Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1904-10-29
SATURDAY, OCT. 70, 1904.
A GRAVE SITUATION.

Ii is grave situation that con
fronts the people of Cedar City right
now. We are SO TO speak, just at the
forks of the road and the whole
future of the town hays in the bal
ance. The question that confronts
us is, "Shall law, order and good
citizenship triumph, or shall we give
up to the lawless, inebriate element
of the community, which is trying to
set at naught the ordinances of the
city and battle the efforts of the Off
GERS of the law when they seek to en-
force them?"
There is more than the question of
prohibition involved in the persent
conflict there are all the elements
that divide right and wrong. Any
person who has held public office,
either civil or ecclesiastical, in the
municipality, that has compelled
them To take IA stand for law and
order, will have felt the influence of
the lawless element aiding, abetting
and seeking to shield wrong doing in
any and all avenues. Perhaps this
condition prevails To some extent in
all communities, and we have no
doubt that it does, but in most towns
in Utah the influence is less potent.
In all candor, we are forced to ad-
NIT that this sentiment is much more
in evidence in Cedar than the better
influence. IL may not be stronger,
and we are not willing to admit that
il is but it Ia more active and alert,
aud it is SO much easier To drift with
the current than il is to take stand
for right, law, Justice and manhood,
that the majority of US seem inclined
to either stand aloof and say nothing
; TT drift ds3esistingly dawn strean,
with this element.
A year ago last July this trend
reached'a crisis that stimulated the
ladies of our community and some of
the more staid heads of families TO
take stand for prohibition of the
sale of intoxicants and the en-
couragement of law and order. Re-
ster, Drink, is at the bottom of nearly
all lawlessness, fell blow was aimed
at it, which, in the municipal cleo
ton of last November resulted in the
election of a mayor and city council
who we're pledged to work for the pro-
hibition OF the sale of intoXicants.
and a city ordinance was drafted and
passed to that end. At the polls the
responsible citizens triumphed. but
from that vtrj day the opposing
element resolved To prove the i'm
practicability of the move, and az
soon as the sale of intoxicants was
prohibited here, they commenced
sending away for alcoholic beverages
in large quantities, and at the same
time circulating false reports as TO
the enormous sums of money that
we're being sent away from Cedar
every week for booze. Every means
was resorted to by which to obtain
intoXicants, and all the display pos.
sible has been made of its effects
in order to prove that the conditions
We're not improved by prohibition.
And when an arrest is made for the
infraction of the law, the court room
is thronged with sympathizers of the
defendant, who attempt to ieer and az
far as they dare bully the Officers OF
the law.
II is time when the better class
OF citizens i'm Cedar should stand for
their convictions. If conditions are
allowed to revert back TO where they
we're year ago the success OF our
cherished institution the Branch
Normal will be jeopardi2ed. the
youth will be surrounded by evil aud
temptation aud the whole future of
the town will be placed on the altar
for good citizens will not care TO rear
families in community where the
evil influence predominates, drinking
aud carousing runs riot and il is I'M
safe to venture outside of your own
door-yard for fear of being held up at
the muzzle of gun in the hands of
some young miscreant whose brain
has been fired with drink A strong
pressure is being brought to bear to
force the issuing of liquor licenses
again. The city council requires your
encouragement and moral support.
Are you going to stand neutral, or