The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1909-05-24
TIMES BUREAU
AT THE STATE CAPITAL.

ton in 1912 is wrong. The league has
no such idea and it is not working in
that direction at all In fact the league
does not believe the time is ripe for
such move in Indiana.
League VIII Try to Make Good
What the Anti-Saloon League will
try to do now is to make good on the
promises that it made in order to get
the various counties in the state to
vote themselves dry. The league has
all along represented to the people
that in county that votes dry there
will be less lawlessnesa less law
breaking, less drunkenness, fewer Grim
inals better law enforcement, more
attention to business by public Off
Gals, no increase in taxation, fewer
/ inmates of poor houses and less misery
and crime than in those counties that
/ continue to license saloons. At every
point where there has been strenuous
| opposition to the dy plan these ar
guments have been used and in nearly
every case they have been successful
and have carried the day for the drys.
| Now can the league make good? That's
the question. and it is the question
that the league itself is going to try
to answer. The officers of the league
| understand, as well as anyone that
If they are able to make good on these
representations they will be able to
hold their sway in the state If they
fail to make good they Will lose their
hold and many Of the counties that
have voted wet are liable to return to
the licensed saloon
PrOhibftionists Have other Aim.
Some persons and some newspapers
who do not understand the situation
have been saying that the Anti-Saloon
League is working to induce the legis-
| lature of 1911 to adopt a resolution
to submit to the people in 1912 at the
election a proposition to amend the
constitution OF the state so as to pro-
vide for statewide prohibition of the
liquor traffic. 1t is not the Anti Saloon
League that is pushing this propo-
sition, but it is the prohibitionists, and
the prohiibtionists have never accom-
pshed anything in Indiana Through
the efforts of the Anti Saloon League
in circulating remonstrauces and hold
ing county option elections, nearly a
thousand saloons have been wiped out
Cause Is Threatened.
The league believes that if it is al
lowed to go straight ahead with its
present plan it will be able to wipe out
many hundreds more, and that when it
gets through with its entire campaign
in the state there will be few, if any,
saloons left in the state But the
league fears that If the prohibition
lists continue their agitation for state
wide prohibition when the state is not
ripe for it the result will be disas-
trous to the plans of the league, and
that many Of the saloons may be rein
stated This fear was expressed in a
statement given out by r. c. Minton,
attorney for the Indiana Anti-SaIoon
League and chairman of the Legislative
committee. There is no question. but
that Minton is the man who caused
the special session Of the legislature to
be called by Governor Hanly last Sep
: TENDER for the purpose Of passing the
) county option law, and ii was largely
: due to Minton's work that the bill
: finally got through He has conduct.
0 ed many of the legal fights that the
: league has had on its hands. He has
h been real power in the work of the
: league all through the campaign, and
n if there is any man in the state who /;
K in real touch with the situation it i.
|
u tation by the prohibitionists. He doei
not say that state wide prohibition vii
not come eventually. but he believes
: this is not the time to go after II. H
/ believes Indiana will finally be entire
| " dry, and when the time comes 70
this agitation to start in earnest Min
ton will be in the thick Of it.
Minton says the thing to do now /
! to bring about strict law enforcement
in the counties which have gone dry
one of the plans Minton has in mind /
to ask the next legislature to enact
law that will reach those prosecutor
and other officers who fail to enforc
the anti-liquor laws in their counties
Under this law whenever a prosecute
was lax in his duty any attorney &
the bar of his county might constitut
himself a special prosecutor with a
of the authority of the regular prose
a cutor to prosecute violators of the ant
liquor laws. Kansas has such a la
and it IS said to work we'll Then
! the league wished to prosecute offend
ers in a certain county and was n,
able to get the cooperation of Il
prosecutor it would turn the matt,
over to attorney at the bar who WI
ad known t. be friedly to the league ar
its purpose and he would act as II
special pr osecutor for those cases.
this way, ldinton says, the league cou
bring about the results that the leag,
IS. has promised
The greatest difficulty in the way
IS. enforcing the anti-liquor laws of Ind
ana always mas been and always w
be the failure of prosecutors and 9th
officials to do their duty. In too mar
o instances these officers owed the
election to office to the brewers al
~ saloon interests, and it was not to
expected that they would strike t
o hand that gave them bread If Il
Anti-Saloon league can change this co
OF dition it will he on the high road
proving that it can do what it pror
ised the people.
Someone has proposed a law tn
would give the governor authority
= send an attorney from one county
any other county in the state to act
special Judge at the trial OF cases f
+ violations of the anti-liquor laws TT
however does not meet with favor, n
even with the Anti-Saloon league (
it says such law would place entire
too much power in the hands of t
ay governor and give him control of t
ad courts a condition that is not co