The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-10-02
Discussing the Liquor Question


. in their respective counties. 1t de
. MES the legislature and the people
. the right to legitimatize any business
. that Is attended with such evil eff
. fects as is the license system. Were
. lit possible to vote all the saloons ouI
. of Idaho under local option law
. that. part of the law giving the people
1.-The right to vote to have them re
!. hain, would nevertheless be uncon
Rstitutional; for if all the people in q
fcounty should vote for the retention
!. of the license system that would moi
Achange one whit the character of the
Aystem. It would remain unconstitu.
. :, ,2nal, by reason of the pernicious eff.
,,;thits it has on the public. For the
.ato Aple to ask the legislature to pass
giving them the privilege to
h,s an unconstitutional measure up
aa+ lwn Is not only most ridiculous,
,o+, asuch measures were resorted to,
= peaPry great extent, it would under
70 Jail government. This govern
-. o,,gould soon become farce.
Hight foT2w OF but one other great mo-
hilcote wional evil that was allowed to
Law to nd up or down and that was
lin the territories, as was done
X nond as and Nebraska, but that was
". IT Kite by petition Of the people
ling done in the case of local
lev Rankn the liquor question. 1t has
and loten the way OF the world that
at moral reforms the people
!, ART ho,y every device that Satan sug-
81 0sDefore they will settle the ques-
n Gods way. The people OF the
;, tJuth have learned that local option
1 is not the true solution of the liquor
question. That, while they might
close the saloons the brewery and dis
tillery remained to carry on an un-
derground trade and thereby put the
law in contempt. So they are, state
latter state, adopting the true solution,
viz: State wide prohibition, that be-
ing measure which gives the tenn
perance people complete control by
not only closing the saloon but the
brewery and distillery. Now the peo-
pie of the North think that, because
the South had local option before get
ting prohibition we must go through
the same process. The South. when
it resorted to local option, had their
thoughts on the saloon They did not
realize the power OF the brewery and
distillery back of the saloon, and the
political influence of the whisky and
beer manufacturers in the great CEN
tres of population where the saloon
cannot be rooted out. But they have
learned that fact through long years
of sad experience. But all that goes
for naught with some people of the
Northwest. They do not seem to know
that 4 states of this union were car
IT
ried for state wide prohibition prior
to the civil war without first going
through the duress of local option.
They do not stop to think that 1t
would be much easier and much less
expensive to secure than the ineffect-
i've local option prohibition, that ne
cessitates continuous struggle to Sc
cure and an endless fight to retain,
and that the former is not only more
far-reaching but much easier to en-
force. Some of the temperance socie-
ties seem smitten with local option
craze. They reject the local prohibit
ton law our state has given them,
similar to that of Tennessee which
has been used most effectively for
eight years. They allowed our local
prohibition laws to remain dead let
ter on the statute books and spent
their means and energy for local OPP
ton. They petitioned the political
justices Of Idaho for local option
plank and they got what they asked |
for. The only difference between
them and the liquor men was, the lat
ter fought for precinct local option
ut the Republican state convention,
while they fought for county local OPP
ton, and won. They did not seem to |
realize that il they had stood out for |
state wide prohibition that the liquor
men would have cried, Give us coun-
ty local option" and then had there
been local option plank passed the |
liquor men would have been respon-
sible for it and not the temperance |
people. But there is no doubt but |
what that Republican convention |
would have passed prohibition
plank had the temperance people |
asked for It. But they did not They !
we're out for local option and they |
got It. The Republican convention
cannot, therefore, be blamed for not |
giving us a prohibition plank. The
responsibility rests with the advocates
of temperance who were on the