The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-15

intolerance of spirit. lack of charity. Nor should they. like Saul of Tarsus. let their zeal take the form of perse- cution of that which they do not ap- prove.
 It Is surprising that the impression can exist In the mind of any well-in- formed reader of this paper that 'it does stand for the whiskey traffic as it now exists witb~ all it's attendant evils" This paper in the conspicuous two-column utterance at the inception of this campaign made this statement on that very point:
 The Advertiser thoroughly syrhpa- thizes with the motives and general paper has never had any patience with numerous evils attendant upon the sale of liquor many of which have been in Hletfsloe metter of 0f fact w much @ of the inamed state of public opinion towards the sale of liquor here and elsewhere Is due to the reckless disregard of law and pub lie sentiment which has characterized some dealers, and to the lack of more rigid regulation of the business by the powers that be. The wind has been sowed: and now the whiriwind may be reaped.
 How can any fair-minded person gay that The Advertiser stands for ahe whiskey traffic as it now exists with such a clear-cut declaration on that point only a few weeks ago? Again. in that same article. The Advertiser ds- cIared that 1t believed the dispensary system the hest practical remedy to minimize the evils of liquor. This pa- per today would earnestly and enthu- siastically join with the temperance people of this city to install the dis pensary, if they would abandon the prohibition movement. What sympathy with "the whiskey traffic with all it's attendant evils" is Indicated by such utterances at the very beginning of the present campaign? Our good friends memories are very short.
 Fu-thermere, has it heen so soon for gotten that in the municipal campaign of 1905 The Advertiser fought with all its energies what 1t feared would be the domination of this city's government by the saloon element? That was the issue as The Advertiser saw it. though many of the best people here did not agree with us. It is true that Mayor Teague justi1ed, to a large extent, the expectations of that part of the anti saloon element which voted for him, but he was handicapped by a majority in the Council which was elected at the same time by the extraordinary coali- ton of the saloon anG anti-saloon ele- ments. The arrogance of much of the saloon element since that time and the conduct of, many saloons have been largely the causes of the present cru- sade for prohibition. The Advertiser washes its hands of responsibility for the developments which have led up to tho present situation.
 In the light of these facts, The Ad- vertiser cannot see any reasonable ground for the impression our friend reports. Because we are opposed to prohibition does not, in the least, in- volve the assumption that we stand for existing evils. We do not stand for prohibition because we conscientiously believe that 1t does not stop the sale of liquor, and that 1t leads to other Afz4nrv aIaaWhara sboUc this. How any cool, rational man can read the history of prohibition for fifty years in Vermont. and regard it as a panacea for the liquor evil, we cannot grasp. There, stringent statute after statute was devised by the enemies of liquor, but the situation went from bad to worse. until a majority of the sensi- ble people rose up and re-established a legal sale of liquor, against the extra ordinary coalition of the theoretical prohibitionists with the practical liquor sellers under the blind-tiger system the latter of whom preferred prohibi- ton to high license on the grounds of economy.
 We are very sorry to find our we'll intentioned friend a champion of Mrs. Curtis. She is the most bitter apostle of narrowness and intolerance con- ceivable, and her influence has not been for good in this community. We say this not merely because she denounced The Advertiser at her various meet ings; that was bad enough. Her bigotry was shown in her declaration that anti prohibitionists. claiming to be Chris tians. were hypoerites. There was nc influence for Right, for Virtue. for Good in that sort of talk. She was fire brand, complete antipode in spirit and method to Hon. SeaboFn Wright who condemned her meth ods. not spe- cincally. but by his own precept and example.
 Last but not least, The Advertiser from its humble reading of the Scrip lures, believes that Christ, by precept