The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1911-02-16
AS HORACE BOIES SEES THE
NATTER.
Attributes Iowa's Loss of Population
in Last Ten Years to Freak Lii
QuOr LEGISLATION.

Horace Boies, of Waterloo, ex-gov
ernor of Iowa, who, according to hi
custom of recent years, is spending
the winter in California, writes the
following letter to the Des Nome!
Register and Leader.
| Helmet, Cal.-To the Editor: 1t il
a startling fact to learn that of al
the states and territories of the un
ion, Iowa alone is the single com
mOnWealth in which the population
has decreased during the last ter
years.
1t is not a pleasant subject to con.
template, but simple loyalty to the
state requires it's thorough discus.
sion, that if possible, the causes
| which have led to that result may be
generally understood.
So far as l have heard an opinion
expressed, the single cause assigned
is the high price of land in Iowa. To
| my mind this is an unsatisfactory
reason. The price of land is high
because of it's exceptionally produce
tive qualities. Instead of driving
people out of the state, these quail
ties ought to attract them to it.
The price of land Is necessarily
regulated by what it's use for the
purpose required will produce in cold
cash. 1t may have market value
for less, and often does, but not for
more.
That this is not the cause is DEM
onstrated by the fact that in many
states of the union where lands are
equally high population has highly
increased. This is notably true Of
the states of Illinois, of WISCONSIN,
of southern Minnesota, and of other
states farther east.
Iowa is possessed of every natural
advantage enjoyed by the most ia
vOred. of these states, and ought to
have grown in population as fast as
the best of them. No. It is not the
price of land that has set Iowa at
the foot of the ladder, in class by
herself, in this census, where she
alone is pointed to as the single state
from which more people have moved
away during the last ten years than
all who have been born therein COM
bined with all who have come into
the state to live during that time.
Where, then, is the cause to be
found?
l suppose it will shock many good
people to hear any one express the
opinion entertain, but everyone
should speak the truth as he sees it
on this subject. 70 my mind the one
controlling cause, more than all 9TH
ers combined, is the extreme and, to
many, repulsive liquor legislation of
the state.
That legislation has dried up the
stream of German immigration,
which in the early years Of our his
tory helped so much to increase our
population and develop her resources,
and the same legislation has driven
thousands of self-respecting foreign
born citizens away from the state.
What is this legislation Of which
so many complain?
A prOhibitory law, which in en-
'phatic terms prohibits the manufac-
ture and" sale of intoxicating liquors
as a beverage of every kind and de-
scription, which law is still statute
of the state. When it was passed
hundreds of thousands of dollars had
been invested by citizens of the state
in distilleries and breweries and
buildings for the manufacture, stor-
age and sale of these liquors, under
therein which made such property
the lawfully acquired property of its
owners just as much as the farms of
the farmers or the goods of the mer-
chant or manufacturer were his law
fully acquired property.
The owner of the property de-
stroyed by that law were human be-
ings. They knew they were wronged,
cruelty and heartlessly wronged, by
a majority. of the electors of the
state, no one of whom would have
dared to apply torch to the least of
this property, but all of whom would
as effectually destroy the whole of it
with their votes.
They knew there was a perfectly
honorable way for the state to get
rid of their property if it was believ-
ed to be injurious to the welfare of
it's people, and that was to condemn
and pay for it with tax on all prop
erty of the state instead of compell-
ing them to bear the entire loss.
The result of that law was entirely
natural. 1t divided the people of
~" q AAIO C"O OAIIOA ~ AOoLA1O CoAAPo.
BY approximately one-third of the
same the law was openly and notori-
ously defied, and by a much larger
number secretly violated wherever
and whenever that could be done.
With every branch of the state
government in the hands of the po-
litical party that enacted the law,
these conditions continued year after
year until they became intolerable to
the majority of our people. In two
successive state elections this law
was repudiated by clear majority of
the electors of the state, who declar-
ed in favor of a local option, high IL
cense law in it's place.
That measure if enacted into law
In the form in which it was advocat-
ed, would have settled the liquor
question as a state issue in Iowa. 1t
was absolutely fair to every section
of the state. Under it not one drop
of Intoxicating liquor could have
hoon cold Loco 11v % a hovoro 90 in INV