Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-03-31
The Mission of the Middle Man.

create stampede by either side at
exactly what they are worth. There
are already too many evidences that
the popular mind is becoming confus-
ed by the conflicting statements and
arguments that are being used so free
ly on both sides, and, as The Argus
has said before, there is danger that
in many cases something irrelevant
will determine the verdict at the polls
of many a voter.
1t should be remembered that the
campaign being waged has taken on
all the phases of a political fight, with
each side straining to the utmost to
gain the vantage ground by appealing
to popular feeling and seeking TO
arouse a state of mind that will at
least last until election day passes.
Then what?
Stump speakers, many of them paid,
have been introduced Press bureaus
have been established to divert the
trend of thought along opposing lines.
1t is to the interest of the
speakers on both sides to make their
arguments as convincing as possible
and to back them with what appear
at least to be formidable arrays of fig
ures and authorities for effectiveness.
Therefore, to arrive at the truth, it is
ly every instance.
In Rock Island there is every rea-
son to believe that it is the voter who
takes middle ground and carefully
weighs the issue who will decide
whether virtual prohibition shall be
attempted Those whose principles, or
prejudices, or whose self-inter-
est, as the case may be,
hold them to one side or the
other SO firmly that no line of reason
ing can move them, seem sufficiently
balanced for and against, to place the
responsibility for the popular verdict
upon those who are honestly trying
to reason out their course. There are
men who, while considering the ideal.
are reasoning with the practical.
These should keep in view the ulti-
mate welfare of Rock Island and its
people-they should weigh the after
math as well as the immediate aim.
From the prohibition standpoint,
local option in Rock Island will not be
half the battle. Prohibition adopted,
but not enforced, is public calamity.
as has been proven over and over
again. Having reached climax at
election time, the reformatory ener-
gies of the community may be expect
ed to fail off to, or even below, a nor
NAL state of activity. Then the bur-
den of enforcing drastic prohibitory
law will be left in the hands of
an administration machinery that
has shown itself too weak to properly
apply the laws that already exist, and
which, if diligently carried into effect,
| it is conceded would remove much, if
not all, the agitation for the annihila-
ton of the liquor traffic.
And as to.the aftermath. The advo-
Gates of local option are acting
under law that seeks pro-
hibitiOn only in its temporary
state with the hope of fasten-
ing it permanently on the territory
within which the proposition is to be
voted upon. Realizing that under the
law the question may be opened up
again, regardless of which way it goes
now, local option supporters ask
merely the opportunity to try it
on. They want the experiment.
And therein. to The Argus view of the
case, reposes the most Objectionable
feature of the entire issue now pend
ing. While prohibition in it's applica-
ton has proven farce and a fizzle
Everywhere, and is objected to by tenn
lperance people all over the land, both
from the standpoint of principle and
tits effectiveness as means of regula
Ition. permanent prohibition, if it could
be made logically effective, would be
VASTLY preferable to temporary prohi
Ibition, with the endless uncertainty
and constantly existing activity OF
those who honestly oppose it, to shake
1t off at the first opportunity
And the immediate effect in the
event of prohibition carrying? A con
Itest.. A contest of the election. The
existence of this means of testing the
legality of the original petition aftel
the election, furnished one O
the elements in the reasoning
of the court in denying the writ o
prohibition prayed for In the Rock Is
land county circuit court There wa.
no occasion for court interference a,
, long as the remedy existed for ties
afterward.
! Beyond this inevitable consequence,
of the success of the local optionists-
, should they be successful-is the NOR,
, far-reaching consideration of the ques
!, tion of constitutionalty of the who'll
local option law now before the su
: preme court of the state. What i
: that high tribunal should. decide tina
t. the entire enactment is Illegal?
These facts are enumerated merel
Ito bear out the assumption that it 1
| the middle man, otherwise the consel
vative man, who will settle tn
: election. The solution depends upol
t the voter who reasons without preju