The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-06-15
WHICH Is CORRECT?


The Atchison Globe takes exceptions
to the comparison the State journal
made between the enforcement of the
prohibitory law and the statutes
! against worse crimes. Here is the com
parison made:
Suppose there should be a murder
or a robbery in a community. and the
county attorney and sheriff should say
they knew nothing about it except from
| hearsay but stood ready to prosecute as
soon as evidence of the crime should
be placed in their hands That would
be on a par with the excuses made by
some officials concerning the prohibito-
~ law"
In commenting on this the Globe
makes the following argument against
it: rs this a fair statement? Is it a
sensible statement? It should be re-
membered that most of the states of
the union license the liquor traf1c;
that all of the older countries license it;
that millions of people have been
brought I'D to drink beer as others
drink milk: that in most places the
traffic in beer is as legitimate as the
traflo iii bread. It should be remem-
bered that in Atchison, for example, it
is onIyoa few hundred feet to a state
where beer may be legally sold; that
Atchison men may go across the bridge
and return loaded In such a case the
Atchison police have nothing to say in
regulating the liquor sellers. 1t should
be remembered that many of the best
temperance men in the world do not
believe in prohibition as a temperance
policy; that in every exclusive club in
~ "a 10 -nId and that no
where is liquor selling classed with rob-
berry or murder"
Right there is where a lot of public
officials. as we'll as the Globe, make a
mistake. Liquor selling is classed with
robbery and murder right here in Kan
sas. 1t is made a crime just the same
as any other crime. The difference IS
in degree. 1t is classed with murder
and robbery just the same as petty
larceny is classed with grand larceny
What somebody else may think Of IL
ouor or prohibition has no bearing on
the question. It IS the law in Kansas
that there shall be no saloons in the
state, ana as long as the law remains
on the statute books public officials
should enforce it. A lot of people IN
Missouri believe it is all right to get
drunk on Sunday the same as other
DAYS. but that does not argue that they
should be allowed to break the Sunday
closing law.
The State Journal is not crank on
this subject of prohibition. 1t does not
believe that the prohibitory law over
shadows everything else on the statute
book. 1t simply believes that While
prohibition is the law in Kansas It
should have the same consideration by
public officials that other laws have
no more. no less. It believes saloons
should be stopped in Kansas the same
as the state treasurer should be stopped
from collecting interest on the state
funds for the benefit of his own pocket.
1t believes in the enforcement of the
law against joints just the same as
against 5oint-smashers. Law is law
and should be respected, obeyed and
enforced.
Atchison is, Of course, unfortunate in
being located so close to Missouri The
fact that Atchison people may go over
into Missouri and buy liquor is, how
ever, nothing with which officials in
Kansas have to deal, except when they
come over here and disturb the peace.
A lot OF. people before the war thought
it was all right to own slaves. An Ohio
man could go across the river into Ken
lucky and own all the slaves he want
ed, but he could not own them in Ohio
because it was against the law-until
the bred Scott decision made it legal.
Until a bred Scott decision making the
saloon legal in Kansas is secured liquor
selling will continue to be legally class
ed along with other crimes.