The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-05-06
HARD RAPS At bUND
SEABORN WRIGHT PAYS ATTEN
TON TO ITS ARTICLE.
He Makes Some Sarcastic AllusiOnS to
the Person Who Penned the Com
munioatiOn That Appeared in the
Daily Newspapers; the Man From
Georgia Discusses County Option
Before Audience at Theatre.

vi the SUZUKI, Nducu lHto -ii.c al SuhicHt9
contained in the article, purporting to
come from the German American bund.
rs published in the papers OF the city,
yesterday, was enough to take the
force out of Kansas cyclone. For
almost two hours, this fighter from
Georgia discussed county option before
a large audience i'm Mankato Theatre
last night.
Ed Lamm's orchestral furnished the
music for the evening AT a little
after eight o'clock, the y. Nj. G. a.
Giee club appeared and rendered two
selections Comrades in Arms" and
Dixie The latter in particular
pleased the speaker of the evening, and
the appreciation of the audience was
evident by the prolonged applause Rev.
c. b. Osgood led the audience in n
word of prayer, after which the entire
house. led by the orchestra and Clee
club, sang America" Rev. Donald
Mckenzie. superintendent of southern
Minnesota, spoke for few moments
regarding the work in this section,
after which Judge Cray introduced,
with a few effective and appropriate
remarks. the speaker OF the evening
as the father of county option.
Congratulated the City.
The first few moments were occu
pied by Mr. Wright in congratulating
the city of Mankato. for its recent ac-
ton in adopting the commission
form of government. Said he in the
cities where | have been, where this
form OF government exists, the pco-
pie are practically Il unit m declaring
it good The time is near when
cities all over this land will adopt it.
But. he went on 10 say: 1T Is well
10 remember ...ns always, that no mat
ter what the form of government, it
will not succeed without the right kind
of citizenship u back it mp. No form
of government can replace a dead, cor
rupted citizenship. You can fill this
city with gamblers, libc,l;es and de
bauched men and women and no form
of government will keep the city clean
and decent, but bring to this city a
large proportion OF clean upright, moral
men and women and any form Of gov.
eminent will keep it clean and decent.
Our fathers built this government.
not on. wealth: power or great iavics,
but upon the virtue and intelligefcc
Of, its people. Behind the form must
be the man."
Ladies March in at This Point.
The speaker was interrupted at 'this
point by the coming in of the ladies,
who had been invited TO occupy the
gallery seats. They marched over in
Il body from the Presbyterian church.
singing the w. c. r. L. song, "Wind
the Ribbon Round the Nations
The main address was taken up
largely, with an answer, directly or in
directly, to the above mentioned ar
ticle. From Il paper he had with him,
he read extracts from the article and
then proceeded to answer same. His
custom, said he, was not to notice such
articles, but some things mentioned in
this one needed attention. He did not
know. of course, who had written the
article. since he had failed to sign
name but was confident the person was
not of age. He asked the person who
wrote it to stand up or come to the
stage.
Referring to the statement that there
are 2l,000,O00 people living in the
south, where liquor does not exist, he
said such Il statement had never been
made On the other hand he did say
that there were 23,OOO,OOO people liv-
ing in the south where the saloon was
outlawed. That in this territory, liquor
still existed, and that about one gal
lon was now used, where twenty had
been used before. Not until the sa
loon stained men of this generation
die Off will the drinking cease entirely,
but i'm the generations to come when
the young manhood shall have grown
up without the saloon in their midst
conditions will be different. and the
next generation Will be clean. strong
manhood. Now. he proceeded, with
this false statement to build upon the
writer proceeds in his argument. Re-
ferring to the statement that very
large number of government licenses
had been issued in Georgia for re-
tail liquor dealers, the speaker said:
"This thing has been explained so
often, every child should know it." In
all medicines there is certain per
centagc of alcohol used as a prcserva-
tive. Druggists and manufacturers OF
medicines are required TO have re-
tail liquor dealers license, hence these
1000 or more permits in the state OF
Georgia. Bald headed ignorance only,
would venture such a statement.
The Georgia Labor Law.
Referring to the question of Mr..
Wright knowing that the child labor
conditions in Georgia are the worst
of any state in the Union, the said:
Georgia has today the best child Ia
Dor law in the United States and the
speaker happens to be the man who
helped to draft that law and put it
through the legislature. More than
that, the same legislature, which pass
ed this child labor law. put the sa-
loon out of the state"
As the speaker proceeded he became
more enthusiastic and was all the more
enjoyed by the audience. NO tenn
pcramce law" he continued. ever said
To the individual, you shall not drink.