Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-07-16

remain so.
A voice: No doubt of it.
Mr. Hofer: With your kind in
diligence daughter and applause.
And there is a prohibition newspaper
published in the city of Salem that
assures me every week, to the extent
of about a page, that l am the one
man in Oregon who never, never
shall sit in the Governors chair.
/ (Laughter) So if you believe that
newspaper, there is nothing further
necessary for me to say.
A friend of mine said, "Why
Colonel Hofer, you could be Governor
of this State if you would just keep
still about this prohibition question,
if you would just keep in with the
church people and tip it off to the
other side that you would not hurt
them and get both sides with you,
you'll could be Governor of Oregon -
l told him l wasn't built on those
lines, (Applause.)
DR.. Wilson. That is good.
Mr.. Hofer. remember very hon
orableman, as Cassius told Brutus,
we are all honorable men in politics
i remember very honorable
Senator at Salem who talked pro-
hibition in the morning to the
ministerial association and in the
| afternoon signed up q contract to
! kill certain temperance bills in the
/ Oregon State Senate. l am not in
that class, ladies and gentlemen.
| applause. And he was an honor
able man. as politics goes. And
want to say to you right here and
I now that l would not suppress my
convictions upon any question,
would not straddle any public Ques-
tion for any honor in the gift of the
people. l don't believe in that kind
of politics. (Applause.) And l warn
this audience, and / warn the tenn
| perance people of the State of Ore
gon, or the Anti-Saloon League, for
there are lot of temperance people
outside of the Anti-Saloon League,
that l shall do all in my power, per-
sonally and upon the stump and with
my newspaper, to defeat this So
called prohibition amendment to the
constitution, and after having done
everything that ! can fairly before it
is submitted to vote of the people,
if 1T is submitted to a vote of the
people and is carried into effect by
he people, l will be one man who
will demand that it be obeyed and
respected. Cloud applause.) And If
it should be your misfortune and my
good luck to ever occupy the chair
of the Governor of this State, l
would see that that amendment was
enforced if it took all the military
and executive power of this State to
make you all go dry. (Applause and
laughter) believe in peple having
what they want when they vote for
it, and when the majority carries it
I believe in the will of the people
being respected. I don't believe in
trifling with the expressed will of the
people upon any question.
Now, am also here to say that
am willing to give credit to the
temperance workers of this State
and of all states for all good work
that is done along educational lines. |
am glad to know and | am glad to |
say that in the fifty years of my life |
have wisnessed a great diminution |
of what you might call hard drink /
ing. The fact is the hard drinker is |
passing away, and the man of ordin- |
ary intelligence knows today that |
when he is pUnishing liquor he is |
simply furnishing himself 1t doesn't |
take a genius nowadays to know that .
simple fact. But / also believe that
the way to reform men is through |
the teachings of the gospel, through !
the teachings of Christianity. / be- !
lieve in the transformed Individual /
the man whose spiritual life is
awakened and who is renewed and |
regenerated according to the teach
ings of Jesus Christ. / am ready to .
say that. / include all Christian |
when / say Christian
ity, and the teachings of Christian
ity; / don't just mean this particular
sect, or that orthodox church, or my T
particular brand of religion. / be-
lieve in all the Christianity that the
sun shines on all over the world, and
/ want to belong to that great
brotherhood of Christianity that ex-
tends over the entire world.
Now, with this little preliminary
I think that / also have a right to
say that / was born and raised in the
State Of Iowa and lived there
about thirty years, and then I came
to Oregon and have lived in Oregon
about twenty-one years and / have
conducted a newspaper and taken an
open public part in the discussion of
public questions, and ] think l have
a perfect right to stand here before
you and discuss this question in a
fair, frank and fearless manner. /
am not here to apologize for appear
Ing on this occasion, or for adYocat-
Ing the views which shall advocate
And / advocate those views with en-
tire respect, and with entire, / was
going to say yeneration, for the
honorable gentlemen Of the clergy
and of the temperance organizations
that are here represented; and
wish to go a step further. that in
elude In my respect and yenerationl
every citizen Of the State and every
Industry and every business. / want
10 be a friend of all men; don't
want to exclude anybody from my
or my friendship or my
and / want to say that the
saloon keepers I'm the city where /
i've are my friends and ! want 20
remain their friend.
A voice: Amen.
Mr.. Hofer: And I think just as
much OF them and their wives and
heir children and their families and
heir souls as / do OF any minister
sitting upon this platform, and