Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-04-13
A Moral Question.

A Moral Question.
public sentiment when aroused in
behalf of just cause is an irresistible
tOrce IN our public life and whether
it be the oppressor or the debaucher
OF men against whom it is directed,
his doom is sealed l do not under
stand that the question of the use of
liquor by the individual is involved
at all in your deliberations. The only
question is the length to which the
government should go in licensing
public saloons. Liquor may be kept
in their homes by people who want
1t, wholly irrespective of the licensed
saloon. Whether people shall use
liquor in their homes is moral ques-
ton; whether, and to what extent. the
government shall license saloons
where liquor may be publicly sold is
a political question.
Governments are stablished
among men for the protection of life,
liberty and property, and the pro-
motion Of the moral and material
public welfare. The right of the gov
eminent to regulate or suppress any
thing which injuriously affects the life.
health or morals of society cannot be
questioned. Universal sentiment con-
cedes the right to regulate the liquor
traffic, but as the use of liquor has
been INDUCED in from the earliest
historical times, reasonable men real
lze that it cannot be peremptorily
eradicated.
1.-THE process Of eradication must
be gradual. Laws for it's regulation
should never be in advance of rea-
sonable public sentiment, and ought
to be so elastic that different rules
can be applied to different communi-
ties, according to the sentiment of
such communities. This state does
not in my opinion favor absolute
prohibition at this time There are
communities in this state where a
considerable majority of the people
favor public saloons under proper
restrictions, and such communities
should be permitted to have saloons
until the sentiment changes.
For the same reason a community
where substantial majority of the
people are opposed to the mainte-
nance OF saloons for the sale of in
toxicating liquors. should not be
forced to have saloons against the
will of that majority. Thoughtful
people who take a broad view of
things realize the necessity for pro-
crossing slowly in this matter. in
order that their progress may be per-
manent, but they want to be going
forward, not backward,
What the Saloons Assert.
'The population of this state is
made up largely of immigrants from
the North European countries. Our
adopted citizens whether they be
Scandinavians, Germans or British
vie with the natives in their loyalty
and allegiance to our institutions. We
have no foreign element in my opin-
ion that in any degrees interferes with
Our adopting a distintively American
policy on this or any other subject
When we are told that political par
ties dare not take up this or that
theory for the regulation of the liquor
traffic because this nationality O,
that nationality of foreign origin, viii
oppose it, I resent the statement as
untrue in any broad sense. There is
no foreign element among us that, as
a class, claims the right to debaucf
American life or lower the standards
of morality established by the ma
jority of our people. Such argument
is but the special pleading Of the
beneticiaries of the traffic, and be
Titles the foreign element on whose
behalf it is urged. They tell us tina
laws regulating the liquor traffic ar,
sumptuary laws, undertaking to regu
late what the citizen shall eat O
drink or wear. We say NO. Wea
anything you please that will not re
suit in indecency. Government doe
not care what you eat or drink S,
long as it does not deprive you o
your senses. If you lose control O
your mental faculties by sickness
government places you in an asylum
if you undertake to rob yourself Q
your mental faculties by the use c
Intoxicating liquors. and thus volur
tarily render yourself temporarily i1
sane through intoxication, govern
meht, for its own protection shout
restrain you while intoxicated, and
has the right to prevent the estat
lishment of licensed places where yo
can make Yourself intoxicated. II
toxicating liquors cannot be c1asse
with articles of ordinary food {
drink; they must be placed wit
morphine, cocaine and other del
terious drugs. the use of which, mai
men incapable Of either governin
or being governed In this count,
every man is invested with a pa
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