Omaha daily bee., 1910-11-06
PT1oN IN NO WISE PROHIBITION

William j. Bryan smoke in Omaha last
night at the auditorium In opposition to
the candidacy Of James c. Dahlman for
governor.
He declared himself In favor OF all
office. I'm discussing state issues he
! should be supported unless hc favored
the initiative and referendum.
Mr. Bryan favored the election of Gil.
bert NJ. Hitchcock for United states sen.
ator and the election Of c. O. Lobeck to
congress.
On the liquor question Mr. Bryan said
First The liquor question would not
have been In this campaign but for the
! liquor interests. When at the last regu-
lar session OF the legislature they de-
! feated the resolution submitting the
| initiative and referendum, and when latcr
! they prevented the calling Of special
session to submit the initiative and ref.
! erendum, now endorsed by all parties.
they forced tho liquor question TO the
| front as the paramount issue. and as
! Omaha's three senator's could have Sc
cured the submission of the initiative
and referendum by voting for II, Omaha's
liquor interests are responsible for the
fact that we are now confronted with
this question.
No Interference In Douglas.
! Second. County option does not inter
fere with the saloon business in Douglas
county. Under county option the sa-
looms will not be interfercd with I'm any
county so long as the majority of the
people of the county desire salons No
body supposes that under county op-
tion Douglas county would go dry.
Third Instead Of the state trying to
to force saloons out of Douglas county.
Douglas county is trying to force salons
into the counties that might. II given
the privilege, vote tho saloons out This
attempt on the part of Douglas county 20
compel other counties TO permit saloons
against their will is likely to provoles
retaliation. II Douglas county is not
willing to let other counties votn out the
saloon, she cannot complain IL other
counties object to her keeping saloons.
"Fourth-Only your brewers, dlstillers
and wholesale liquor dealers are pecuniarily
in defeating county option. and even they
cannot be injured II, they say, the
refusal to license saloons increases tho
sale Of liquor. Can Omaha afford to
! array Itself against the people of the state
/ merely TO please its brewers, distillers and
liquor dealers?
5 Win Delay Prohibition.
r "Fifth-County option does not mean
/ state prohibition 1t will delay state pro
' hibition instead of Fastening il. Take the
case of Ohio for instance, Ohio has county
: option, Notwithstanding its large cities
, and the large German element I'm its pOpu-
n lation. No attempt is being made 10 re-
1 peal county option; no party Is demanding
s it's repeal, and no effort is being made to
. secure state prohibition in Ohio.
a 'slXth-County option does not give too
a large a unit No county outside of Doug
las contains many people as Omaha,
. and yet, the whole Of Omaha is the unit
in acting upon the liquor question. No
; county excepting Douglas and Lancaster
= has as many people as the city of Lin-
coin and yet, Lincoln acts a unit in
t. deciding the liquor question The city
. Of Chicago Is larger in area than our
> average county, and yet, II can act as n
n unit Whether population or area is con-
Il sidered, no logical argument can be made
q against the county as unit,
l. Position of DahImun.
"seventh-Mr Dahlman cannot claim
q democratic support on the ground OF reg
n ularity, for while he has a legal title to
u the democratic nomination, he was not the
l. choice OF a majority Of the democrats who
q voted at the primaries. His nomination was
Is forced upon the party by the votes of thou
3 sands OF wet republicans who entered our
l. primary and added their votes to the votes
( O ia minority fthe democrats.
"Eighth-Mr. Dahlman is not running on
the democratic platform. He announces
that he will veto a county option bill. al
though the last democratic state convention
by a vote of 6SS to 2O2 refused to condemn
] county option He also announces that he
will sign a bill repeating the daylight saloon
law, Notwithstanding the fact that the
r last democratic state convention endorsed
the daylight saloon law by a vote OF 40
TO l63. The democratic party polled more
than 10000 ovtes two years ago, while Mr..
aDhlman polled only 1851. Subtract from
al Mr Dahman's vote the thousands Of wet
2 republicans who voted Tor him and he viii
sr have less than one-hfth Of the democratic
ss votes Of the state A candidate receiving
ST his nomination as Mr.. Dahlman did his
In and receiving so small percentage OF the
De democratic vote cannot repudiate the plat
s. form, make the liquor question the sole
to Issue and then claim the support Of dem
le ocrats on the ground Of regularity.
D. The World Moves.
NJ Mr.. Dahlman's position in this campaigr
nd presents an issue surprising even IN,
county option issue and the daylight saloon
Issue. The issue presented by his candi
: dacy Is whether tho liquor interests shal
control this state. No official should b'
ct ca xDected 10 resist the influences upon which
he relies for nomination and election anC
Mr.. Dahlman Is too honest 10 accept the
gOyenorship at the hands OF the liquor IA
NJ terests and then oppose the program OF th,
ge liquor interests. II ne carries out the pro
o- gram OF the liquor interests. the Hquol
~ question viii be more acute TWO year
RS from now than Il is now, for the party vii
.,- have to endorse or ropudiate the action o
the administration on this subject auS
r. that too, during presidential campaign.
I'm ''The liquor interests put the liquor ques
m tion above everything else. They have II,
En-. Interest IN other quesuousi they ignore ma