The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1911-09-29

the Senate and running away 70 Ken
lucky is regular, why is il irregular tt
break quorum ia the House and run
away to Alabama? If il is fusion te
help to elect Hooper why Is il not
fusion to help to elect a Republican
State Treasurer II it is regular for
Dibrell and Taylor to fuse to create an
Election Board, why is il irregular Tor
Legislators to fuse to create such a
board?
A well defined line runs through Ten
nessee We may deny it; we may try
to cover it. Or wipe it out, but the line
is there. Il exists. The line divides the
people Of Tennessee. On the one side
are those who. for one reason or another,
want the manufactures and sale ofliqnor
legalized in Tennessee in some form.
On the other side are those who want
the existing laws TO stand and be
strengthened and enforced. This line
through the State has made inroads up
on partisan politics. 1t has divided
Democrats and it has divided Repub-
licans. The Democrats and Republicans
on the one side stand together; and the
Democrats and Republicans on the other
side stand together Combinations have
been made on both sides; and one side
is as ready to make combination as is
the other This question of liquor has
caused every move which either side has
taken.
] believe state the exact truth when
l say that every Dibrell Taylor Republi-
can and every Republican who has affili-
ated with the so-called regular Demo
Gratis, would vote, if he got the chance,
to repeal the existing liquor laws, and
the so-ealled regular Democrats would
do the same thing. On the other hand
the Democrats and Republicans who
stand upon the other side of the line
would vote against the repeal of those
laws.
The fuss over the election laws by the |
politicians is mere side issue The
politicians who are so-called regulars,
want to control the election machinery
so that they and their allied interests
may become the better able to repeal
the liquor laws; and the politicians,
among the so-called independents, want
The machinery so that they may be
able the better to defeat any effort to
-epeal.
The question Of legalizing or prohibit
ng the traffic in intoxicating liquors is
! moral question. As see it, if it be
light, as distinguished from wrong, to
liquor for beverage pur- |
roses, then such manufacture should t
,e legalized; if it be right, as distin-
,uished from wrong, to sell liquors for t
sewerage purposes, then sucn sales
hould be allowed. However, il the
raffic be harmful, then it must follow,
think, that nothing harmful should
yer be legalized
/ am just as certain in my own mind :,
nat this warfare now on in America
nd elsewhere against the traffic in in
,xicating liquors will be settled against
ne traffic that am certain that / am :
citizen of Tennessee. 1t may not, :,
nd, likely will not be finally settled for "
ears to come, but the warfare is on and :
on to stay until the one side or the
her is completely defeated. The Anglo
lxon is going to settle the question and
title it fully and finally. "
The length of the conflict or its pro-
ortions or the temporary success of
ne side or the other do not at all dis
'urage me. 1t is the most tremendous !, i
'nflict the Anglo-Saxon has ever en-
red. 1t is said that some two billions :,
money is invested on the liquor side :
I'd no one can deny that that money I,
I'd all the power and influence which
oney can put into action are used
herever and whenever battle is on.
y surprise is that SO much has been :
complished up to this time by the
merican people Greater steps toward Z
aking the traffic illegal by law have !
zen taken in America than Of the
her great powers OF the world. Con-
lering the fact that we are the young
nation of any note, think this con-
ton very significant. oil
| think, too, that the white man in p
merica should have the right to say 81
hat laws should or should not be in
aced and kept on the statute books RI
feel in this way, not because am un- q
endly to any other race, but because