The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1903-05-20
STATE CANDIDATES AND THE LIQUOR
DEALERS.

STATE CANDIDATES AND THE LIQUOR
DEALERS.
The interview by Mrs. Kells,
President of the w. G. T. u,
published in today's Leader, has
caused quite stir in State pol
itics and elected considerable
amount of comment The liquor
men are always shrewd politi-
clans and invariably support the
candidate whose success is likely
to insure the greatest immunity
to their business. They always
60 upon the principle of taking
half loaf when they cannot get
whole one. A few years ago
when Prohibitionists were bat
thing for a local option law as the
best thing there was then any
chance of securing, the liquor
forces fought the proposition to
the last ditch, and did everything
they could to defeat the local
option bill. Since then every
time there has been a movement
in the direction of Constitutional
or Statutory Prohibition they
have been great shouters for
local option and ely out to the
Prohibitionists, why not let we'll
enough alone?' AS public SEN
timent is in Mississippi today
they know that there is no chance
whatever to perpetuate the legal
lied liquor traffic anywhere in the
State except by clinging to local
option. Hence they favor it, or
any candidate who champions it,
because they prefer it to an adj
vance movement and know that
Constitutional and Statutory Pro-
hibition means the annihiliation
of the liquor traffic in the whole
State. They had rather have the
half or the tenth of the loaf given
them by local option than to see
State Prohibition and their whole
business wiped out. This is why
the National Liquor Dealers AS
ISOLATION and the drummers rep
resenting distillers and whole
salers are leaning to the candidate
in the gubernatorial contest whom
they understand to be using his
influence against Constitutional
and Statutory Prohibition.
So far as Major Vardaman is
concerned, The Leader believes
him a sincere hater of the liquor
business and that he was honest
when he said last December that
he believed local option the best
method for destroying the traffic.
If the liquor men, however,
can get him to uncompromisingly
plant himself on that position,
he will be as serviceable to them
in Mississippi as an outspoken
saloon advocate, because local
option is all that they can hope to
retain in Mississippi under any
circumstances.
The Vicksburg Herald, which
is an ardent supporter of Maj. Var
daman, and strong anti-Prohibi-
zionist, endeavors to break the
force of the statement made by
Mrs. Kells by saying that the
positions occupied by Maj. Varda-
man and Bishop Galloway are
identical, materially.' This is
not true, unless Maj. Vardaman
has changed his position since last
December, and of such change The
Leader has no knowledge. What
ever Bishop Galloway's position
may have been heretofore, the last
public utterance subscribed to by
him was this:
''We favor the submission of an
amendment to the constitution
prohibiting the sale of liquors
throughout the State, by the
Legislature at the next session,
and at the short session following.
if the amendment carries, the en-
actment of a Prohibition statute
in accord with such amendment;
and until the constitutional amend
ment be voted on and (if passed)
enacted into statute law, the Leg
lslature is requested to enact such
restrictive amendments to the
present local option law as will
effectually prevent the extension,
beyond existing limits, of the
liquor traffic. y (See report of
the committee on resolutions of
the February Prohibition mass
meeting, endorsed to by Bishop
Galloway, who was on the COM
mittee on resolutions and a lead
ing member of that meeting.)
1t would be pertinent, as
Bishop Galloway and other Pro-
hibitionists have declared for this
policy since Maj. Vardaman