The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1904-11-26
PROHIBITION OF
LIQUOR TRAFFIC
A PROHIBITIONIST'S ARGUMENT
FOR LEGAL ABOLITION
Has Little Faith in Effectiveness OF
Home Influences Thinks Too
Many People ''Talk Temperance
and Vote for Topper Making,
To the Editor of the ISLANDER:

10 the Editor or the ISLANDER:
We appreciate the ISLANDERS
courtesy in printing our communica-
tions. When space is limited it is
often hard to make oneself fully un-
derstood, and sometimes it becomes
necessary to hit hard, in order to
make an impression; but we have no
unkindly feeling.
The ISLANDER seems to agree that
the evils of the liquor traffic are be-
coming appalling. But is that as far
as it can go? We favor anything
that will do away with those evils,
whether it be prohibition or some
other means But it seems that the
abolition of the traffic itself is the
only condition under which the evils
do not flourish, hence we favor pro-
hibition by counties, or by states, or,
better still, by the nation.
Agitation is Necessary
To bring this about agitation is
necessary, and we are in the Prohi-
bition party because it agitates.
Now, the ISLANDER says, ''Much
more can be accomplished through
local option laws, education and by
proper home influences. But '16
to II, when temperance man affili-
ates with some other party, "the
cat has his tongue" Where do the
moulders of public opinion stand on
the liquor question? The ISLANDER
seems to favor local option, but
nothing that it has said, during all
these years, gives us any idea OF
whether it is for the prohibition side
or for the whiskey side of that sys-
tenn. We have one form of local op-
tion here now, and it is decidedly
whiskey. To make temperance
measure of it we must make it coun-
ty prohibition, and that requires no
license commissioners Did anyone,
beside the party Prohibitionists, lit
as much as finger toward getting
the Republicans to make such NOM
nations?
Home Influences Ineffective
Home influences we have had since
the days of Eve, and the topper max
inc goes merrily on. Such training
is important but here it does not
reach those who need it the most.
Education, temperance instruction
in schools-who brought that about?
The w. G. T. u, and the union is
now sending special instructors to
our Institutes to train the teachers,
and it is emphatically in favor OF
the party that stands for prohibi-
ton. "Much more can be aecomp-
lished" by almost any means if the
temperance people in the old parties
would do it, but when they leave
nearly the whole agitation to hand
full of Prohibitionists and then find
fault because of the methods the lat
ter use. the "much more" is left un-
accomplished.
Temperance Agitators and ''Others'
Temperance agitators have been
here several times, including a rep
resentative of the Non-partisan Anti
Saloon League, who spoke three
times. The ISLANDER obligingly In
serted notices, but in every instar ce
the party Prohibitionists attended TO
the advertising, secured a place for
meeting, housed and fed the speak
ers and constituted nearly the whole
temperance population OF the audi
ence. And they are the ones that
are instilling temperance ideas into
the young minds Of this and other
towns. Others may sing temper
ance song in church once year and
for the rest of the time be first-class
dumb bells.
when LIQUOR Dealers Got Busy
The secret of this silence is not hard
to seek. In 1855 there was great
triumph for prohibition. In thatye
the liquor dealers began to hold state
conventions. In New York this ap-
peared in their platform:
"And that they (the liquor men)
will support no man for any Office
whatever, unless he will solemnly
agree to sustain their interest In
-lx.r.