The Washington herald., 1908-03-02
FEAR FOR KENTUCKY
Blue Grass Democrats See
Reputation TOttering.
WILL BELLIES LOSE CHARMS
And VIII States Royal Steeds Grow
speedIessf-GOOd whisky and I'm
PregnnbIe Democracy Both Conc
by the sOard, and Hopeless Out
look Makes Pessimists of All.

Having gone lame in two legs, is Ken
tucky's quadrupedal reputation to loss
the other two?
This is the question that is puzzling
blue grass Democrats In Congress.
"Kalntucky, sah." has long enjoyed a
reputation that has been the envy Of
other States. That reputation has stalked
haughtily about on its four legs, fiaunt-
ing its superiority In the faces Of less
healthy regulations. 1t has made Ken
tucky famous. as the amber fluid did
certain Middle Western city. It has been
enthroned in literature for half a dozen
decades. and has become one of the main
standbys of the postprandial orators.
But. alasi that same naughty reputation
IS no longer naughty; It no longer eavorts
about upon its four pedal members. but
has dragged itself in shame 10 its lair.
two OF those members Jralling the ground
limp, useless, and disfgured. And prohi-
bition, say those Kentucky Democrats
who are not too grief-stricken TO con-
verse about the matter, did il all.
supports of Blue Grass Fame.
The four supports OF that matchless
reputation. since time was young. have
been known to every American schoolboy
who wasn't born in New England or in
Pennsylvania, where the children are
brought up ms Puritans. or es Quakers.
and therefore know nothing Of the joys
of life in Kentucky. They are-or, alasl
were-beautiful women, fine horses, good
whisky and-impregnable Democracy.
Those were the very foundation of Ken
tuckys prior claim in the matter Of repu-
tation Four. they were yet one and in
divisible. From a Southern point of view.
they all belonged together and in the
company Of the true Southern gentleman,
Of which even Virginia, mother of Presi-
dents. can boast no more than can old
Kaintuck.
Place the beautiful woman, fittingly ap-
pareied upon the matchless horse, prop
erly caparisoned. What way could a true
Kentucky Democrat better show his pa
triotism, his knighthood. his party fealty,
than by pledging his loyalty to that com
bination In pure and unadulterated-oh.
no watuh. no watuh; no. sah,-bourbon?
Decline and Fall Begin.
But prohibition knocked out the bour-
bon. What more natural than that in
falling, slowly and deliberately. with the
vague hope that help would come ere It
had fully humbled in the dust, ii should
have unsettled another of those patrician
props of the Kentucky reputation
Democracy? Most quadrupeds can stand
on three legs. but Kentuckys reputation
was not one of these When the whisky
leg went lame. it was dimly foreseen that
the Democracy leg must suffer. at least
sympathe.icslly.
And now the Kentucky Democrats in
Congress await. hopelessly and with deep
despair, the coming of the tidings that the
two remaining props of the blue grass
reputation have tottered to their fall-that
the beautiful women have all lost their
charms in one fell blight from some mod
ern witch of power far more terrible
than was possessed by those i'm the fairy
tales. Moreover. they are steeling them
selves against the news that every horse
of royal blood has lost his speed and
his ambition, and that the graceful lines
which those steeds Inherited through long
lines of irreproachable ancestry. begin
ming one and severslly with the great
GOdolphin Arab himself. have departed
forever from Kentucky horsehesh.
Take n Hopeless View.
Prohibition, the beginning of the de-
cline Of the Kentucky reputation. will they
say. also be the end. or the means TO the
end. AS proof thereof they point 20 the
alleged fact that prohibition was respon-
sble. the other day. for the election of a
Republican Senator from the Blue Grass
State.
OF course that had occurred once be-
fore. but once is a mere accident: il is
the repetition that establishes the ir-
reyocable precedent Democratic votes
did it. but prohibition. they say. swayed
the Democratic vote jefferson County.
in which is situated the fair and wet"
city of Louisville is one OF the few re-
naming Oases in the desert waste OF
dry" Kentucky. The prohibition hosts
have invaded jefferson. and had nearly
won their battle In the legislature.
Then. they say. a dicker was fixed I'D
10 save the city and the county from the
impending ignominy. Democratic votes.
it's true. elected the new Kentucky Sena-
tor; Republican votes, It's whispered. will
keep Jefferson County and the fair CITY
Of Louisville wet"
And the fell question ever haunts the
Kentucky Democrat these days: VIII that
same fell influence mar tho beauty Of the
Blue Grass belle. and stiffen the tendons
of the Kentucky steed? Is Kentucky. in
short, doomed to occupy no longer the
forefront of the roll Of States I'm those
last remaining pedestals of her glory?
Alas and alackl only Time. interpreter
of all things. can answer.