Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-04-11

elements of growth, it has checked
and retarded their advancement. 1t
has debauched and demoralized the
electorate and one of its natural fruits
has been the unlawfully licensed
brothel, while another has been the
honor destroying gambling den. 1t
should be repealed and if am nom
mated and elected as governor, I
shall use all the proper and constitu-
tional powers of my Office for the ac-
complishment of that purpose.
Prohibition Success.
On the other hand, prohibition,
wherever honestly tried, has been a
success. It was successful in Iowa
and is successful in Maine Kansas
and other states. In this state it emp
tied many of our jails and reduced
the number Of inmates in our two
penitentiaries so rapidly that the
state governments found it difficult
to fulfil Its contracts for the prison
labor with which our workingmen are
unjustly forced to compete. It was
even seriously proposed that one of
our state prisons be closed. The
largest city in the state made, during
the decade of prohibition both rela-
lively and absolutely, the largest
growth of any decade in it's history.
Although SANDER mills were maintain
ed at great expense to propagate and
distribute the false statement that
vast quantities Of liquor were being
retailed bv drug stores and holes-in-
the-wall, the absence Of drunkenness,
the decrease in vice and crime, the
reduction of taxes. the progress of
large majority Of our communities
In all the elements of good citizen
ship and the material prosperity of
the masses demonstrated as fully as
the mournful resolution ADOPTED by
the brewers associations that the
wish was father Of the thought.
Laws Through Fraud.
The emasculation Of our prohibi-
tory laws and policies was accomplish
ed by political sapping and mining in
stead of by the open and honest as
saults which manly men employ in
political as well as military warfare.
The semblance of a hostile public
opinion was created by the reiterated
falsehoods that prohibition did not
prohibit. The political campaign which
inaugurated the re cal movement was
fought under false colors. as a pre-
tended anti-monopoly crusade: but the
moment victory was thus obtained it
was brazenly proclaimed as a verdict
of the people against the prohibitory
law. Instead of increased railroad tax
alton, lower, freight and passenger
rates. and other promised reforms. the
people were given the notification of
their liquor laws through the whole
sale remission of penalties for their
violation. The efforts of the people
were thus neutralized and the friends
Of law and order disheartened.
The Next Step.
The next step in the program of de-
ceit and sophistry was to weaken the
pharmacy laws for the deliberate pur-
pose of discrediting a great peoples
efforts to free themselves from the
domination of the saloon This &C.
complished, the road to the sham-tem-
Derance statute known to as the mulct
law, was short and easy.
In the name Of the innocent women
and children Of Iowa, who have suf-
fered long and cruelty from this piece
of legislative folly, | demand the i'm
mediate repeal of the mulct law. the
restoration and strengthening of our
prohibitory and pharmacy laws and
the early resubmission of the question
of constitutional prohibition to a
vote of the people
John A. Hamilton.
Des Moines, April 9, 1908.