Smyrna times., 1905-04-19
DR. WATT STATES POSITION
OF TEMPERANCE ALLIANCE
REPLIES TO CERTAIN CHARGES MADE BY
THE WILMINGTON EVERY EVENING.

Local Option Bill Recently Passed by the
Legislature so Lame as to Make it Unsat-
isfactOry to Temperance People.
Rev. Robert Watt, D. D., of Smyrna,
President of the Delaware State Tenn
perance Alliance, makes the following
pointed remarks in reply to the charges
of Wilmington Every Evening and sets
forth at length the position of the tenn
perance people with regard to the re-
cent Local Option Bill passed by the
Legislature. He says in full:-In your
issue of April 18th you animadvert at
some length on the inconsistencies of
the temperance people of Delaware and
reach the conclusion they are very
hard to please. At the same time you
speak as though all the members of the
recent Legislature repudiated their
pledges made to the temperance
people. You also charge that the tenn
perance people made deal in certain
places with the corrupt Addicks organ
ization. In the interest of truth and
fair play you will, am sure, give the
following facts place in the Every
Evening:
1. The temperance people made no
deals with any party as such. They
did pledge candidates of both parties,
and the temperance voters were left
free to vote as they pleased and for
whom they pleased, and we are pre-
pared to prove that in several instances
tie temperance vote was evenly divided
between the candidates of the two par
ties. There were no bargains and in
simple justice to all concerned, this
should be known.
2. 1t ought also to be stated that not
all the members of the Legislature,
ruthlessly repudiated their pledges.
Eighteen stood up and were counted
like men. The innocent should not
be made to suffer with the guilty.
3. As to the inconsistencies of the
temperance people in their attitude on
the so called temperance measure for
Kent County there is this to be said:
The right the citizens of that county
craved is fundamental to and inherent
in American citizenship. They were
not asking any favor whatever, only a
chance to act in consonance with their
constitutional right. Furthermore,
they were entitled to the exercise of
that right, free from trickery and un-
fair treatment. They have a right to
demand square deal and a fair chance
unhindered by special features which
were intended to render success as diff
7senlt as possible. Why should tenn
pef7hce people be subjected to provi-
sions that are not made to apply else
where? Why should they be expected
to make a contest OH a proposition
which the liquor lobby had so curl
ously disfgured as to render its un-
constitutionality practically certain?
Would the Every Evening charge the
citizens of Wilmington with inconsis.
tency had the question of new char
ter for Wilmington been similar to
this so-called temperance measure?
Had the adoption of charter depended
on the vote of the people, and had
that charter been tampered with to
suit its enemies, and then a provision
similar to that in relation to the So
called Kent Local Option measure
been tackled on, would the citizens of
Wilmington be charged with inconsis-
tency because they Indignantly repud-
lated the whole thing?
1t is universally true that this is a
country of maiorities, and always a
majority of the votes cast. If in some
instances a two-third majority is re-
quired, it is always majority of the
ballots cast, but in the makeshift un-
der consideration the vote cast does
not count, unless a majority of the
votes cast equals majority of all the
voters of the district, though a large
number of the voters remain away from
the polls. Then too, the special pol
ing places could be placed in incon.
venient places, difficult of access and
would serve to make a target of the
vast majority who visited those special
polling places. In most cases this
would matter little, but in some cases
it would, and it is manifestly unfair t.
discriminate in the way this feature o
the bill does. Why not make the cleo
ton of the Legislature depend upor
the same principal? Why this discrim
ination? And because some of the bes
citizens of this State, men who abho,
the corrupt use Ct money at election
and who stand pledged and ready t.
do all in their power to bring to JUS
tice these offenders against decenc,
and good government, refuse to b
hoodwinked and embarrassed by th
men who bow to the nod of liquo
lobby and who dole ont doctorad an,