Middletown transcript., 1908-10-10
EhpERANcE PEOPLE DIVIDED
aassfil1g oi Womanss Anti.License Fed.
terati0a Brouqll ()ut That Pact

tsraaioa BrougI1 Out That Pact
~ special meeting of the Woman,l
ANTI License Federation held ID the w
r headquarters in Wilmington
Tuesday night Il developed that the tenn
perance expoDents are not as one as re
gards the selection Of candidates on til.
state ticket, and as result there was 81
interesting session lasting until nearly Il
o'clock.
Inc Rev. John M. Arters, district su
perintendent OF the Anti Saloon League
was present, and as some OF the womer
ot the Federation seemed to be in doubt
ass how to proceed, he proceeded to give
reasons for the selections Of the candi.
datee.
ln doing 90 he told OF why Andrew G.
Gray, the Democratic nominee for attor.
ney-general, was preferred BY the Prohi.
bltlonists to Frank II. Davis, the Republi.
can nominee, and this brought from
Isaac w. Bowers an address in which be
defended Mr.. Davis and declared his fit.
ness for the Office. Also Mr.. Bowers
criticised some other tactics OF the persons
responsible for the Prohibition ticket,
mainly because they placed their own
candidate on for Congress when, he de-
clared that William H. Heald, the Re-
publican nominee was as good Prohibi-
ZIONIST as the regular candidate for Con-
gress Of the Prohibition party.
While waiting for Mr. Arters, Mrs. E.
G. Marks the president; Mrs. L. w.
Emerson, and others gave talks, and
Mrs. Emerson declared her belief that
the temperance men we're endorsing can
didates not favorable to the temperance
cause, and she caused a laugh by saying
she was suspicious of the Delaware politi-
clan. She declared that the saloon men
were flooding the two lower counties and
were working with both. parties.
Mrs. Marks said the Federation should
not overlook the good that had been
done here in Delaware and elsewhere
and she referred to recent temperance
victories.
At this iuncture Mr. Arters arrived,
and in the beginning he said that he took
it that the Federation wanted reasons for
things which had been done, and he
said he felt that everything that had been
done conld be justified as pure political
expediency. He said that playing pure
politics is the game that wins soonest
and that il has won in other states. He
said the temperance forces were con-
fronted by real thing-the saloon deep.
ly rooted in both parties and that it must
be fought on the battle-ground it chooses
the political ground.
He told of the efforts of the anti.soloon
workers at both the Republican and
Democratic conventions of asking for
nominations all the way down the line
of candidates who could be favorable to
the cause of temperance. He spoke OF
the degree of success which had rewarded
their efforts, but he said the result in
neither case was entirely satisfactory and
that as a result, there were only two
things left to be done. One of these was
to put in the field straight-out Prohibi-
ton ticket, and the other was to take the
best things the other two parties had
done.
Mr.. Arters here called attention to the
fact that the Anti-SaIoon League, which
he represented, had not the right to name
ticket, but he said it was thought that
straight-out ticket would not have a
chance, though he held that it would
have been an ideal thing to name
straight-out ticket. However, he said
it seemed best to play practical part and
to take the best candidates OF the two
parties.
He challenged anyone to deny that
this idea had not been carried out, SO far
as local option was concerned. He then
took up the Republican and Democratic
candidates, and in reference to Simeon
S. Pennewill, the Republican gubernator-
ial nominee, he spoke Of his eight years
in the General Assembly and said that
during that time he had from time to
time placed himself on record as favoring
local option. Referring to the criticism
directed against Mr.. Pennewill in regard
to the voters assistant law, Mr.. Arters
said this was not the primary objection
of the temperance people, although the
Prohibition party had shown its disfavor
for the law.
Mr. Arters referred to DIR. Rowland G. |
Paynter, the Democratic nominee as an
estimable gentleman, but he went on to
say that he had signed applications for
liquor licenses and could not chow the /
same record as Pennewill.
The attorney-gen matter was the
next brought up, and he said the Pro-
hibitionists for their STAND in endorsing |
Gray had been criticised. He declared
that the Republicans had nominated
man unfit for the Office when one COM
pared his fitness with that of those who
for years had been chosen for the high
Office. He spoke of the efforts Of Attor-
ney-General Robert II. Richards to learn
from other members OF the bar what
they thought of the fitness Of Mr.. Davis,
and he said two-thirds OF the letters re-
celVed indicated that the writers did not
think he was ft.
Mr., Arters asked why the Republican
party had nominated the only Kent
county lawyer who campaigned against
no license last fall. He said he under
stood that Mr.. Davis had received COM
pensation for his services. but he declared
that no man had right to fgit moral
issue for price. II
AS to Mr.. Gray, Mr.. Arters said he was
frank to say that he vas not the man be
would like to have endorsed, but he said
that Mr.. Gray had stated that lie never
had liquor man for client and had no