Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1909-09-23

at SOiutiOh iOi utiuotil- ain hlci--
" going to chat a little from the
viewpoint of those who see so much
that is bad on both sides Of the CUES
ton. They are hesitating as T.
which band to herd with in the ab.
sence of an alternative.
With the low brow of the saloon.
the high brow of sociology and with
the concave brow of fanaticism. it
is really difficult for the man of
practical turn of mind, whose inter-
est in the community is sincere, to
tell where to head in. He shudders
at being aligned with the low brow
he has no patience with the aviatory
F theories of tie high brow and he is
disguised 9th the rawlings Of the
fanatic. Yet the law says if he vote
at all he must go with one side or
the other, taking a position that is
repugnant to him. He must go with
the materialist or the sentimentalist,
for the high brow may be dismissed
from consideration with profit nor
that all saloon men are low brows or
that all prohibitionists are fanatics
far from it, but because there are
enough Of each on either side Of the
fence to give him the shivers and
stated lies in the fact that it woulo
cause him to look though in vain,
for an opening that leads to decent
and rational solution
But he is left no alternative 1t
must be the one or the other There
is no use, therefore. for him to dis
cuss better regulation of the saloon
at this time, and it is next to impos-
sible for him to devise any plans with
that end in view. for ne will have
plenty of time if prohibition shall be
defeated, and if it shall prevail there
will be nothing to regulate for
blind pigs and bootlegging cannot be
regulated any more than counter
feiter den or a back room poker
game.
So the practical man and the prac-
teal woman, the honest, upright cit
izen who is respected by all, who is
raising or who has raised children /
that are a credit to himself and to
the community, is between the devil /
of the saloon and the deep sea of a
condition under a reform crusade /
that might blight and undermine and
wreck. He is called upon to either
bear whatever ills beset him, hope
full for their gradual diminution, or
fly to those we know not Of. He is
deprived of voting for temper
ance He must take prohibition
with its evils or the saloon as at
present constituted with its evils and
if the latter, depend on reason to as
sert itself in regulation later on. 1t
must either be deluge or droth, mud
or dust He cannot express himself
at the polls for the practical thing
the thing that can be done he must
vote for one Of two evils and it is up
to him to decide which is the lesser
The ostensible purpose of the
present campaign is to close the sa-
loon, but the Idaho prohibition law
that it is proposed to apply contem-
plates also closing of the homes
to customs as old as the hills and no
more harmful than brandy in mince
pie. If one entertain he may enjoy /
a glass OF wine OF beer by himself
The law does not undertake to pre-
from drinking it; but it makes him I
vent him from securing it nor yet /
lawbreaker if he give it to his I
guests. But, it is said, there is no in
tention of enforcing the law in such /
case. Who is going to guarantee
citizens from immunity? How is he
to avoid the BLACKBOARD and the /
blackmailer2 There viii be small
satisfaction in securing notification
of that part of the act after ones
family and guests have been subject
ed to public humiliation in the courts
besides. to costs something to prose-
cute a contest there
Let us suppose though, that the
law should not be applied to home
sociability-tha the line should be
drawn at saloons where does prohi-
bition come in? People will still be
drinking, will they not? And drink
ing in the home" covers a wide scope
of territory. We find therefore.
least unless it invades the home and
that prohibition does not prohibit,at
makes lawbreakers of large major
ity of the men and women who en-
terrain OF the speak-easies and blind
pigs that flourish in every so-called
prohibition state it is not necessary
to phrophesy Everyone knows that
they follow prohibition as the con-