The Atlanta constitution., 1901-02-11

regime ever visited upon the municipal-
ties. The makers of the law provided
that it might he suspended by proclama-
tiOn Of the governor of the state. Cover
nor Leedy suspended the law and return
ed TO the cities the right of local self-gov-
ernment. During his term of office the
pardoning power was seldom used In Ia
vor of convicted violators of the prohibi-
tory law.
"while not himself a prohibitionist.
Governor Leedy came nearer securing an
enforcement of the law than any man
since the days of the first term of Cover
nor st. John. but he could not succeed to
any great degree because the violation
of the law had become such a common oc-
curance that IL was no longer crime in
the public mind to engage in the unLawful
liquor traffic. Governor Lcedy succeeded.
however. in earning the iii will of both
the prohibitionists and the whisky ee-
ment and in the campaign of 1898 went
down to defeat. His successful opponent
was Hon. w. l.. Stanley. the present en-
cumbent. who. before his election, was a
Wichita lawyer and Sunday school super
intendent. Mr.. Stanley is a profeSsed pro-
hibitiopist but the burden of enforcing the
law is beyond the power of any man.
Law Now a Dead Letter.
To-day. with the exception of probably
half dozen counties in the state. the
prohibition law is a dead letter. 1t
operates only to the destruction of public
and private morals. In all cities of the
i'm magnificance of appointment to ans
found IN any hlsh-license state.
Public officials are everywhere subsi-
died with impunity. In one county, of
which | am personally cogniZant, the
county attorneys office. which under the
law. pays n salary Of $i.200 per year. is
worth more than $1,000 to the incumbent.
Tribute gathered from the violatcrs of the
prOhlbtory law.
''In Topeka. the capital of the state
and city of some 5000 inhabitants. are
more than l20 saloons. Prohibition in
Kansas has become the football of the
politician between the upper milestone OF
the ultra prOhll1tionist and the neither
milestone of the whisky men. the public
conscience is reduced to the powder of
perjury. dishonesty and deceit. Neither
political party in the state dares to take
hold of either horn of the dilemma serious
~, for to champion prohibition means de-
feat by the whisky element and to cham
pion resu omission means political death
at the hands of the prohibitionists. No
party has ever been able 20 rally a two
thirds majority in the legislature since the
prohibition amendment was submitted and
adopted. Like the old man of the sea,
upon the shoulders of Sinbad the sailor
sits the ghost of prohibition upon the
shoulders Of the people Of Kansas. There
is no help and no relief short of the con-
stitutional convention, and those who
have the welfare of the state sincerely at
heart earnestly hope that the result or the
Carrie Nation crusades will be the death
knell of constitutional prohibition
through the agency Of an aroused public
opinion and resulting in a constitutional
convention. Prohibition would be defeat
ed overwhelmingly If again resubmitted
20 the people. The law has been buttress-
ed bv every possible amendment to the
original statue. IL has been as great a
failure in the hands of its friends as I'm
the hands of its enemies. 1T is hateful in
the sight Of God and man in its present
standing and has done more to undermine
the public conscience and debase the pub
lic morals OF Kansas than all the intoXi-
eating liquors ever manufactured or sold
in the Sunnower state"