Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-12-18
AT THE EXPENSE Or PRESIDENT
ROOSEVELT.
WHO IGNORES TEMPERANCE
A $4,000 Word Message and Yet Not
a Syllable in 1t Abou tht "Peo-
pies Uprising Against the Drink
curse"-Liqaor People Cbuckle.-
An Executive Slunder.

4
have pointed to those executive words
as another sign OF the times favorable
10 the cause of the anti-liquof words:
TO the natives of Alaska
Whereat the prohibitionists arc ia.
elined 10 criucise. in a manner, too,
which carries a sting. and they ain,
many sharp verbal shafts at the man
in the white house. They say the presi-
dent discussed forty-five different
topics in a 30,000-word document, and
could find no space or time ito COM
ment on the peoples uprising against
the drink curse
The message of the president TO
the siXtieth congress will be remem-
bered by the future historian as in
one respect at least the most extra
ordinary document ever penned by an
/ executive of the nation" said one
cold-watcr enthusiast. While Mr..
| Roosevelt takes infinite pains to elab-
crate his views on almost every topic
OF political, social and industrial life
/ In a document OF more thar 10000
words, "the most careful reading OF
/ his versatile and voluable production
discovers but a single isolated indi.
rect reference, but ten words long. To
! the supreme issue before the Ameri-
can people tod ay-nameiy, the liquor
tiaffic.
Such an absolute silence on the
| issue which more than any other has
stirred the public mind and achieved
more significant and widespread sue
/ cess than any other during the last
/ twelvemonth is the more amazing be-
cause it is fully recognized at Wash.
| ington that from ever section of our
land there is going up TO this present
( congress a great popular dcm2nd for
/ the passage of long-postroned inter-
state legislation which shall bulwark
Io-license and prohibition territory
against the invasion of the brewers
and spoilation of the federal taXpay-
! ing ioinists,
The presidents strenuous plea for
! interstate legislation In connection
/ with railroads and general commerce
is timely. but there are 10000 COM
nunities where interstate liquor sell
ing now unrestrained is doing vast
damage TO business. morals and law
| enforcement alike. The brewers,
whose well paid congressional lobby
has for ten years succeeded in de-
| feating at every session the meas
ures embodying the principles of the
Hepburn-Dollivef bill, will chdckle
ever the presidents failure TO urge
I this legislation, nov demanded by the
| people WHO live in more than half
the territory of tho nation.
| "Anothtr surprising omission Of
| Iii. Roosevelt is his failure 10 cen
denim the notorious system by which
! the federal government has now fCs
many years IA, 4 in the protection OF
liquor jo;itsts in prohibition territory,
| by the issuance of federal tax re-
ceipts-government licenscs-to liq-
| uor men, whether locally licensed or
not.
This system has become crying
te1il In every prohibition community.
When the president says 1t Is pro-
| foundly immoral to put or keep on thc
statute bouks law, nominally In
the interests OF public morality. that
really puts a premium mon public
immortality it would have been an
, AFT preface to a courageous denuncla
alton OF the present federal liquor-tax
system, but that allusion Is actually
applied to an altogether diiferena top
ic
in his vigorous Anglo-Saxon elo
| quence the president declares the ma
.icn's natural resources, /. e.. forests
farm lands, mires, etc. must be cen
| served and that there are certain
forms of waste which could be en-
tirely stopped, and that the seif-In
terest of a very few persons mus
not weigh more than the ultimate
interest Of all The people, as thei.
fontext shows tLese ringing words
have no reference whatever 10 ths
annual direct waste OF one and a hal
L,llion dollars and the direct vast,
o. as much more caused by the legal
cation and protection Of the liquoi
1atiic graft, not the increasing loss
Of industry caused by the waste o.
labor power and strikes and accidents
one TO drink
In view If this continued amaZ!ng
Indifference to the prohibition reform
en- the part of the president, the ca
tablishmcnt b. ae prohibition nation
a! committee 81 a special legislatiy'
bureau at Washington during the
present sesslc. of congress 10 sup
port and aid the passage Of impor,
ant prohibition measures which have
long failed Of passage Is an eyenr Of
no small importance
"By 3the action Of the committee al
- recent meeting at Chicago such a
tureou will be maintained throughout
rbe coming SEES zion. superiutepded by
efficient leaders well yerse1 10 the
Treseut needs Of prohibition territory
and able aggressively TO advance
these interests.
"Tt IL not - sll visionary 10 assert
int there VIII never be another pres
sdent's message which viii ignore thia
treat issue"
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