The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1908-05-22
MISTAKE OF THE ANTI-sALooN
LEAGUE

terrain, or any or the other churcneS,
were % mix Up with politics. and take
decidedly official stand IN the selec-
ton of national, state, county AM
municipal officers, that church would
soon lose its identity as a religious
denomination and degenerate into Z
political machine 1t would split up
into factions, and as certainly go To
pieces as a ship striking against Z
rock at sea.
If a church wants to become a liv-
ing force in a republic like ours it
must stick to its creed and separate
itself completely from the state.
In our judgment the Marion County
Anti-Saloon League in mixing up with
politics and taking a hand in the pres
ent primary campaign has made d Sc
rious blunder.
1t was understood that it was or
ganized for the purpose of suppress
/ ing the saloon and not for the purpose
of running the politics of the county
and booming certain individuals for
Office.
When it becomes known that this IS
its object it will lose its force, potency
and power for other and higher ends.
A great many persons Joined the
league, little dreaming that it would
be used, as the tail to kite, to fur
Their the ambition of its leaders. on
the contrary, they believed that its
sole purpose, as stated in its motto,
was for the suppression of the sa-
! loon
When the members awake to the
! fact that whether organized for that
! purpose or not the league is being
used for a stepping stone" to lift
certain men into Office. in the next
wet and dry" election the leaders
will be wholly discredited and the or
ganization intellectually injured.
Men will say, and will have a right
TO say, that the Interior objects of the
| league are for the parcelIing out OF
the county offices and not for the sup
preston of the saloons, and a wet
blanket thrown around the organiza-
ton will not have the effect of cool
ing the ardOr of the members more eff
! fectually.
Men, as a rule, do not like to be
made a cats paw with which to pull
chestnuts out of a fire for some other
fellow, and when they discover that
they are being used for this purpose
they Immediately rebel
1t is human nature to do so.
Men, too, as a rule, like a square
deal"
This circular letter issued by and
under the auspices of the Anti-Saloon
/ League, comes at the tag end of the
campaign-after the weekly papers
have all gone to press-and it is i'm
possible to head of whatever effects
the arguments used in the circular
may have with the voters throughout
the county.
So the objects aimed at in the cir
cular letter may be attained; the An
ti-SalOon League may be made TO
serve as a stepping-stone in lifting
certain ones indicated therein into
office, but when the next wet and
dry" election is called or is attempted
to be called, it will not require a seer
to note the injury this circular letter
will have caused those whose real OBJ.
| jects are outside the line of politics
and purely for the suppression of the
| liquor traffic.
1t almost goes without saying that
men who head a movement of this
sort ought to ALLEVIATE themselves
from all sOrdid motives and political
ambitions so as to be in a position
when the arrows of criticism are aim
ed at them they will fall hurtless at
their feet.