Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-23
PROHIBITION vs., The CHURCH
Vigorous Reply toAfnessiR Which the Liquor Question
and IaW-breakeFS Are Handled Without Gloves

In The Daily Tribune of February 8
lis rather queer article on the above
subject by one Arness, written in such
a manner that it is certain to aggra-
waite all sound thinking people. It
5can be stsled as the best piece of
blasphemy on the Holy Bible ever put
in print.
/ ~ might ask Mr.. Arness What is
the object Of the church? What is it
!, working for? And what is the object
.Iof the saloon. public or secret? Will
Mr.. sArness answer these questions?
! And / ask every sound, unprecedented
j person to think and think deep on
/ these questions; and in connection
!, arises the third question, What is the
! object of prohibition? If Mr.. Arness
, thinks that the Christian church is
blind he must not have been inside Of
, a church in his life.
The prohibitory law will not. pro-
/ hibit the traffic and drink habit in
/ this state, and the law against murder,
theft, rape, suicide, usury, forgery
does not prohibit these offenses, what
then, Mr.. Arness2 Burn our statutes
and let the evil in man have free
/ play? This is your theory. Mr.. Arness,
lin plain English, and such a condition
/ would be agreeable to you, would it
not? III
Have you never seen the effect of
/ whisky, its brutality, its degrading eff
j feet on society You would use your
] effort to throw the doors Of our dear
/. state open, and invite the devil to take
/ possession of our homes, kill our wives
and children, reduce these, our inhab-
j itants, who love not only the prohibit
{ tory law, but all the other laws that
/ protect us and ours. Il hope to God
/ that their number here in the state
may stand 10 to against Mr.. Arness'
| cIass-and this you will do only for
I the sake of few paltry dollars; you
will give few in each town or city
/ the right to do wholesale murder, if he
only pay for the right to do it. 1t is
| hard to see and understand the reason
for such theory in this, the twentieth
century, where statistics carefully
compiled, prove the very opposite.
4 Now, why was the druggist permit
J, law enacted Mr.. Arness can un-
doubtedly answer. but ] can assure
you that the temperance people are
one and all in favor of repeating that.
law, which is a blot on our law book.
But / assure you that the church has
nothing to do with it. The church
curses the dalnnable traffic at the drug.
stores and blind pigs and saloons and
breweries and distilleries. It is gotten
up by Satan and his helpers, and pro-
ttected by the same consort, and adyo-
Gated by the same horde who love to
see children starve, wives cruelty
beaten, men degraded lower than the
lowest animal, homes destroyed, So
ciety crippled, the church empty and
nations wiped out. These things here
mentioned are facts, cold facts, star
ing facts, inevitable results Of that
cursed business; and this you adyo.
cate as something highly attainable
for our bright, intelligent, prosperous
people of North Dakota, just because
there are a few who delight in inn
morality, who try to make God respon-
sible for the sin on earth. Because
men like to sin, are we therefore to-
give them all possible liberty to sir?
Where is your Christianity?
The church proper is not to be judy
ed by a few narrow-minded inefficient
Hclergymen and a few church members
of the same class There has been
time when the clergy thought that
they could not deliver sermon with
out having it favored with whisky, and
the church members had to have
dessert after the service at the bar,
but that time is passed, as I hope, for
ever.
Your arguments against prohibition
are as silly as can be. The first shows
that law remedying the evil should
be enacted. making 1t a crime for com
mon carriers to bring into the state
Eundesired goods. except small guam
tity consigned to physician or drug
gist without permit, for use in COM
pounding drugs,if the stuff is abso-
sIutely necessary, and goods SO brought
in should be seized and destroyed.
The second the druggist permit law.
should require that rs per cent Of
the men and 85 per cent Of the women
to sign the petition, and only those
parties should have the right to sign
but one such petition for each town
ship.
The third. blind piggers and such
should be put on water and hard bread
for thirty days at the jail, and I will
wager myself that one such term will