Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-07-18

at.nUpOllt. yin lai.'5 udS'S SP-N'S A-SiS
tru.hIully or With more fe2Ieul import
the evils CT the liquor traffic tran ale
following from an EDITORIAL in The New
York Tribune some years ago? 1t says,
speaking OF the ravagas OF the Aqucr
traffic:
"'There is to-day in the English
speaking countries no such tremendous,
far-reaching, vital question as that; or
drunkenness. In its implications and
effects it overshadoV5 all e.ise.
ct lies at the center OF all social and
political mischief.
1T paralyzes energies in every dd-
reo.iVrL II neiutralizeS educational
agencies. 1t silerceG lie voice CT ne
ligicn. 1t battles penal reform. Il r%1rs
sllcft a mass of evil"y inspired power
which at every salient point threatens
social and national advance, which
gives to ignorance and vice a greater
potency than intelligence and virtue can
command; which dtaprives the peer OF
the advantages Of modern progress;
Nla.ch Gebauches and Gagradas millions,
brutalizing and saddening them below
the p.anes OF healthy Savagery, arld fill
irry tAe center of population w1ih crea-
tUues 0f,Sae conditto'll almost excuses
the immortality which renders chem
Gangaoous to their generation.
=
Can any political organization be
said to represent the best aspirations
and the strongest needs of the people
while this abiding source of misery,
crime and poverty is allowed to spread
", =
thing Of that sacred fire which kindled
into inextingu.shabie heat the zeal of
the abolit,cnists, which compelled the
abandonment of human slavery, to
rouse the national indignation and alb
laurence against this very much greater
evil
Holding the view, therefore, that
the saloon is a nuisance, the Prohibi-
ton parry firmly insists that the same
principle shall be applied to it as is ap-
! piled to other nuisances, and demands
that it shall be abollshed-in other
words, that the saloon shall be placed
under the ban of the law, rather than
receive it's sanction and protection as it
does now. 4 political party is neces-
sary for the accomplishment of this
because the traffic is engrafted in law
| and recognized as legal by the various
States and national government, and
hence. being a matter for legislative ac-
ton t becomes like all other questions
Of a public nature, regarding which
there is difference Of opinion, polit-
zeal question.
But some say you cannot make men
moral by law. The Prohibition party
makes no such claims and holds no such
views. 1t simply holds that the saloon
is a stumbling block over which men
and women are stumbling by the thou
sands every year with all the conse-
ouential evils, and appeals by every
noble impulse that can animate human
i.y. by every thing that is sacred by the
groan,s and GgCnies of mothers, widows
and children. to the man Of this nation,
to whom is entrusted by law the sacred
right of suffrage that they shall rise IN
their might and remove this rock OF
stumbling and stone Of offence and cast
1t away forever.
"But another objection rises and
says: oh, you cannot enforce prohibit
tory lava This has been a pet saying
of the politician, the liquor dealer ard
The supporters Of those parties which
protected the saloon for q long tune,
and was REGARDED as unanSWerable and
removed the question from the arnea CT
debate. Without any change OF exist
ing avs. il took but few weeks for one
man. who had regard fer the oath he
took when installed in Office, and in the
ri irt,
keepers to disprove such a pernioiouS
doctrine.
"Theo5ore Roosevelt. as Police Com
missioner CT New York City, insisted
tAgG law should be enforced, and did
what was regarded by many as imp05-
sib,e. closed the saloons in that city on
Sunday, ard thus proved that law can
be enforced even against saloon keep
ers when the officials are disposed TO
do so Listen to this le5ter from Mr..
Roosevelt, written to a gentleman in
California and dated June 6, 1896:
Dear Sir:-The Sunday Lew has
beJu absolutely enforced for t-l3 past
year here in New York 1t is perfectly
possible to enforce ,'Ae laws, if the city
officials VII Go tleir be.c 10 Sae that
they are enforced.
(Signed.) THEODORE ROOSEVELT
''Up to this point have no doubt you
all agree with me and are ready to eX-
press your sympathy, like the plank in
the Republican platform for any wise
and we'll directed efforts to lessen and
prevent the evils OF intemperance. But
the practical question Is, What are you
going to do about It? j have nothing
but contempt for the man who sees his
neighbor in need, has the ability to help
him, but tries to satisfy him with offers
of sympathy. What do you suppose
would have been Mr.. Lincoln's feelings,
and what would have become of the
country if after his second call for
troops. the only replies he received
had been those of sympathy? No, no!
the answer came back from hilltop and
valley. from town and country-in
prompt and loud responses: we are
coming three hundred thousand strong
and they came, and we know the result.
Fellow citizens, your country, your
homes. your families, the boys-your
bows. perhaps-who are to be the vic
tins OF this Hydra-headed monster in
the years TO come, n short suffering
humanity at every point cries aloud to-
dav for help. What will your answer
be? Shall ii be a meaningless answer
of sympathy? Or will you rise in the
might of your manhlCCd and say by the
grace of God, by our strong arms, and
by our votes this evil shall be put away
from among us?"
Then came Mr.. Lever.ng's running
mate. Hon. Hale Johnson, Of Illinois.
He. too. was greeted with applause. He
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