Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1907-11-12
YipraRruuhliran glarahatnu1 jnua Nnurntrr y 1907

who hold the official existence of dere-
lict county attorneys in their hands.
And if any county attorney has been
removed for cause, no one seems TO
have heard of the incident. Why is
Craft abroad like a new Wandering
governor? Why not against the Judges
who are clothed with power to bind
and loose the forces that work for and
against enforcement of the liquor laws
The ministry may well look close at
home for some of the causes that
strengthen the law breakers. 1t is too
apt to lend its sanction to methods
that injure more than advance the
cause of liquor prohibition and to en-
dorse men of whom it knows little, sim
ply because they assert mission. Men
have ranged Iowa assuming the garb
and blackmal. There has been so
much of this that ''whiskey detec-
tive" has become a synonym for scoun-
drelism in many parts of the state,
The clergy. following an honest I'M
pulse, has often been deceived into in
dorsing ill-balanced. lnavish men.
whose main claim to credit and con-
tidence is their own clamor OF asser-
ton There has been too much of the
reformed drunkard" style of temper
ance work and not enough of plain,
simple and sincere effort to better
conditions. Honest as it is as a body,
endeavoring always to be on the right
side of moral questions. and to line
up with the forces of right, the clergy
has been deceived into too many reso-
lutions, worked for too much money
and cozened Of too much support of
men who are far from representing the
clergy. the public and the law abiding
sentiment of the state. 1t needs to &C
ouire the business sense that distin-
guishes a knave and refuses to trust
profuse profession unbacked by char
acter.
We are on the threshold OF new
deal in liquor law enforcement. Let
us proceed with Judgment, more than
with enthusiasm and intolerance. The
demand for militia is one easy to
make. Appeal to brute force and pow
der and ball is the impulse of the prim-
tive man and the unthinking or un-
tolerant. There is no state of rebellion
in Iowa when two men fight over a
law suit on the streets OF Davenport,
and as vet no reason there for firing
SQUADS. blood on the paving stones.
widowed women and fatherless child
rem. The bullets with which few of
the men who are preaching the gospel
of the Prince of Peace would sweep
the streets of Iowa cities would not
strike down the men who sell Whiskey
Illegally, but the ignorant and misled
men to whom they sell, and who they
stir to frenzy by appeal.
There is no occasion to make mar
tyrs and create revulsion against the
growing movement that would set 1t
back a quarter of century until q
new generation arose that had not
looked on bloodshed. Troops are the
last resort of free government. 1t
the worst comes, send them and main
tain the law, but let US not speak OF
military force as we would of kim
dergarten picnic.
We are rising. Our sense of the sac
redness of law is growing, not as the
result of looking into the muzzles of
loaded guns, but as we advance in edu-
cation and brotherhood. The temperance
movement is farther ahead today than
it has ever been. 1t is general 1t IN
cludes thousands of the men who once
believed that the liquor traffic was a
necessity to draw trade and keep bus
mess IVely. EVEN lIe Uettei Sle1os9
of the men who profit by the traffic de-
spise it and are ashamed of it. We
are rising, and let us relegate to the
rear the cranky, the intolerant and the
crooked-and keep rising.
When Governor Cummins suggested
legislation that would permit state
authorities to remove sheEiffs and
county attorneys who refuse or neglect
their duty, it was a good question.
The ministers have taken the right
step when they agree to work toward
such a law When this has been spread
on the statute books, the governor of
the state may be justly criticized for
conditions that obtain in counties
WHEN JONES CONES DOWN THE STREET
When you walk down town do you