Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1911-08-22

climate had nothing to DO WIN H.
Reason was at the bottom OF It All
It was not brought about by fana.,Ss'
but by sane. sober. patriotic lo'ns
who had longer heads and more
common sense than the average OF inc
American people had at that time.
II was no. a new theory. 1t was
ss old az the abuse of liquor. Eleven
hundred years before Christ, an EN-
neror OF China decreed that all the
crane vines be pulled up by the roots
and burned to ashes. China mas oeen
a sober nation ever since. centuries
before Christ, Lycurgus. the great
'lawgiver Of his people, did precisely
the same thing In Greece. Inc
carthagenians prohibited drinking IN
their army 300 years before the chris
tan era. Draco, In his laws, mace
drunkenness a capital offence. All
through history you will find II anu
wherever 1t was observed the nations
became greater and the people more
virtuous. A..
Prohibition Helps the Farmer the
Grocer. the Merchant. -.
Prohibition is the doctrine OF sen
defence.
Kansas is simr'" protecting Its peo-
nile from the arch enemy OF human
happiness. Kansas homes are pro-
tected from an infinitely worse enemy
to society than the burglar. Pronipl'
ton has simply muzzled brute tna'
is ten thousand times more vicious
than a mad dog. It has only estap-
lished a quarantine against a plague
more destructive than cholera. 1t has
merely cut out a useless expense that
was more burdensome on the people
than all of the state and county taxes
combined.
There is nothing radical or unrea'
sonab!e in helping a weak man 10
carry his weeks wages home to his
wife on Saturday night; there Is
nothing fanatical in enabling her to
send her children to school with good
clothes. coed shoes and a good din
ner in the little basket.
Prohibition serves the child as well
as the man. II is for the wife as
well as the husband. It Is for society
as we'll as for the individual.
II Is for the government as well as
for the governed. In Kansas 1t pays
the doctor his bills, the lawyer MS
fees, the pastor his salary. 1t helps
the milkman, the farmer, the baker,
the butcher, the grocer, the newsboy'
the dentist, the book store, the photog'
rainier. the tailor, the dressmaker'
the merchant and the manufacturer.
This is why the people Of our state
are so thoroughly committed to Its
support. Opposition to 1t has prac'
tically ceased in every quarter.
Every political party in the state has
publicly declared for the strict en-
forcement Of the law.
But here In st. Louis and through.
out the United States the brewers,
dIstillers and saIoonkeepers, their at.
torneys and retainers, are telling in
posters, pamphlets and speeches that
prohibition increases crime in Kan.
sas: that Il is making large crop OF
perlurers and hyprocrites; that It has
ruined public credit; caused intoler-
able taxation; destroyed Industries;
discouraged development; effeminated
the people and reduced them to
pauperisn, upset social relations, and
so on throughout a long list OF state
ments equally false and absurd.
These charges are true or they are
not true. They are based on facts or
they are utterly without foundation.
On my honor as man, and upon my
word as the chief executive OF nearly
two million sovereign people, say to
| you they are UNANIMOUSLY conceived
| and maIIciously false. The saloon
men are in desperate straits and are
simply trying to deceive people who
are aroused by their crimes, that the
system may be kept up.
II the prohibition law has Increased
drunkenness. crime and perjury, as
saloon men claim It has done. the
salconkeepers would all BE support
ing the law instead OF fighting 1t, foI
II would increase their revenue.