El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-07-27
LETTERS
ITO the@
HERALD

(An communications must bear the
signature Of the writer, but the raus
VIII not be published whsre such q re-
quest Is made).
sMR. wOLTERs ON THE RESULT,
Editor FL Paso Herald:
In local paper Wednesday morning
appeared a statement under the head
above in quotation marks. About that
statement ! want to make a few re-
marks
First. he says: The proposed
amendment TO the state constitution
TO repeal the local option system and
substitute statewide prohibition in lieu
thereof, has been defeated by a ma
jority OF 7641 votes"
For this We have Mr. Wolters's word.
but what proof have we that il is so?
rms is the first election of such alb
sorbing general interest within my
recollection, where the papers did not
give the votes by counties. Why have
the anti papers, and Mr.. Wolters with
held this information? Last year in
the statewide election. both the morn
Ing and afternoon papers gave the re-
turns as they were received in large
flashlight where the interested multi
tude could see them. This year, with
the interest in the result upon the part
OF the public no less, no such informa-
tion was given out Why? And the
papers have not published this infor-
nation in their very interesting daily
issues Why not?
Yes, a few reports of how certain
counties or precincts went were pub
lished- For instance, Midland and
Martin counties were both published
as having CONT anti by vigorous ma
Jorities and yet I have information
sent 10 another paper not published in
Ell Paso, that Midland went ZIP pros.
and los anti And Martin county went
12Ssfor the pros, and so for the ants
Our papers gave out precious little
statistical Information. and that little
was wrong If Mr.. wolters's "7641
votes" We're made up like the reports
from Midland and Martin counties
which Were given out here, no won
der he and many other antics are do
ing all they can to hedge against a
contest
But has the state really defeated the
statewide prohibition amendment
have the vote of 142 counties, and
several cities, including the counties
OF Galveston, Bexar, lin which San An
tonic is located)s McC1enan, lin which
Waco is located), Tarrant, Gin which
Fort Worth is located), and Dallas,
and this vote gives the prohibitionists
about $4,000 majority. And the mat
ter was remaining this way up to
about noon on Sunday. So much so
that the following telegram was sent
out from Dallas. Dallas, Texas, July
22-Incomplete returns from north
Texas show pros have polled tremend-
uous vote" This telegram was not
published here, but appeared in other
papers.
Sunday morning "the Dallas News
estimated the prohibition majority at
1900. The Houston Post estimated
1t at 10000. The Fort Worth Records
estimate was the same The Houston
Chronicle and Fort Worth Star-Tele-
grom conceded a prohibition victory
before 10 o'clock The Dallas Times
Herald at 10 o'clock said that the re-
suit was too close to give an acoustic
estimate. but stated that the indica-
lions pointed TO a pro victory"
Now then. with all the strong anti |
cities and counties heard from-with |
Galveston. Houston, San Antonio Dali
las and Fort Worth-a11 heard from, |
all at once there is a change and the |
prohibition majority (according to anti !
begins to dwindlei And con- /
tinues TO grow less. until by 10 o'clock
that night the ants were reporting a |
majority Of 1851. You may notice that |
they are always very accurate. Now
II 10 wi, e-CA II was zoO1- " IndL
onei
An officer Of known character said
TO me Monday morning: They are
counting you out all over the state
am an anti, but I am no thief, and I
DO not at all sanction the way you fell
lows are being cheated out of your
Tictory-" I asked another officer of
The law: How is the government"
he answered: II have heard several |
say it is pretty rotten
No wonder Mr.. VOTERS seems to
nave a nightmare over "a contest be-
ore the pros can get together. as they
ire TO do Saturday, and determine a
policy No wonder a prominent anti
said ''Pshaw! The pros cannot make
contest Of this election They haven't |
he money. The thing would cost at I
east $3.50. 600" No wonder the anti |
papers are talking now about how
BEAUTIFULLY the saloons will have to
observe the law. And one Of them |
las even suggested that the ants !
night ask the Legislature TO pass law
the number of saloons to |
me for every 1000 population.
The meaning Of all this seems to me
o be- You pros need not contest this | ,
lection. for even if We have counted |
TOu out, We are going to be awful good
hereafter. indeed so good that even a |
no will have no reason to complain"
I have no more doubt that the pros
arried the election by a good majority
han have that the sun shines
r. T. Hanks.