The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1911-08-03


What would you think OF man
who, year after year, with each a
failure, would continue to try to
raise a crop of oranges in Idaho.
or maintain colony of bees at the
North ole? Yet his action would be
no more foolish than that of the ad-
vocates of sumptuary legislation
Prohibition is such a law. We
mean prohibitory law. not temper
ance; the two have nothing to do
with each other. In fact, prohibit
tion is one of the worst forms of
intemperance in the true meaning
of the word.
Our provision for the future
should bo governed by the expert
ence of the past. Unless we are
endowed with Omniscince we know
of no other way to help humanity or
benefit curself. If our feet are not
guided in the path of rectitude by
the lamp of experience we will sure
ly stumble.
For 81 years the state of Maine
has tried prohibition. For just 81
years she has found it failure. 1t
has the only county in the United
States that maintains a farm for
drunkards, and the only city that
maintains a home for inebriates.
The vital statistics of the census
bureau show the death rate from
alcoholism in Maine to be the
highest in the nation, and the re-
publican party that has controlled
the political destinies of the state
from its infancy. was defeated re-
Gently because 1t refused to submit
to the people provision for the
recall of the present prohibitory
law. No greater test of prohibition
has ever been given than that in
Maine, and no greater failure ever
recorded. Admiral Evans-"Fight-
ing Bob" as we sometimes call him
who knows every port in the
world, says that. from temperance
standpoint. he would rather take
his men into any port on the globe
than the ports of Maine, and this
is after so years of trial of pro.
hibition as a means of controlling
the evils of over-indulgence in al
coholic beverages. Neal Dow, the
father of prohibition as a means OF
correcting the evils of alcoholism,
acknowledged It's absolute failure;
yet his converts continue to aesiot
mankind.
Iowa has a prohibition law, and
Iowa is the only state in the Union
which has decreased in population in
the last decade. Kansas has a pro-
hibitory law, and every reader Of
this article knows that the lame Of
Kansas is a by-word for law vio-
lation. We could cite other instances
of the failure of prohibition. bat it
would necessitate the scheduling of
every attempt TO ensurc such law.
The worst ,orn OF liohibition IS
that known "a thu county optlon
law, such rs We have IN Idaho You
oil read OF tina strike troubles In
Ohio last SeDtsIlJa,: Of the imrfrfe
loss of life and property; of the
stagnation Of business and demoFal-
lzation of Tie functions Of govern
ment. During the progress of that
strike Ex-P'eJ ,e:.t Roosevelt visit
ed its cen'e'. ans in the Outlook
magazine, Of when he is an elitor
he says in the September number OF
1910,
with regard to the mob at Nor
folk and GAINESVILLE, it is compara-
lively easy to see the cause. Ohio
is state which is trying to admins
ter a county option law for some
sixty cities. The state has enacted a
law by which the county may Danish
the sale of intoxicating liquors from
the whole territory. Within that
county there may be a city where
public sentiment is not in favor OF
no license and yet the local authori.
ties within that city are called upon
to enforce the no license policy. In
other words, a supposedly self-gov.
erning community IS called upon to
enforce a law imposed by an au-
thority outside of that community
AS a consequence time and again the
people of the city have acquiesced
in the election Of the officials who
have winked at the violation of the
law and who have been in collusion
with the law-breakers. The cure foi
this state of things is very simple;
it is the application of the elemen.
tary principle of democracy, let the
power that makes tthe law enforce
the law or let the power that en-.
forces the law be free to make the
law"
Il When you are compelled to go tc
a physician on account of illness
you don't go to the man who has
made a failure; you want the best
When you go into coure to try a
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