Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 1886-1927, 1906-06-08
Prohibition That Prohibits and
Proves

time ago that he believed the first ap
plication Of the prohibition prinple
which all classes would approve
would be made under the pressure
Of some great military necessity.
That opinion was strangely confirmed
at San Francisco.
The moment Mayor Schmitz and
General Funston took hold of affairs
after the earthquake, a state Of mar
tial law existed in fact, though not
In name. And one Of the first acts Of
the irregular but wise administration
which at once took form was the alb
sOlute prohibition Of the liquor traffic.
1t was no mere paper prohibition,
either, but something which, by
virtue of bayonet, ak and rife,
actually prohibited. Liquor stocks
were run into the cutters and private
bottles as we'll as public supplies Of
intoxicants were promptly conhscated
and destroyed.
Although neither Funston or Schmitz
was prohibitionist, in any sense,
on April H. they faced such a condi-
tion on April IS that they have ma3e
a prohibition record which for viRor
and thoroughness las satisfied the
most radical third party man.
And nobody has dared to object
The whole country approves. If. as
reports say, San Francisco is to be
dry" for the next six months, there
will be few to delpore that prospect,
except those who find their occupation
gone. We are face to face with a
national endorsement of the prohibit
tionist's contention, that the whisky
business is vicious and deadly
menance to society.
Let us thank God and take courage.
This is not the least of the bless
ings which have followed in the waf {
of the most destructive catastrophe in
American history. For once the
whole people has had an object lesson
in which all the assertions of the
Temperance cranks have been
proved TO the hilt, and the proof has
been accepted at its full value. II
the prohibition advocates let the
American people forget that they are
not the men we think they are
For what does it mean? 1t meaus
that a great calamity has shown what
the whisky business is, not merely
after an earthquake and fire. but all
the time The San Francisco cata
clysm did not make the saloon any
more dangerous 1t only made tn,
danger visible The work, that un'
holy institution is doing every day,
wherever it is permitted to operate,
is as foil Of destructive possibilitie.
as it would have been in San Francis
co during the desolatien.
Under ordinary circumstances 50
ciety has organized TO protect itsel,
against the wilder lawleSsness ct the
saloon, though even then we succeed
only IN part Bat society has no FRO
lection against the quiet, sometime
secret and always evil consequence
Of the trade in iutoxicants. Society u
nsed to them, and pays the price as 1
matter OF course. Only when som,
sweeping disaster comes are We shock
ei into realizing that We are no
clmrelled to endure the saloon
Then we shut II mp, and no mau, bO
he dealer or politician or "couserva
tive business man. dare sees 10 Sc
aside the popular dare
Now let us insist that though there
may be no more Quaking of the earth
aud no upleaping OF n hundred fire.
at once, the saloon itself is calamit!
and destruction enough TO justify IL
closing as a matter of high public
policy, not for six months, ba, tor
ever The Epworth Herald
To Cure a Gold In One Day