Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-11-03
IRONTON, MO. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER

like ours, the community sustains
the same relation toward the gov
ernment as the stone and mortar
which enter into the foundation OF
house. 1t is the great base up
on which the whole superstructure
rests, and even as the house
crumbles and falls when the stone
and mortar are attacked, just SO
surely will our national idealism
disintegrate once it drifts away
from the moorings to which our
forefathers anchored it. We have
become a great nation because our
ideals are great. We have been
invincible in war and in commerce
because our country is made up of
innumerable communities which
from the days of Bunker Hill
down to the present hour have felt
that they are an independent part
of the great whole-that they have
positive voice in the shaping of
their own destiny and the destiny
of county, state and nation. Let
him who will scoff at this great
fundamental principle of our gov
ernment. 1t is not only the corner
stone of the Republic, but it is our
greatest bulwark against those ills
and errors which have strewn the
sands of time with the debris of
many shipwreckedN nations-the
victims of their own abuse of
power rather than the prowess of
alien foes. To-day Statewide
Prohibition is the club with which
the right of local self-government
is to be demolished. Tomorrow
it will be something else. 1t has
been said in this connection that
if the dry citizens have the right
to vote the whole State dry, the
wet citizens have the same right
to vote the whole State wet-and
the Statewide advocate doesn't
live who can controvert the fair
ness of that proposition--and yet
the very suggestion of such a
scheme from those who believe in
the licensed saloon would precipi-
tate a state of affairs bordering
close upon civil war. The abuse
of any power always leads to
trouble, for from the days of the
Boston tea party to this, indie
pendent, self-respecting American
manhood has demanded a square
deal and this is the plea which the
wet counties and the wet cities
are making in this campaign
They stand fat footed upon the
right of the community to rule
and back of this demand are those
ideals and principles which have
made up the freest and the great
est nation of people known tc
history. The Statewide enthusiasts
contends that the end justifies the
means-but might never made
right and never will, and the fair
minded citizen who has the well
fare of his country at heart will
not invoke such methods, les
some day the weapon which hal
forged be turned against his owl
breast. The right of local self
government comes to us as {
heritage from those who left theil
crimson foot prints upon the snow
at Valley Forge, and common
fairness to those of our fellow
citizens who differ from US witt
reference to questions of loca
policy as we'll as the future welfar
of our common country unite j.
{ bidding us to keep this great priv
ilege inviolable.
I'd. Because you cannot enforc
a law which is not supported b
q local sentiment. Prohibition i
st. Louis, Kansas City, st. Josep
and other of the larger cities c
Missouri would mean a reign {
3 the dive keeper and the boot leg
ger. The licensed saloon is sui
/, rounded by the safeguards of tn
law. If its proprietor violates th
law he is deprived of his licens
and put out of business. Not 6
with the divekeeper who is cor
fessed criminal and wwo phys hi
: Illegal traffic in spite of the Law
!. Thousands of the best bushes
and professional men in the lare
! cities of Missouri are asking ii
country voter for square deal
this matter. They contend th'
. the adoption Of this amendmel
means reign of lawlessness an
i terror. They do not ask to dit
9 tate the affairs Of your communit.
: They merely ask that they be PEI
y mitted the right to conduct the a
9 fairs of their community as the