The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-02-29
ALMOST WON AGAIN.

The prohibition is moving northward
along the Atlantic coast, and although it is not
sweeping everything before it. its force is being
felt, and in West Virginia an amendment provd-
ing for prohibition was lost in the state senate by
only one vote. There are thirty members of the
West Virginia senate, and the amendment to carry
required two-thirds vote. Nineteen senators
voted for the amendment and eleven against it.
While there is no intention on the part of the
temperance advocates to bring the measure up
again at this session, the result is highly crafty
ing to them. On the other hand, the opponents get
poor consolation from the fact that they won,
but their victory has none of the merits of fight
put up for good cause
West Virginia is small state but she has
fiftyfive counties within her borders and all but
nineteen of these are dry" territory and in these
nineteen counties the sentiment the liquor ques
ton is pretty evenly divided As the Importance
of the temperance sentiment is thus manifested,
the attitude of the liquor people has changed ma
terially. When the legislature was convoked III
special session by the governor at which the ques
ton came up, there was no premoniton that the
Anti-Saoon league would press the issue. There
was no mention in the call of any proposed egisa-
that the legislature could submit amendments to
the constitution to the voters for their approval
rejection. The Anti-Saloon league seized this OPP
portunity, but the proposed amendment was lost
by vote Had it passed the legislature, it is
conceded throughout the state by about everybody
that it would have carried at the polls by from 90
900 to $4,000 votes.
The political parties have awakened to the size
and strength of the movement, and the liquor in
terests are now actively supporting local option
law, hoping to this concession in the face of
the certainty of state prohibition in very short
time 1t is even suggested that the legislature will
be convoked by the governor in another special ses-
sion to deal with the liquor problem and possibly
pass stringent local option law. This action it Is
thought will stay the demands for prohibition and
will satisfy the saloon element. If this result |
should follow the campaign of the Ant-Saloon
league it will give them what they contended for in
the first place, and with which they would have
Deen content. Opposition to the demands of the
temperance leaders only tended to crystalline and |
mite the forces of prohibition, with the result that
he overwhelming public opinion favorable to the
cause was made manifest.
In the result as it hangs in the balance in West
Virginia there is lesson for Utah temperance
oeople and Utah saloon men. The lesson for the
aloon men is that they must obey the laws made to
egulate the traffic or be ultimately forced out of
he business. The lesson for the temperance folks
$ that the reasonable demand for local option
aw will attract larger following than the demand
or total abolition of the liquor business, and if
his reasonable demand is met with active opposi-
ion by the liquor interests, sentiment against the
aloon will be crystallized and the sale, manufac-
ure storage of intoxicating liquors within the
tate will be forever prohibited