The independent-reporter., 1910-12-22
OR. [E|TCH WRITES
OF PROHIBITION
Popular Vote Can Never
Make Wrong, Right
Strongest Argument Against the Sa-
loon Is That There is None for IL.

cuongess Argument Against the Sa-
loon Is That There is None for IL.
Constitutional prohibition is dis
cussed in an interesting way by Or
F. A. Leitch. formerly pastor of the
Methodist church here and now OF
Auburn, in the Lewiston journal. DR..
Leitch is one who is pronounced In
his convictions and gives his ideas in
candid and fair way. He said in
part:
A firm believer in the stability OF
constitutional prohibition wishes to
state the reason for his faith In the
same as an inherent principle of fun
damental law.
Constitutional prohibition outlaws
the Saloon and the liquor traffic as an
enemy to public well-being. as detri-
mental to the interests of society and
of necessity to that for which the
State exists.
Civil government is ordained OF
God for the punishment of evil doers
and the praise of them that do well.
The old Roman motto read: The
public welfare Is the supreme law"
The main pillars of the State are NOR
ality, religion, education and Justice.
Plato said: THE duty of the State
ID to grow men, not to destroy
them.
The Declaration of Independence
reads: Governments are instituted
among men to secure to them their
right to life, liberty and the pursuit OF
happiness"
Edmund Burke said: Men cannot
covenant themselves out of their
rights and their duties" e. S. Chap
man, LII. D., says: Not even by a
unanimous popular vote can that
which is morally wrong be made le-
gally right Froude says: Our hu-
man laws are but copies, more or less
imperfect, of the eternal laws, SO far
as we can read them"
Hence civil government is con-
stantly in process of transformation
into a more perfect accord with the
requirements of immutable law"
Let us~inquire. Has constitutional
prohibition no sanction in immutable
law, or in the law of supreme good,
In the law which seeks through fun
damental rights the highest welfare of
the State.
1t is principle of sound jurispru-
dence and sanctioned by immutable
law, that, whatever is wrong, can
have no legal existence-no funda-
mental therefore no constitutions
rights. Has the liquor traffic in it's
social constitution any fundamental
rights that commend it to the sane
ton of the immutable law of right?
Can the Supreme Good sanction the
work of the liquor traffic? Are the
fruits and results of the liquor traf-
nc of America such as to commend it
to the sanction of the court of heaven
that ordains laws to work for the well
fare and good of humanity?
If SO, then, the liquor traffic is con-
stltutionally right; if not, then, it is
constltutionally wrong, and can have
no legal existence, not even in statu-
tory law. | make bold to say that the
history of the liquor traffic in America
alone Is the history of infamous wick
edness.' Is infamous wickedness or
dained of God for the welfare of So
ciety even in local option?
The only legal alternative, the only
statutory, the only rational obligation
OF an enlightened state, is to declare
Il.
Kent says: States or bodies polite
are to be considered as moral per-
sons having public will capable and
free to do right and wrong
The supreme court of Indiana. Bee
be vs.. State of Indiana, 542, rules:
The tendency of the liquor traffic is
to destroy the peace, safety and we'll
being OF the people,"
An orderly saloon in an orderly
residence neighborhood is per Sc, a
nuisance" Moral and Civil Law page
l18.
The liquor traffic is a commercial
monstrosity as such it is the impera-
tive obligation of civilization to de-
stroy the Minotaur of destruction and
devastation that requires each year
tribute OF 100000 boys and young
men to take the places of the inebri-
ates and sots who have been ruined
morally and physically by this de-
mon of darkness and perdition. The
only legal and statutory alternative
for the liquor traffic is state and ma
tional constitutional death. 1t is a self
evident proposition that the saloon
has no inherent rights, therefore no
| COuollIulIOHdi IOuUQdtlOn. Like all
other institutions not ordained of God
to bless the world, with peace and
happiness, its right to exist-like the
rights OF slavery-must be supplanted
by local police legislation. The sa-
loon, like slavery, is not an American
Institution founded upon righteous
ness. 1t is simply tolerated and that
by iniquity. The strongest argument
against 1t is, that there is no argu-
ment for 1t.
Men who plead for the saloon, for
license, resort, not to logic. to philo-
sophy, to theology, to statescraft, to
righteousness. to high and noble
ideas, to lofty principles of patriot
ism, but to subterfuge, to expedients,
to sentiment, to cant, to hypocrisy, to
the low groveling salacious spirit of
selfishness, based upon animal pas
sions-liberty Of license is the liberty
Of degraded indulgence.
Such liberty is not founded upon
law, the law of the Lord which is
perfect and converteth the SOUL" but
upon license, the law of expedience
which is based on fiction, sentiment,
cant and selfish immortality.
Constitutional prohibition then in