
a systematic viola ton of law more &c
moralizing than an open saloon policy,
| however loose, could possibly prove.
! Prohibition in this country is the nat
ural offspring, the legitimate child ot
! PuritaniSm, that stern, coercive and
repressive creed based not upon the
| love of Christ but upon the veDgeful
code Of Moses emphasized by the thun-
ders of Sinai. Fearless, it must be adj
mitted. but merciless in all their efforts
| to establish their mad dream. a
| theocracy, the PuritanS had no sooner
gained control of the English govern
ment than they commenced enacting
and enforcing the most vigorous laws
against the paStimeS diversions and
long established habits of the people.
The history Of those times informs us
how far they succeeded in the realiZa-
ton of their pet ideal Of a tneocratic
government. 1t died with Cromwell,
and from noble TO peasant, the Eng
lish nation preferred the licentiOus and
prOfigate monarch Charles the Second,
to the rigid and cheerless rule of the
saints, and the people so long restrain
ed,-as is always the caSe-rushed TO
the opposite extreme, and excess be-
came the order or rather disorder of
the day. Bacchanalian revel succeeded
the conventicle. Then, as now, the
majority of men were conservative,
and regarded innovation with aver
sion, more especially so WHEN it con-
fiicted with their habits of pleasure
seeking or religion, as every attempt
of the state at prescription in either
direction must from the nature of
things end in failure.
After the sumptuary embargo with
its attendant evils had been wiped out
in England, a select band OF the "di-
vinely q elected" so jealous Of their
own liberties, but so regardless Of the
liberties of others, planted their stan
dard of anathema and vengeance on
this continent, bringing with them a
frigidity of atmosphere that lowered
the inhospitable New England temper
AZURE many degrees below the normal
condition. and froZe the souls of men
for long long years. Here. too, energy
proved failure, and Puritanism was
compelled TO give way to more enlight-
ened and generous views of humanity.
The fraternal feeling, necessary to the
very existence Of society, cannot be
maintained by religiO-pOltical strait
jackets. The style of garment is So
outlandishly ancient and the fabric so
threadbare and rotten that, imposed
upon the healthy man Of today, swell
ing with disgust and Indignation, he
soon bursts it and frees himself. Bull
lets can be moulded exactly alike, but
not men. The pinchbeck Puritans of
the present day may for some time to
come keep up their death-dance to the
discomfort and at the expense of prac-
teal good-intentiOned citizens, but it
fate. They will die Of their own moral
rottenneSs. a charge easily sustained
by reference TO the criminal methods |
by the agents Of prOsecu-
ton. and the generally offensive NAL |
OdorouS character of these agents, |
with in many instances criminal |
records behind them. There is no in |
dividual so low in the social scale, or |
so degraded in morals as TO be prac- !
tically exiled from decent society, who |
is unfit for the uses of these fellows. |
bounded on by the present state admin
istration.
"Cans't thou not minister to q mind |
ought to be the burden OF |
the prayer of all the piously inclined |
in behalf of our chief executive and his |
cOadjutorS. Restored to reason. some /
of these men might possibly become
useful citizens again, Others would sub
serve the welfare of society best under
lock and key.