The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-02-25
Says She Was Not First to Re-
sort to Ratchet.
HER POST OF HONOR.
Compares Her Position to That
Of Gov. Stanley.
Would Rather Be in Her Place
Than His.

Cleveland. Ohio, Feb. 25.-Sunday DR..
Louis Albert Banks OF the First AIetho-
dist Episcopal church preached a sensa-
tional sermon in defense of Mrs. Nation.
He compared her work to that Of the
Boston tea party which destroyed Brit
ish tea in Boston harbor December 16,
1878. Rev. Mr.. Banks said:
Il want to lay emphasis this morning
on the fact that Carrie Nation is not the
first American Jealous of American lib
erty, and determined againEs oppression,
who has resorted to the Ratchet. What
American is there today. with the true
blood Of American citizenship in his
veins. who does not honor the memory
Of such men as John Adams and Sam
uel Adams, and Josiah Quincy, and Paul
Revere. and their heroic fellow workers
for liberty; who when they had ex-
hausted their resources and could not
get justice, took the Iawless Ratchet in
to their hands, and went aboard the tea
ships and made King George cup OF
tea out of three cargOeS, breWed in salt
water? Don't you doubt for a moment
that there were plenty of thin-biooded
pusillanflnous souls at that time, who
criticised them, and abused them, and
called them fanatics and fools for do
ing as they did. But we, looking back,
honor them. We thank God for the red
blood that flowed in their veins, and we
bless the name of Samuel Adams, that
he dared to have a price put on his
head, rather than tamely submit to OPP
preston.
enchantment to the view? What is the
story of liquor legislation in Kansas?
More than score of years ago Kansas
proposed to prohibit the making and
selling of liquor by constitutional prohi-
bit1on- The liquor traffic Of the United
States poured into that state hundreds
of thousands of dollars to corrupt voters
Thew hOl1Rhf
wherever 1t was possible; they did ev-
erything that money, and whisky, and
political intrigue could do to prevent
prohibition from carrying in that state.
1t carried in spite of them. The minist ers
Of Jesus Christ preached, the women
prayed, and good men argued and voted,
and the election showed that there was
a great majority Of unbrirable men in
the state of Kansas who had voted for
God and Home and Native Land
Immediately the word went out
through the great whisky newspapers,
and brewers, and distillers Of the coun-
try. that the law would not be obeyed.
First they tried to break 1t down in the
courts: it was carried from one court
to another until the supreme court of
the United States set its seal upon 1t,
and declared the liquor saloon a nuis-
ance without any natural right to exist.
and which the people of any state al
ways have the right to abate
Then the IquOr-sellerS, and the cor
rupt politicians high and low, who fear
ed that this contagion for Righteousness
would spread to other states poured
money into Kansas to break down the
prohibition law. In spite Of all this there
are many counties in Kansas where no
liquor is sold. have met young men
who have grown up in the state of Kan
saS who never saw liquor saloon until
they came outside of the state. Kansas
has had more empty jafls, and fewer
demands for poor houses, than any other
western state But in the large towns,
and the growing cities, the great liquor
interests &c the country have shipped in
their vile stuffs. and have backed des-
perate characters in establishing illegal
to the prohibition law"
Continuing Mr.. Banks said.
1T was for {. day like this that Carrie
Nation was boSnl It was then that she
took her Ratchet and went to smash
the plate-glas5 window, and the attract
i've mirror, aid the bottles behind the
bar. Brethren, I 10 not know how that
Ratchet blow sounds to you, but to my
way of thinking, If the Ratchet that
broke open the tea chests on the deck
of the Dartmouth, in Boston harbor on
the 18th of December, 1773. was a
Ratchet to be held in honor, the echo of
which should stir the blood of brave
men and holy women, and arouse them
to deeper loyalty and devotion to hu-
man liberty, then the Ratchet of woman
hood, Kansas WOmanhOod. outraged,
oppressed, broken-hearted at the de-
fiance Of outlaws, at the wreck of their
homes, at the degradation of their chill
dren, having exhausted all the resources
they had, appealed to the Ratchet to de-
stroy a thing which the law says had
no right to exlst-that Ratchet to me is
sacred The echo of that blow rOuses
all the red blood in my heart, and I
thank God for it, and for the woman
who had the devotion and the courage
to WELD it. She may lie in a jail, but I
would rather lie in a jail with Carrie
Nations record than sit in the gov
ernor's chair in Topeka, Kansas, a MEM
Der Of the Methodist church and an ex-
Sunday school superintendent with the
power to legally suppress and destroy
every liquor saloon in the state and yet
with not backbone enough, with not
nanliness enough, with not sufficient re-
gard for the oath of Office to do my
duty. Yes, sir, the Topeka jail is a
higher post of. honor today than the gov
errors chairl''
Mr.. Banks concluded as follows:
so much for Carrie Nation and her
work! I say. God bless her, and God
speed the sentiment which is being
aroused let US not be too easily
frightened at a little red blood of earn
estness. All great eTas are earthquakes
Of earnestness. Better the earnestness
that SmaSheS wrong with a Ratchet |
than the supine Indifference to wrong
and the delicate moral dilettantism that
can only criticise and sheer at the earn
est reformer. but viii not SO much as
lift the Tip Of his finger to lift the crush
ing burdens that are pressing the nliser-
able victims o. the liquor ira tic to the
lowest hell Let us not be too much
shocked that IN this war against the
liquor saloon the most utterly lawless
irreverent and cruel institution that
ever existed, somebody should rise up
inspired Of God, that. shall say things
that are without classic polish, and are
careless OF the chaste rhetoric Of the
schools Who are we. who honor the
Boston Tea Party, and hold John Brown
in reverence. to stand back in horror at
mother who seeks to smite an out
lawed liquor saloon with an ax2 Your
real reformer is too busy for elegance,
krrF -. -
gance. he has earneEtness, righteous in
dignation the GodIika snirit Of self