The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-07-25
rnn rusknanE NEWS AGAIN.

not reproduce 1t. Suffice it to say, ft reiterates and amplifes all of it's first declarations.
 The Advertiser will not undertake to reply to all of these words. Upon two matters only in Its long article will this paper comment.
 The first is in the following extract: Then. again, the ancient lady, in season and out of season. has thrown | cold water upon the men and women hibition law. It has appeared that even in the head lines of it's news items. and in the reports of fights be- tween whiskey and temperance work CTS It's every purpose and effort have been to discount the force of the pro- | hibition victories. and to lend encour- agement to the whiskey element Widespread is the feling that The Ad- vertiser has never been fair in its treatment of the temperance workers. or of their cause.
 This declaration Is altogether unjust and inaccurate. The Advertiser has fre- quentiy expressed its conviction that the officers of the law should do their whole duty in an honest effort to en- force the prohibition law. and 1t meant what 1t said. It has not in the least endeavored to throw cold water upon the good men and women who have sought to enforce the law. It has not In its news columns tried to misrepresent any happening or to dis count prohibition victories. It has condemned the spirit and the utter ances of some of the leaders, but not so much more than many of the pro- hibitionists themselves Even The News criticises Mir. Lawrence's ar raignment of the Supreme Court, out of which he himself was almost forced to back under great pressure from his fellow leaders.
 The trouble with many of the pro- hibitionists is that they have no sort of patience with, or charity for, any one who is not on their side. They are so intense and zealous that they do not countenance honest differences of opinion, and they do not appear to permit freedom of conscience or judg- ment "I am absolutely right, you are dead wrong, you are not Christian, you don't belong in the church, you are on the side of the criminals and the harlots"-that Is the way many of them talk. Of course. there is no req son in such blind partisans. and hence everything on prohibition in the pa pers is unfair, is evil. is met with the severest condemnation. New ertheless, the judgment of such peo- pie Is unjust. inaccurate and of no benent to their cause. The Advertiser has been accustomed to that sort of spirit in political factions for years, and is not moved by 1t. except to pity. Ths paper knows full well from past experience that the day Is coming when such hot-heads will cool of. and &C., knowedee that The Advertiser is just what 1t has always been on great is' sues-clear- sighted. levei-headed. hon. est and correct in its attitude.
 A second point is The News attitude towards Gov. Conner. IL admits that 1t opposed him in the primaries. but says 1t has been trying to make hia administration a success. It looks as if 1t would have tired before now. If It's judgment of men. of their spirit and meth ods. was strong. and If 1t followed the light of observation. of experience. 1t could not avoid seeing that Gov. Conner is a politician, pure and unadult- erated. who has only injured the State with his narrow. bitter. extravagant policies. that he is a selflsh. unsafe leader. And yet smell this incense which The News waits under his nos trils at this late day.
 But we are frank to admit that when a Governor is broad enough and brave enough to see 1t to be a part of his duty to throw the weight of his official and personal influence against the whiskey traff1c he at once be- | comes in our eyes very attractive person. As we have 1een on that band
 wagon. according to The Advertisers own knowledge. for many years, we Governor of the greatest State in the sisternood Of states declared that he | would use every power at his command | to free Alabama from the influence of | wagon of the people, and the clarion notes of this caravansarv are calling the yeomanry of the State to join | In a common war upon the enemies | of all that Is good and pure In our | land.
 | Now in the light of the facts. that is all buncombe Gov. Conner has not used the weight of his oficial and per sonal influence any suoh way. He was strictly local option man when he
 was seeking the ofice of Governor and he saw to 1t that the party plat form was for local option. The prohi- bItion light has dawned upon him only latterly in its intensity. Only since the anti-railroad agitation reacted as an issue has he gotten behind the prohibition stalking horse. Nor even iatteriy has he used every power at his command" to fight the whiskey traf1c. Take the case at Mobile. The 1 prohibitionlsts have been condemning with especial severity the violations of the law there. Gov Conner himself has talked very loudly apout 1t. and what he was going to do. He even took a hundred dollars of The states money and sent it to the Mobile Law and Order League but Nhen the op- portunity came to do some ething sub- stantiaI towards enforcing the law In Mobile. did he seize it? When the recent vacancy was created in the