The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1904-09-18
SECOND DISTRICT.

does not even represent the views Oh
the people of his own county"
SECOND DISTRICT.
The Sacramento Bee is pleading that
justice be done Congressman Bell. The
Bee declares that Bell is not a prohibi-
Zionist and that his action in closing
the canteen at the Soldiers Home was
not inspired by prohibition sentiment.
Perhaps the Bee is very nearly correct
in this statement Politicians familiar
with conditions in Napa County enter
tain the belief that Bell closed the can
teen in order to give the retail liquor
traffic of the Home to the saloons near
the reservation. There is no doubt,
however, that Bell is fishing for the
prohibition vote. His achievement in
closing the canteen was thus hailed by
the New Voice of Chicago, the national
prohibition organ: AN unexpected vic
tory. One stroke wipes ouI canteen in
thirty Soldiers Homes"
The Home Alliance" the Prohibi-
ton paper of Woodland, is supporting
Bell because he abolished the canteen.
Men who believe that the cause of tenn
perance is promoted by the abolition of
canteens surely have a right to their
convictions. There is a wide difference
of opinion in regular army and Grand
Army circles as to the value of the can
teen as a temperance agency. Bell has
an undoubted right to take the Prohi-
bitiOn end Of the argument. Political
eXigencies may excuse him for at
tempting TO deceive the voters of Re-
publican faith. but nothing can excuse
him for misleading his best friend in
the district, the Sacramento Bee.
This sentence is found in the Bees
editorial defense of Bell: I'm putting
that institution (the Soldiers Home at
YOuntville) on the same plane as the
National soldiers homes Congressman
Bell performed a service for which he
is entitled to great credit from all fair
minded men,"
Congressman Bell knows, the veter-
ans at the home know and the Bee
would know if Bell gave the paper the
cold, plain truth, that the bill was
amended in the Senate after it left the
House, so that Bells amendment could
not apply to the National homes. The
canteen exists at the National homes
to-day in the same maner and style as
it existed before the Bell amendment
given the subject profound study ia
vored the maintenance of the canteen
as temperance measure. Under the
Bell amendment not even a glass of
beer or the lightest kind of wine pro-
duced in California or elsewhere can be
sold on the State Home premises. The
canteen is in full blast at the National
homes. 1t is utterly abolished in the
State homes. While the Bee is telling
its readers that the Yountville institu-
ton has been placed on the same plane
as the National soldiers homes, Con-
gresham Bell is telling the veterans
that he will have the canteen restored
at the next session of Congress.
A candidate for Congress who en-
deavors to win the Prohibition vote in
one end of his district and the liquor
vote in the other end will surely come
to exposure and grief. 1t is no easy
task to fool the people in these days of
rapid communication. The voters of the
Second District are intelligent men. AS
a rule they do not care whether the
canteen is abolished or maintained but
they will note the double dealing of
the Congressman in the premises.