Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1900-03-23
w. G. T.. U.
By THE v. G. :. U. OF HOT SPRINGS.
NealDow.

Tuesday, Mar. 20, many w. G. T. U.
and prohibition cluDs thruout the
country celebrated what has been dis
ignated as Prohibition Day, it being
the birthday of Gen. Neal Dow who is
known in temperance circles as 1.-THE
father of prohibitions.
Away back in the beginning Of this
Nineteenth century, on March 90, 1904,
was born in Portland Maine, one who
was destined to start and be the leader
of the great reform movement for the
abolition Of the manufacture .and sale
Of intoxicating drinks. He is the de-
scendent of a long line of Sturdy New
England Quakers whose frugal, tenn
perate, industrious habits gave to very
many of them a much longer span of
life than is allotted to the average
person and he himself reachedth ripe
age of ninty three years, six months
and twelve days, receiving his promo
tion October 9, 1897.
The evils of the liquor traffic we're as
apparent in his childhood and young
manhood as they are today and he
early arrayed himself against it, first
by moral suasion directed to the indi-
vidual, afterwards by legal suasion di-
rected to the state, which even in those
early days was attempting to regulate"
the traffic by a license. He, like thou
sands of others who have worked ardu-
ously and enthusiastically to stay the
tide of intemperance, 500 found that
regulation failed to regulate" and that
the evils of the traffic were not one
whit lessened by the "thirty pieces of
silver" "the price of blood and tres-
son" paid into the treasures of town,
county and state. That fact and the
arrogance of the liquor dealers because
of their legal permit to do evil, early
aroused in him a determination to use
every effort and influence he possessed
to abolish the ancient sssale of indul-
gences," or, in other words, the grant
ing by the state of the legal right to do
wrong. The process of educating the
people up to the level of seeing that
what is morally wrong should never be
made legally right, was a slow one, but
after years of organized effort three
various temperance societies, especial
ly the Maine Temperance Union, what
is now known as 1.-THE Maine Law"
was enacted iu 1921 and prohibition
has ever since with the exception of
two years been the settled policy of
the state in spite of the gigantic effort
of not only the local ~liquorites of the
state but OF the whole liquor fraternity
of the United States.
Neal Dow took a very prominent
part in many ways in the difficult and
unpopular work that ended in secur-
ing the Maine Law of 1851; but the
difficulty or unpopularity did not end
here, for no law, however good, will en-
force itself, especially when there is a
strong monied power who has a large
financial interest in its non-enforce-
ment. From that day to this the
liquor interest of the whole United
States have fought that law in every
way they could, to get it repealed, to
override it and as a last resort have
made an effort to prove that "prohi-
bition doesn't prohibit" that it is tan
utter failure" that more liquor is
sold than under license" etc., etc. and
that therefore the law ought to be re-
pealed. These very efforts to prove it
a failure in order to get it repealed
are the strongest proofs that it is a
success, else they would not make
such herculanean efforts to get it out
of their way.
When the prohibitory law went into
effect in 1851, it vas the privilege of
Neal Dow to be in a position to see
that its enforcement was rigidly carried
out in the largest city in the state, he
is uorNz )