Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-04-26

the traffic He replied by saying
that none but pure liquor should be
permitted to be sold. Limit the
number of saloons, and place them
under strict regulation. No licenses
should be given, but permit to
sell, under a heavy tax. Make the
penalty for law violations severe.
Under such regulation the law will
be self-enforcing, and the saloon
keepers will become watch-dogs in
running down blind tigers. Prohibit
the sale in country districts and
small towns, when a majority of the
people are in favor of the law
A wholesale liquor dealer in
Pensacola informed me that his
business had increased rs per cent
since the several southern states
had gone dry I asked him what eff
feet he thought a law passed by
congress to prohibit the Interstate
shipment of liquor would have on
his trae. He said that it would
ca Sc a great reduction in his bust
ness, but it would have but little
,ffect upon the general trade. Each
state would then manufacture
enough to supply its own demand.
If the public manufacture of liquor
should be prohibited, it will still be
made by moonshiners and private
individuals. AS long as there is a
demand, the supply will be fur
nished in some way
The U. S. Marshall of Montgom-
cry told men that moonshine stills
were increasing in Alabama very
rapidly. That same condition pre-
walls generally throughout the
south.
Only one conclusion possibly can
be drawn from the facts as herein
set forth, viz; that prohibition, as a
corrective agency in dealing with
the liquor traffic will not work
where it is opposed by a majority
of the people. 1t matters not how
much this fact may be deplored. 1t
is looking us in the face, and we
must look it in the face, and meet
this condition by some other
method. Ideal conceptions are al
right as long as they are workable,
but as soon as they cease to be ef-
fective, it Is time to put them to
one side, and resort to the next best
method to meet present conditions,
and thus prepare the way for the
use of a prohibitory law later on
when conditions have so changed as
to make such a law workable. 1t
will be a difficult matter for the
temperance people to break away
from their long cherished plan and
purpose of uprooting the drink evil
at one stroke. by the application of
prohibitory enactment. They will
be forced to do so however, by stub
born and unyielding conditions. If
the results of this failure could be
confined to the cities the case
would not be so deplorable The
opposition to the law, and It's failure
TO be enforced. will act as leaven to
the country districts, and an that
has been gained during the past
years o. temperance warfare viii be
lost. The time has rully come for
temperance-workers TO drive their
stakes; TO strengthen themselves in
the territory already acquired, and
TO change the method of campaign
In dealing with the complex city
problem When method has prov
en- itself to be ineffective, II is not
wise to continue to push it in the
face Of sure defeat
The cities under review furnish
ample proof of the fact that pro-
hibitory law is at present unwork-
able in our centers OF population.
In referring to these cities as I have, /
do not mean to cast any reproaeh
upon them or 10 dlscredit them in
any way. They are now doing
what other cities will as fast as
law Is forced upon them, against
their protest. They are simply car
rying out a clearly defined law in
human nature, No man, as pri-
vate citizen, is going to espouse and
put into execution law or principle,