The Greenville morning herald. [volume] (Greenville, Tex.) 1890-1956, 1910-01-26

which they live, Ali government de.
fiyes Itself from the people. There
fore, the people have right, IL they
90 desire, to change their constitu.
ton. 10 deny them this right is des. |
potismi 1t is to give one.third of the
legislature the right to put their feet
upon the necks OF the people. This
is not popular, 1t is very unpopular.
The question Of any amendment de.
manded by majority OF the people
ought to be referred to them, and
then II, after they have studied 1t
and heard it discussed, they want to
adopt It, this is their right; hut II
they choose TO vote it down, that is
also their right. Therefore, we re.
peat that submission is popular
movement. 1t appeals to the com.
mon sense of the people.
Politicians understand this cues.
ton, and hence we have anti.state
prohibltionists in the race for gov.
ernor who are strong advocates of
submission. It is to their interest to
favor an issue of this sort. 1t In
wonderfully good politics. But in
what attitude would we find prohi.
bitionists If by chance one of these
submdssionlsts should get into the of.
] ffNe of governor? Well, he could
honestly do his best to get the legis.
lature to submit the question. II
that body should fail. then he could
go back to the people and say: Il
did my best. But had no power to
compel action. The responsibility for
its failure is not with me, but the
men you sent to the legislature" Is
not this plausible? Could he be crlti.
cised by the people2 Would he not
be in safe attitude toward his poll
tics?
But suppose his effort to get the
matter submitted should succeed.
then what? Wen, we would organ.
lie our campaign, elect our field
managers, put out our speakers and
literature, and Join the battle. The
enemy would do likewise, and upon
their side would be the governor of
the state of Texas! We would have
him and the influence OF his admin
istration to fight. But, you say, he
would take no part in it except to go
to the polls and vote. True, but the
very fact that he is voting with the
ants makes him an anti, puts him in
the ranks of the ants, and gives to
the ants the full force of his Off
cial influence and power. II this is
not the truth, then we are incapable
of understanding the multiplication
table. Now we are not advocating
any specific man for the office of
governor, but we are giving prohibit
tionists some brown, thick nuts to
crack
After all. there may be method III
the madness of the submission can.
didates for governor. We must con.
TESS that we would rather see one of
them elected than to see man who
is antisubmission and antisprohibi.
ton, but the latter holds the most
consistent political position. But in
the event that we elect submission
anti, or man who is opposed to both
submission and prohibition, will it
be best for us to demand submis-
sion at all? We confess that we are
not yet prepared to answer this ques-
ton satisfactorily to ourselves, but
there is enough In 1t to engage our
earnest attention as the time for ac-
ton on the submission proposition
approaches. Therefore. let prohibi.
tionists who are such from principle
do some honest and sustai ed think
Ing as the fight thickens. In the
meantime look at the men in the
field for governor and mark their at.
titude to the question of state pro-
hibition before you make up your
mind as to the course you are 10
pursue"