The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-07-30

Otlci aSBIeBdtlOus OF capitdl WHICH
might corner or otherwise get
control of any of the necessaries
or comforts of life and hold them
at exorbitant prices the state
should reserve to itself the right to
engage in any industry.
The liquor question is one of
the important questions to be
dealt with and report the approach
of which the professional politician
is conspicuous on account of his
silence. Amy person who has even
causually investigated the influence
which open saloons and the lawed
and lawless attachments thereto
have had upon all classes of peo-
pie knows that II is degrading and
demoralzing in the extreme The
saloon influence is as great fac
tor in corrupting the politics Of
this country as any other one
thing.
Every person who is conversant
with the fact that prohibition is
farce. I have lived in prohibition
Kansas and in local option coun-
ties in other states and in each
place people who used liquor got
all they wanted. The only thing
prohibition ever accomplished was
to fill the locality with boolleggers
and jointists, increase the number
of criminals and make the consum-
ers Of liquor pay exorbitant prices
for "bust-head" booze made from
stump water, cocaine and black
navy stabacco. The greatest evil
results from ths ase Of intoxicants
/ have seen were in prohibited dis.
tricls and the more strigent the
law the greater evil results. In
our own balmy Indian Territory
we have the most stringent prohib-
itory law with the most severe pen
alities for its violation of any local
ity in the United States or possibly
the entire world, yet boot-leggers
and booze abound to such an ex-
tent ths. one Of the citizens Of this
fair land went into court and made
out that he had not drawn a sober
breath in twelve years. Also a
prominent citizen occupying a judi
iSial position is authority for the
statement that nineteeu-twentieths
of the crimes committed in the In
dian Territory are directly tracable
to the Introduction, sale aud use
use of intoxicating liquors. In
consideration of all the facts /
think it would be criminal folly to
incorporate prohibition in the
constitution Of the new state.
Both the saloon and prohibition
should be relegated to the rear and
placed in the catalogue Of past fail
ures and sensible and judicious sys.
tenn Of state dispensariesinagurated
under which a pure article Of
liquor could Le purchased at as
near the cost Of manufacture as
would place the despensaries upon
a self supporting basis.
The dispensaries should be paid
a stipulated salary and be placed
under necessary bonds.
l am in favor of an antiiDiunt-
ion clause which shall prevent then
indiviual without apparent evid.
ence that he has committed a CT ime
and which shall protect every citi-
zenin the right Of habeas corpus
and an immediate trial by Jury
when charged with any crime.
Believing that all governments
derive their just powers from the
consent Of the governed and that
the will Of the people as expressed
by their ballots should be the su-
preme law Of the land, no federal
judge, or legislature or supreme
court should have the power to set
aside, repeal or declare unconstitu-
tional any law which has been sah
SIZED by a majority Of electors on q
referendum vote.
In the interest Of industrial peace
and to futher promote the general
welfare of the whole people I be
lieve 1t should be made compulsory
that all disputes and differences be-
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