The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1906-09-07

Dn Malch ldf lHua, the lower house
Of The legislature passed license bill
by vote Of 214 to lo7 A few days
later the bill passed the senate by
vote Of three 90 one and on March q
received executive approval and
license berame the law Of the state.
The cities Of the state stood over-
whelming for lieense their vote I'm the
legislature being l2l to in fits favor.
More noteworthy is the fact that the
rural members, taken separately yot-
ed Tor license in the proportion of 90
TO &C. Representatives of both politi-
cal parties we're also in majority in
favor Of license
Massachusetts tried prohibition frcm
1855 to 1870 she found the law vain
and injurious and, upon the testimony
q her governors and best citizens.
fatally hurtful to the cause of temper
unce After fifteen years Of earnest
trial she also repudiated the law. and
when in April, 1889. strenuous ef-
fort was made to again engraft prohi-
bition upon the constitution Of the
state it failed The farming popua-
tioa threw its weight with that of the
cities against the amendment One
town only in the commonwealth gave
II a majority.
The campaign was one of exception
al interest. The terms and time of the
fight were dictated by the prohibition
ista They were ably led and their
cause was advocated by hundreds of
speakers. They delaged the state
with literature and brought into action
an army of workers remarkable for
its numbers. No metiicd known to the
politician was left untried in the ef-
forts to carry prohibition.
As elsewhere, the prohibitionists
tried to make it appear that all moral
ity was on their eide, all immortality
opposed TO them. This assumption
failed of its purpose.
The influential journals Of the state,
almost 10 a unit against the amend
ment exposed the fallacy. and threw
their influence in behalf of license.
Fronting by past experience, they
fought with vigor born of constitu-
lion The religious papers Joined
hand with the powerful dailies, and,
making conscience of the fight. the
Christian Union. the Congregati-n nal
list ana the Christian Register hurled
their thunder against the adoption OF
tho amendment
Nor was the press unsupported by
the church. Many Sc res Of the most
eminent clergymen Of the common-
wealth. comprising the brains. the dig
nifty and the worth of the ministry of
the state. united in remonstrances
against the adoption of prohibition
Among the ministers so demonstrating
were slch men as Rev. DR.. Phillips
Brooks. Rev Dr. Savage. Rev. Dr.
Brooks Hereford. Rev. Dr. Cyrus Bar.
tol, Rev Dr.. Peabody and the Rev
Father Conaty, the president of the
Catholic National Total Abstinence
Society OF America. and many Others
# celebrty-men revered for charac
ter and purity Of motive. Many OF
these great diyinez preached from
their pulpits against the fanaticism
United with them i'm the crusade
against prohibition were five of the
seven colleges Of the state. President
Eliot Of Harvard, IN an open letter
condemned the effort to make men
good by law.
The opposition to the amendment
was none the less remarkable among
the lawyers, either in vigor or in
character OF those opposed. A pro
test signed by nearly i've hundred OF
the ablest members OF the bar, incmd
ing sagh names of national reputation
as e. r. Hoar. Ex-Governor Russell
Charles Theodore Russell. ex-Gover-
nor Gardiner. Ex-Governor Rice, Pat
rick Collins, and others equally known
was sent broadcast throughout the
commonwealth.
Foll-wing the protest os the lawyers
came one of the physicians, heaGed by
Oliver Wendell Holmes, and subscrib
ed 10 by nearly all the eminent doc
tors OF the state
The merchants and business men
appreciating The disaster that would
follow prohibition, also united in a
, remonstrance TO which were append
ed nearly one Thousand names.
Labor united with capital in hostility
: to prohibition. The labor leaders, de
J claging it their belief that the adoption
I OF the amendment would seriously af
feet the interests Of laboring men
! urged its defeat
{ The remonstrance, supported by the
great nanlss signed TO them, coincideo
: with the experience "a the people who
r had tried prohibition and knew by it,
? fruits what il was Statistics were
? not wanting to show its evil effects
/ when It was formerly the law Of th'
state These statistics We're aboy'