The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-01-05
PITHY ARGUMENT.
Mr.. A. j. Kintz Replies to Mr.
John Banners Criticism.
ANOTHER VIEW or pRoHIBITIoN
A Phiiosopbic Dissertation on the Rela
tonship of the Liquor Tramc to
Movements Moral and
Political

Political.
Editor News Democrat - Brother Dam
ner makes few statements through the
Democrat and challenges Major Baird or
anyone else TO oontrovert them. As one
Of the anyone else 1 would like to be
allowed to make q few comments on
these statements.
The first statement was that the sale Of
Intoxicating liquors as bsversg ge was an
immoral business. To this statement I
say amen, right you are.
The second statement, that any license
law that legalises the liquor traffic was
an immoral law. Right again, Brother
Dancer.
The third statement Ia that any vote
o'st for any political party that favors
licensing the sale of Intoxicating liquors
as beverage was an immoral act. To
this would say, not always. I hold
that In a pulor government It often
becomes necessary to cast such votes
from patriotic motives, then they become
moral acts.
| To illustrste: The first essential thing
/
with the individual is to sustain life and
to remove all danger that threatens life
and everything else is secondary to this.
Then, wien all danger is removed, to
improve the morYls Of the individual is
In oder, and rot until then. This much
think Brother Dsnner will admit.
Now let us transfer this idea from the
Individual to government Of the people
for the people and by the people. We as
intelligent and potriotio people are in
terested in sustaining those fundamental
principles. Theo when danger threatens
their existence 1t becomes the duty uf
every patriotic citizen TO do what can be
done to remove that danger, instead of
building up stumbling blocks with
secondary oonsideratiJ Ours Is sup.
posed to be q popular government, and
In sll popular governments the laws are
the expressions 4 the people and will
always be In keeping with the m orals Of
that people. Now as there are but two
dominert political ideas, aristocraoy and
demo craoy, there can be but two dom
insnt political parties, and dominant
political parties never raise In morals
above the morals of the people. Minority
parties may, but dominant parties never.
They would not get votes enough to be
don,inan parties II they did. TIE Re-
publican party as new party became a
! dominant party at one bound because
both the old Whig party and the Dem
I 10 -. -, H., a ri.
power, which was inimical to our re-
/ publican Ideas Of government. Then
/ patriotism demanded that all intelligent
/ citizens vote for that new party to save
the life Of our popular government But
the morals Of th Q new Republican party
being In keeping with tne morals of the
people, 1t soon fell into the hands Of
another enemy to popular government,
| plutocracy. And hold that patriotism
again demands that every intelligent
citizen vote with any party that repre-
sents popular government that has the
greatest show Of power, without regard
to morals, rather than to increase the
danger by voting for some minority
party that has no show at all. 1t is very
natural for people to drift along with
aristoeracy and imperialism. Man
naturally mimics after the sublime and
the beautiful, and to see that we are
drifting in that direction we have only
to look at all our public buildings,
schools, churches, parsonages and palace
cars for our officials in high places to ride
in, all cor str ntly increasing in cost and
s tyle. while the people who have to pay
for them are constantly growing poorer
from the average down. Investigation
will show that when these people build
fJr themselves or make improvements tn
their homes 1t Is mostly done with bur-
rowe1 capital, while those that rent are
constantly seeking cheaper rents, not be-
caase they want to live In poorer houses
but conditions are such that they cannot
pay higher rents. Guuton says, Social
progress IN owes from the material to So
cial, the intellectual and the moral.
Take the material from the people and
you take the morals and the intelligence
from society. Penticost says, Morality Is
the result of observed justice, while
justice is nowhere to be seen where We
are won't to look for 1t. And fear that
al istocracy is today fooling with rad
crowd. People sometimes get like mad
bulls; they may be induced or led along
the lines Of imperialism for quite while
and may all of O sudden take a notion
to go the other way, and II they do their
m orals ara not Ia their wBy The his-
tory Of the French revolution during the
after part Of. 1900 may repeat itsslf.
Our unjust laws that enable Shylock to
g. ther wealth much faster than the
people can produce 1t is more damaging
to religicn N and morality, and hundred
times more dangerous to our republican
ideas of government than our liquor
laws, bad as they are. A. j. KINTZ.
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