Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-10-19
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
For the Times Republican.

fronts, making display Of store build
ings better than some towns with ten
times the number of inhabitnnts.
Across the street, on the north side,
]. p. Arends is finishing a two-story
double brick store, which will represent
an outlay in round numbers of $4,000.
So that even now Applington is better
town than before the fire. The writer
has watched this Phoenix-like rising
from her ashes business for several
years, and in no case in Iowa, where a
big fire has occurred have they failed
to rebuild better than ever before, al
ways provided the town had enter
prising stock, grain. implement and
lumber firms left unframed by the fire
fiend. These, Applington, Dumont and
|Dougherty, three towns in this part OF
the state, have, and all will be better
off in five years, from the very fact of
burning up lot of old and small build
ings and old out-of-date stocks.
We have in Iowa several towns which
have nullified the action of the Mulct
law Especially in counties where the
requisite number of names on petit
ton for legal saloon cannot be OBJ
tained) in this, such saloons by public
opinion are allowed to run wide open,
and then they are regularly fined say
$25 month by the town or city
authorities. Mayors ond councilmen of
such cities will be interested in late
decision of the supreme court: In the
case of the town of Iowa City against
Frank McInnerny, the supreme court
decided that city has no statutory
authorities. Mayors and councilmen of
violation of that section of the mulct
law prohibiting open saloons on cleo
ton day, holidays or Sundays. The
mulct law provides that in case of such
violation the saloon keeper loses his
rights under the mulct law and becomes
subject to the prohibitory law, and may
be indicted and his saloon closed.
Cities may not reduce this drastic PEN
atty to nominal fine, as in the Iowa
City case. While declaring the ordi
nance invalid. the court really holds
against the saloons This prevents IL
censing saloons under guise of fines.
So that saloon keeper who pays his
monthly fine to city under any cir
cumstances for any violation of the
mulct law acquires no bar against
prosecution by any one interested in
having either or all of the provisions
of the prohibitory or mulct law en-
forced. The other point which has
been raised before, that of the saloon
keeping having by himself or his heir
a good suit at law to recover with legal
interest all such sums of monies, paid
in the way of fines seems to have an
additional weight by this late decision
of the supreme court
Rev. Coates, the prohibition candi-
date, seems to have some logical and
reasoning faculties, not always pos
sessed by the extremists. Not all have
read one of his speeches in which he
paid Mr.. Cummings a fine compli-
ment. Not to give the words, but the
idea was that at one time Mr.. Cum
minis at one time dared to break away
from the prevailing party position on
the local matter Of prohibition. We
must honor him for such independence.
altho we are sorry he differs from us
in this matter Nevertheless Mr.. Cum
minis had such a right, and we prohi-i
bitionists honor such political indie
pendence. The reader, of course.
catches the logic. All honor to repub
licans who will. this year show inde-
pendence and vote for Coates. But
when two prohibition ministers, one a
candidate for governor and the other
the late superintendent of the State
Enforcement league, have the brains.
courage and good sense to pay de-
served compliments to the republican
candidate for governor, it's an en-
couraging sign ofsthe times and makes
at the same time a sorry spectacle of
the small bore prohibitionists. who
even by resolution condemned Presi-
dent Mckinley because he did not act
with them in all matters concerning
liquor legislation.
In the campaign in Iowa this year
we have an unusual state of affairs.
And there is the most severe criticism
on the candidates come from mate party
lines. The democratic candidate has
been assailed by democratic paper on
the score OF personal untitness for the
position. 1t goes SO far as to attack
his moral character, and invites u libel
suit, promising more of the same.
Other democratic papers take up his
public record and show he is not in
sympathy with even the platform on
which he was nominated. II repub-.
lican papers are making these attacks
on the democratic candidate the writer
has failed to notice them.
On the other hand the republican
candidate for governor is getting an
unusual amount of fair" statements
from the democratic press, and most
unusual amount of support from the
Individual democrats The Looker-on
believes at the coming election the re-
publican candidate will get is to 20 per
cent of the regular democratic vote,
this because a large percentage of the
democrats take stock in democratic at
tacks on the democratic candidate.
On the other hand it is useless to deny
that in the prohibition counties small
.cliaues exist, republicans who would
have voted for almost any republican
but Cummins, now openly say they
will not vote for him. These men are
not all of the extreme prohibition type.
nor do they count up very fast, stili
they are here and are a small factor to
be reckoned in the result.
So we have this year: Prohibition
lists actually seeing small amount OF
good in republican candidate; demo-
cratic press and individuals condemn
ing their candidate on personal and po-
litical grounds; and finally republicans
refusing to vote for a republican can
didate, because at one time he dared
to use his political brains. And II all
these things are not good signs of the
times. good signs that the peolpe are
using their thinkers" what shall we
cali this Doliticnls r,,iY-une